Story of Garuda, the mighty king of birds

Garuda Vahan Vishnu Lithograph by Raja Ravi Varma Press

Garuda, the vehicle mount of Lord Vishnu, and you might have seen his icon of carrying Vishnu and his two consorts, Lakshmi and Bhumi. This is his story.

Garuda was born to sage Kashyapa Prajaapati and his wife Vinata. Kashyapa had another wife, Kadru, the queen of snakes. Garuda is also known as khageshwara, the king of birds; Suvarnakaya, golden bodied; Suparna, he who has beautiful feather; Nagantaka, the devourer of snakes; Gaganeshwar, lord of the sky; Swetarohita, the white and red; Taraswini, the swift; Vajrajit, he who won the thunderbolt from Indra. 

Sage Kashyapa’s two wives wanted to have children. They got a boon. Kadru wanted one thousand naga sons, and Vinata wanted two, each equal to Kadru’s thousand naga sons. Kashyapa blessed them and went to the forest to meditate. Kadru gave birth to thousand eggs and Vinata gave birth to two. Later, the thousand eggs broke open and out came her thousand naga sons. Vinata eager for her sons, was impatient and broke one egg. From it emerged her son Aruna, who did not have his lower body developed and was reddish as morning sun. Aruna cursed his mother to a later life of slavery, and told that if she is patient, the son born from the other egg will free her from the bondage. The son ascended to the sky to become the charioteer of Surya, the sun god. Vinata waited for many years, and from the second egg, her second son emerged. This was Garuda. He could take any size. He was so big that he can block the sun. He is renowned for his speed. His wings would produce a gush of wind which caused tremors in the mountains, tsunami in the oceans and uprooted trees.

Garuda’s wife is Unnati also known as Vinayaka. He had two sons, Sampati and Jataayu.

Once Kadru and Vinata argued over the colour of the tail of Uchaishravas, a seven headed flying horse which came out of the Sagar Manthan. Kadru claimed the tail is black and Vinata argued that it was white. The argument went to a deal that whoever was wrong will serve the one who is correct. Kadru ordered her sons to hang on the tail of Uchaishravas, thus the tail turned black and she won the wager. Thus Vinata and her son Garuda was forced to serve Kadru. They were ill-treated by Kadru and her sons. Later the nagas agreed to free Garuda and his mother if he brought the amrit, the elixir of life, from Indra. Garuda stole the amrit and released himself and his mother. Thus Garuda was the arch rival and mortal foe of the nagas.

Garuda stole the amrit pot, after a great battle with the devas. He broke through the secure walls of Indra and stole it with his might.  Later Indra caught up with him in a chase and hurled a thunderbolt on Garuda. It did not even harm one feather. Indra was amazed by the strength and extended a hand of friendship. Although Garuda refused to return the pot of amrit to Indra, he did promise to help retrieve it.  Garuda brought the pot to the nagas, and placed it on a cushion made of kusha grass. He and his mother were freed of their bondage by the nagas. He did ask the serpents to take a bath before they touch the necter. When the serpents were out for their ablution, Indra, as planned, came there and took the pot away. It is said that, because nagas were so close to tasting the elixir of life, it has effected them, thus snakes get rid of their old skin and get new young skin every season. Thus remaining always young, although mortal.

When Garuda stole the amrit, lord Vishnu got impressed by his integrity as he did not take a single drop of the tempting nectar for himself. Lord Vishnu asked Garuda to a boon. Garuda asked for a position higher than lord Vishnu himself. Lord asked Garuda to adorn his flag and sit on top of the mast. Taken over by this gesture of the Lord, Garuda offered himself to be Lord Vishnus’s vaahan, mount for the Lord.

Long ago offerings were made on first of every month to the snakes. Snakes gave a portion of it to Garuda. Kaliya was a many headed poisonous snake, who in his pride of being safe from Garuda kept all the offering to himself. Not pleased with this action, Kaliya was attacked by Garuda and was hit hard on the head. Frightened, Kaliya hid in depth of Kalindi river. Here Kaliya was safe because the sage Saubhari has once cursed Garuda for taking too many fishes from the river, and should he ever entered its water he would die. Later on Kaliya was killed by a young lord Krishna.

In the Mahabharata, Garuda is mentioned to be eating evil men. He was mentioned for violent force, of speed and of martial prowess. Drona used a military formation called Garuda for Kauravas. Krishna had his image on his banner.

