The Hindu Goddess Lakshmi bestows all that we hold good in an earthly life - love, grace, prosperity, pleasure, beauty, abundance. Because of her distaste for the ancient god Indra's power-hungry ego, she disolved herself in the Ocean of Milk. In the Hindu tradition each new incarnation of the universe involves churning the Ocean of Milk. At some point after Lakshmi's disappearance, the lack of Lakshmi as well as a variety of other cosmic wonders that had grown scace, left the gods and demons so dismayed that they conspired together to churn the Ocean of Milk until Lakshmi reconstituted. Apparently it took quite a long time and an enormous amount of effort but eventually the churned ocean produced Lakshmi, and a host of assorted marvels such as Surabhi the cow of abundance, Sura the goddess of wine, Parijata the celestial tree which bears every flower and fruit one desires, Rambha the cosmic dancer, Chandra (the moon), and Dhanwantri the celestial physician with his bottles of medicines, one of which immediately captured everyone's attention.