The myth of Blue Throat or Nilakantha is a competitive roil between malevolent and divine forces. Battling to claim the nectar of immortality buried at the bottom of the ocean, the gods and demons begin a tug of war, churning the water with a blender-like friction from which all of life emerges. When the writhing is over a black poison rises up, impossible for the gods or demons to handle. They call on Shiva, who takes the toxic film into his mouth. Parvati, his lover, places her hands at his throat stopping him from swallowing the poison and saving the new-formed universe from destruction.