The story about two brothers – Vibhavasu and Supratika – is told in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata. The elder one, Vibhavasu, was susceptible to anger, while the younger one, Supratika, was seeking to partition their wealth. One day both brothers were involved in a quarrel with each other. In the end, Vibhavasu then cursed Supratika saying, he will take birth as an elephant in the next life. In return, Supratika cursed his brother saying, he will be born as a tortoise. Anger and greed caused them to be born as animals in their next birth. Their hostility continues in their next birth as well. One day these two animals were seized by Garuda, who took them in his claws to a mountain and ate them. Garuda killed them on the advice of his father Kashyapa.

Garuda is the mortal enemy of nagas, the serpents. In Jataka story, Garuda used to catch naga by their head. The snakes were intelligent and started swallowing large stones making them very heavy to be carried by a swooping Garuda, tiring and eventually kill by exhaustion. The secret got leaked and Garuda started catching the nagas by their tail, so that they spit out the large stones.

 In the Ramayana, we have the story of Garuda’s two nephews, sons of Aruna; Sampati and Jataayu. They were both friends with Rama’s father Dasaratha. Once the two brothers in their younger days competed on who could fly higher. Jataayu flew so high that he was almost burnt by the fire of the Sun. Sampati rescued his brother by spreading his wings and shielding his brother, and in turn, got injured and burnt all his feathers. He fell to the ground. He could not fly and live without wings on the ground.

Jatayu Vadh Lithograph by Raja Ravi Verma Press 

Jataayu saw Raavana, the rakshasa king, kidnapping Seetha, wife of Rama at Panchvaati forest. He challenged Raavana, and in spite of his old age gave a brave fight. He broke Raavana’s chariot and pierced his armour. He destroyed the arrows and spears that were projected towards him. This fight was yielding nowhere, and both were at par. Raavana and Jataayu decided to tell each other their weakness, and Jataayu told his wings and Raavana told his feet. Raavana lied, his weakness was in his stomach area. When they attacked each other, Jataayu went for Raavana's feet, exposing his wings to Ravvana who with his sword wounded the wings. Mortally wounded, old Jataayu fell to the ground and Raavana ascended to south on a mystical chariot with Seetha. Later on when Raama and Laakshamana found the wounded Jataayu, he informed the action that prevailed and the direction to which she was taken away. He died. Raama was filled with remorse. He considered Jataayu like his second father and performed his last rites.

Later when Angada, Hanumana and their group were looking for whereabouts of Seetha, they chanced upon an old flightless vulture, Sampati, at the Mahendra hills. He was Garuda’s eldest son and brother to Jataayu. The vaanara’s were almost giving up hope of finding Seetha and were lamenting on returning to Kishkindha, the kingdom of vaanara king Sugreeve or give up their life. Initially the wingless bird was thinking of making an easy meal of these dying monkeys. But the lamenting monkeys were discussing their fate and that of Raama’s. This is when Sampati heard about Jataayu’s death and coming of Raama in search of Seetha. Although he could not fly, he still had a good eyesight and could look beyond the horizon. He could see Seetha captive in Lanka and also gave the description of Lanka to them. Thus helping Raama find the place of captivity of Seetha. Sampati had received a boon that he would get his feathers back if he helped Raama. He thus got new feathers, got back his beauty and valour.  He performed the funeral obsequies of Jataayu.

A sparrow once laid its egg on the beach of the ocean. Waves carried the eggs away. The sparrow pecked the edge of the ocean persistently, begging it to return the eggs. The determined sparrow caught the eye of the king of birds. Garuda threatened to attack the ocean if the eggs were not returned. The ocean god returned the eggs to the ever grateful sparrow.

This is the story of Garuda, the mount of Lord Vishnu.

Author note: These stories are picked from various narrations and sources including books, general conversations and various internet sites. The stories cover through various ages, as the time scale of the Gods are in eons. Garuda stories are found in folklore's of Indian and South East Asian nations. He represents the birth and heaven. He represents the enemy of snakes, that represents death and pataallok. Garuda is mentioned in Buddhist and Jain folklore. Garuda is the national emblem of Indonesia, an Islamic country. Garuda known as Khangarid is the symbol of Ilan Bator, capital of Mongolia. His images and sculptures are found in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Japan, China and other nations. The story of Garuda is also found in the alternate history of the world of Aliens; interpreted as an alien craft, something similar to a modern day aeroplanes parked in the airport fueling up by black pipes, representing a big bird devouring snakes to the humans observing it.