7. Story of Garuda (Devotional)

      As explained in Birth of Gods And Demons, Kashyap who is a son of Marichi (One of the Brahma manasa putras) married to 13 daughters of Daksha Prajapati. He got gods, demons, hydras etc as family lines. In Garuda story, we talk about two of his family lines from Vinata and Kadru. Vinata gave birth to two sons Garuda, Aruna and Kadru gave birth to hydras. The story goes as follows.

      Vinata and Kadru were of great beauty and jealous of each other. Kashyapa was exceedingly pleased with both of them and offered to grant each of them a boon. Kadru asked for thousand sons of incomparable strength and valor be born to her. Kashyapa granted her that wish and the race of serpents, a full thousand of them, endowed with great strength were born to Kadru. When it was her turn to chose her boon, Vinata asked for two sons be born to her, who shall eclipse the sons of Kadru in strength, valor and fame. Kashyapa granted her wish too. In due course of time, Vinata laid two eggs. She put these two eggs in warm containers and guarded them day and night. Five-hundred years passed, but the eggs had not hatched. Vinata grew impatient as Kadru already had a thousand snakes as her offspring. She broke open one of her eggs. The embryo in it had the upper part fully developed, but its lower half was still to be formed. The child grew angry at his mother and cursed her to slavery and informed her to wait for another five hundred years in which his brother will be born to deliver her from her servitude.

      After some time, the two sisters Kadru and Vinata were involved in an argument. Kadru asked her sister about the color of the divine horse Uchaishravas that belongs to Indra. Vinata replied that it is of a flawless white color, right from its nose to its magnificent tail. She was right but Kadru said that its face and body are of a flawless white color but its tail alone is a shiny black color. They had a bet on this topic that looser will become slave for the winner. Kadru called her sons and told them to entwine themselves around the horse's tail and give it a black appearance. The snakes did not want to be a part of this deception. Kadru became exceedingly angry and cursed them that all of them will be destroyed by fire before too much time has elapsed (Note: This is the curse that was responsible for the so many snakes being destroyed in King Janamejaya's snake-sacrifice.). The Nagas decided after a consultation among themselves to follow their mother's order. The blackest among them went and entwined themselves around the tail of Uchaishravas. Kadru showed this to Vinata and won the bet. According to the terms of the wager, Vinata became the slave of her sister. She had to serve Kadru and the serpents as their servant. This is how curse of Vinata's son came true.

      After 500 years, Garuda emerged, radiant like the sun and Agni, from his egg-shell. His radiance was like that of the fire that would consume all creation when this world would end. The Devas in heaven suddenly beheld this bright shining light and nearly became blind. All the Devas praised Garuda and pleaded him to reduce his brightness so that they can see him normally. Upon hearing this from the celestials, in obedience to their requests, Garuda reduced his brightness a thousand fold, enabling them to see him clearly. Like his mother, he also became the servant of Kadru and her sons. He was serving them without any complaint but one day he fed up with their orders and told them that he no longer wants to be their servant. He asked Kadru what he should do to save himself and his mother from slavery. Kadru thought for a while and asked him to bring Amrit (Nectar) to get freedom. So the great bird started his adventure to save himself and his mother by obtaining Amrit.

       Meanwhile the Devas saw a wondrous sight. All their weapons rose from their holsters and started turning on each other. Indra's favorite thunderbolt started quivering in fright. Meteors and comets started to shoot in the sky. Alarmed by these ill omens, Indra knew from his preceptor Brihaspati that the great bird Garuda, resolved upon obtaining Amrit, to free himself and his mother from bondage, is flying to attack them all. Indra then ordered the rest of the Devas to take up battle positions. He himself strode in front of his army, resolved to thwart the goal of Garuda. Garuda appeared in the skies, facing the Devas. The great battle began. The Devas were sorely harassed by the flying bird, he of immeasurable strength. He mangled them with his claws and beak. Vayu attempted to blow him from the skies by raising a dust storm. Garuda parried this thrust with a counter wind generated from his mighty wings. All the celestials were routed. The Sadhyas and Gandharvas fled to the east. The Rudras and Vasus fled to the south. The Adityas fled to the west, and the Ashwini twins fled to the north, unable to bear the onslaught of Vinata's son. At last, after killing a large number of the warriors ranged against him, the King of birds approached the place where Amrit was. It was surrounded on all sides with great flames that reached up to the sky. Garuda made his mouth very large and flew to the ocean. He swallowed the contents of many rivers and put out the flames guarding Amrit with it. He then assumed a tiny form and approached the vessel containing the nectar. He saw that a wheel with razor sharp edges was spinning very fast, intending to destroy all who came near. With his great speed, Garuda passed through between the spokes of that wheel. He saw that two great snakes were guarding the vessel beyond. He generated a great dust storm and blinded them. He then mangled them to death. He broke open the mechanism that was guarding the nectar, and rose to the skies, carrying the vessel in his claws. When Indra saw that Amrit was being stolen, he discharged his potent weapon Vajra towards Garuda. In respect to the sage Dadichi from whose bones that weapon had been crafted, Garuda shed exactly one feather. Otherwise he was unharmed and continued on his way. Despite having possession of the divine nectar that would have made him immortal, he did not partake of it, intending to fulfill his promise to his brothers.

      He met Lord Vishnu on the way. Vishnu granted him a boon, in appreciation of his selflessness. Garuda chose the boon that he should always be higher than Vishnu, and that he would be immortal, even without the aid of Amrit. Vishnu granted him this boon and set him on his flagstaff, thus giving him a great position. He then said to the bird to fulfill his promise by giving nectar to serpents but to use some stratagem and prevent them from drinking it as they are evil and not suitable to be eternal beings. Accordingly when Garuda reached the snakes, he set the pot of Amrit before them and asked them to release himself and his mother  from bondage. The snakes agreed and started to advance towards the vessel containing the nectar. Garuda advised them to be pure before drinking the nectar. Agreeing to this advice the snakes went to the river to purify themselves. Indra, who was waiting for just such an opportunity, stole the vessel and restored it to its place among the Devas. Thus the evil snakes were thwarted at their bid to attain immortality. Since Garuda had helped him, Indra desired his friendship and got it. They divided the rule of the world amongst themselves. Garuda got the lordship of birds and other flying creatures, while Indra got the rest. Obedient to the command of Vishnu, Garuda became his faithful mount. In return, he got the boon that snakes should become his food.