Garuda – The divine vehicle of Lord Vishnu. astroved.com

Garuda, Mighty Eagle

The mythical eagle, Garuda, is important in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology. In Hinduism, Garuda has the status of an Upadeva (a divine entity), and is the mountain or vehicle of Lord Vishnu, In popular iconography, Garuda is depicted as a strong man with a golden body, a white face, red wings and the beak of an eagle. He has a crown on his head. He has a gigantic form that can stop even Surya, the sun god.

Garuda is the staunch enemy of the serpents or serpents. is considered, Eagle Only snake eats. The image of Garuda is worn as a charm or amulet by many people, who believe that it can protect them from snake bites and venom. His mantra, Garuda Vidya, is also used to remove the effects of snake venom and to ward off other kinds of evil that afflicts a person.

Garuda in Hinduism

Garuda is the main character in two ancient Hindu texts, the Garudapanishad and the Garuda Purana. The Vedas refer to him as Saina (Sanskrit for eagle) and describe how he brought nectar from heaven to earth. It is also mentioned in the Puranas. One of the five faces of the Panchamukha (five-faced) Hanuman, pointing towards the west, is that of Mahavir Garuda.

Krishna describes himself as Garuda, the king of birds, as he stands on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and delivers his discourse to Arjuna, which is called the Bhagavad Gita.

The wings of Garuda can chant the Vedas while flying around the sky. There are many other names of Garuda – Chirada, Gaganeshwar, Nagantaka, Suparna, Tarakshaya, Vishnurath, Vainetya, Kashyapi, Sitanana, Khageshwar, Kamayush etc. Tantriks worship him.

Garuda scene during many Abhichar (witchcraft or black magic) actions. It is also used to protect someone from maltreatment.

birth of eagle

The birth of Garuda is described in the Mahabharata. It says that when Garuda first emerged from his egg, he appeared as a very brilliant light emitted by a mighty hell, akin to a cosmic explosion destroying the world at the end of an era. Seeing this, the frightened Dev went to him and asked for mercy. Garuda obeyed and reduced his size and energy.

Garuda and Nagaso

Garuda was the son of sage Kashyapa and Vinata. Vinata’s sister Kadru was also Kashyap’s wife. She gave birth to a thousand snakes, and these were the ancestors of all the snakes on earth today.

Once, Vinata made a bet with Kadru about the color of the tails of the Uchaishravas. Uchashravas was the divine, seven-headed, flying horse that emerged from the Milky Ocean during the churning of the ocean. Kadru said that its tail is black, while Vinata claimed that it is white. The one who lost the bet had to become the slave of the winner.

To win the bet, Kadru asked his sons, the Nagas, to hang it on the horse’s tail (it was actually painted white), making it black. Thus Vinata lost the bet and became Kadru’s maidservant. Kadru and his sons misbehaved with Vinata and caused untold pain to her.

Garuda frees his mother

This angered Garuda. As he wanted to free his mother from bondage, he asked the serpents what they wanted as the price of her freedom. The Nagas asked him to bring Amrit, the nectar of immortality. This was an almost impossible task as the Devas zealously protected the nectar.

Surrounding the nectar was a fire that covered the sky. A dangerous contraption with a sharp rotating blade made it difficult to reach the elixir even from above. Also, there were always two large venomous snakes next to the nectar.

But Garuda was determined to get the nectar. The gods, aware of his intention, waged a war against him. But Garuda defeated them.

Then he gathered the waters of many rivers into his mouth, and poured it on the wall of the fire and quenched it. Thereafter, he made himself very small and flew with the rotating blades to reach the place where the nectar was. He fought with poisonous snakes and defeated them. Then he took a pitcher of nectar in his mouth and sprung into the air and went to see the serpents.

On the way, Vishnu stops her, and they make a pact. Vishnu promised to give immortality to Garuda without drinking the nectar. Garuda promised to become Vishnu mountain.

Garuda also met Indra and made another pact. Garuda assures Indra that after giving the nectar to the serpents, he will ensure that Indra gets it back. Indra promised Garuda to give the serpents as food.

On reaching the land of the serpents, Garuda placed the pot of nectar on the grass and asked Vinata to be freed. He also asked the serpents to perform some religious rites before drinking the nectar.

When the serpent went to perform the rites, Indra reached there and sent him off with a pot of nectar. When the snake returned, after some time he was stunned to find it missing. But he saw some small droplets on the grass and he tried to lick them. This split his tongue in two. Legend says that this is the reason why snakes’ tongues split and they shed their skin (a sign of immortality).

Mission accomplished, Garuda fulfills his promise to Vishnu. He became Vishnu’s vehicle and whenever he got a chance, he even killed his eternal enemies – snakes.

Other Garuda Legends

Garuda always accompanied Vishnu on major missions. For example, he took Vishnu to Gajendra, the king of elephants, and helped him save the elephant from the clutches of a crocodile, which had grabbed one of his legs.

During the churning of the ocean, Vishnu placed Mount Mandara on the back of Garuda. Then he sat on the back of Garuda and asked him to fly in the middle of the ocean. Garuda placed the mountain at the place indicated by Vishnu. Then Vishnu asked Garuda to leave, because Vasuki, the serpent king, would not come there, otherwise, out of fear of Garuda. After Garuda left, Vasuki came there and became the churning stick for churning the ocean.

The fluttering wings of Garuda are believed to be the basis of Samaveda. The two wings of the Vishnu vehicle, the Garuda, are considered to be two branches of the Samaveda, called the Brihat and Rathantara. To pacify Vishnu, Garuda vibrates the Samaveda.

Garuda worship is prevalent in Thailand, Indonesia and Mongolia. The national airline of Indonesia is named Garuda. The tallest statue of Garuda is in Bali in Indonesia. In Thailand, the Khrut or Garuda is the national symbol. The Mongolian football team is called Khangarid after Garuda.