Finally Lord Siva came on to the stage for rescue. As part of the solution, Devas invited Asuras to churning the ocean of milk called "Paalazhi" to recover "Amrutha" or nectar, the taker of which made one immortal. They have chosen the "Manthara" mountain as the churning stick and Vasuki, Lord Siva's snake (Lord Vishnu used to sit as well as sleep on a similar mythologically significant snake called Ananda) as the churning rope. During churning, first came the worst poison, "Kalakootha". Lord Siva, once ralized that the poison could destroy the whole world, tried to swallow himself. Parvathi, his wife throttled him to save her husband’s life. Thus the dark blue colored poison remained at all time at his throat. Hence the name "Neelakhandan" to Lord Siva.