Garuḍa

Garuḍa is the divine eagle and the vāhana (vehicle) of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He is the son of Kaśyapa Mahārṣi and Vinatā. He is also the composer of the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa. He is one of the most honoured beings in the three worlds. He has great tapas (austerity), great strength (mahābala), complete knowledge (sarvajñatva), and loyal devotion to Viṣṇu.

He is praised wherever Viṣṇu is praised. He is both the servant and the close friend of the Paramātmā.

Birth and family

Garuḍa is the son of Kaśyapa Mahārṣi and Vinatā, one of Kaśyapa’s wives. His name Vainateya means “son of Vinatā”. The name Garuḍa means “the winged one”. Both names are widely used.

The nāgas are the children of Kadrū, another wife of Kaśyapa. After a conflict with the nāgas, Vinatā was taken by them as a dāsī (bond-servant) and held in nāga slavery. Garuḍa decided to set her free.

Tapas and the vara from Viṣṇu

Before he freed his mother, Garuḍa did great and long tapas for Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu was pleased and appeared before him. He offered Garuḍa a vara (a boon). The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Āchāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 2) gives Garuḍa’s prayer, which had three parts:

“O Devadeva! The nāgas have enslaved my mother. To free her from this slavery I need amṛta. If you grant me a boon, I will defeat all necessary opponents, obtain amṛta, free my mother from bondage, and then remain permanently as your vāhana. Grant me mahābala (great strength), sarvajñatva (omniscience), and the power to compose a purāṇa saṃhitā of your glories. I shall serve you from your sannidhi forever, benefiting the world through this purāṇa.”

Viṣṇu gave all of this and said:

“O Pakṣirāja! All you have asked is granted. Your mother Vinatā shall be freed from nāga-slavery. You shall defeat the devas and obtain amṛta easily. You shall become my vāhana permanently. You shall have the power to destroy all manner of viṣa (poisons). Through my kṛpā, you shall compose a purāṇa saṃhitā of my stories, and it shall be known in the world by your name, Garuḍa Purāṇa. The fame I have among the Purāṇas shall be this Purāṇa’s fame. Wherever my saṃkīrtana occurs in the universe, your kīrti shall occur there too.”

Freeing Vinatā

After Viṣṇu’s vara, Garuḍa went and defeated the devas in battle. He took amṛta (the drink of immortality) from svarga and gave it to the nāgas as the price for his mother. As Viṣṇu’s vara had promised, the nāgas had to set Vinatā free. Indra took the amṛta back before the nāgas could drink it, but Vinatā was already free.

The Gāruḍī Vidyā and Kaśyapa

Garuḍa told the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa to his father Kaśyapa Mahārṣi. Through the Gāruḍī-vidyā (the knowledge of Garuḍa) given in this way, Kaśyapa gained so much power that he could bring a fully burnt tree back to life. Garuḍa himself, through the same vidyā, brought back to life many living beings who had died.

The Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa (Āchāra Khaṇḍa, Chapter 2) gives this mantra as the seed-mantra for gaining the Gāruḍī-parāvidyā (the highest Gāruḍī knowledge). It has an anunāsika between Oṃ and Uṃ:

yakṣi Oṃ Uṃ svāhā

Garuḍa as the vāhana of Viṣṇu

As the vāhana of Viṣṇu, Garuḍa takes part in the works of the cosmos: sṛṣṭi (creation), sthiti (upkeep) and pralaya (dissolution). Bhagavān Viṣṇu holds all the worlds in his own belly (udara), yet he feels hunger. It is Garuḍa who feeds him then. Garuḍa carries Bhagavān Viṣṇu through the three worlds. So he is the glory (mahimā) of Viṣṇu made visible.

Garuḍa at Badarīkāśrama and the Gāruḍī Śilā

The Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa of the Skanda Mahā Purāṇa (Badari Kṣetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4) tells of Garuḍa’s tapas at Badarīkāśrama. Garuḍa did thirty thousand years of hard tapas on the mountain Gandhamādana, south of Badarī. His only aim was to become the eternal vāhana of Bhagavān Viṣṇu.

Bhagavān Viṣṇu appeared before him in the east, shining like the full moon. Garuḍa offered a stotra (hymn of praise). Then he brought the Gaṅgā in five streams to wash the feet of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. These became the Pañcadhārā, the five holy streams of Badarīkāśrama. Viṣṇu then sent Garuḍa to Badarī for a three-day fast (upavāsa) and darśana.

Bhagavān Viṣṇu gave Garuḍa two varas:

1. The place of the eternal, unbeaten vāhana of Viṣṇu.
2. That the Gāruḍī Śilā, the rock made holy by his tapas at Badarī, would always remove all poisons (viṣa) and diseases from those who come to it.

The Uttarārdha of the Nārada Mahā Purāṇa (Chapter 67) calls the same place the Vainateya-śilā. It says that Garuḍa did tapas for thirty thousand years. He received the vara of victory over all daityas, great power, and the place of the eternal vāhana of Viṣṇu.

The Gāruḍī Śilā is the third of the five great Pañca Śilās of Badarīkāśrama.

Significance

The glory of Garuḍa cannot be separated from the glory of Viṣṇu. The Garuḍa Purāṇa itself says: “Just as Śrī Hari and Garuḍa are identical in nature, Garuḍa being the rūpavibhūti of Hari, so shall the fame of this Purāṇa be wherever Hari’s praise is sung.”

Garuḍa receives pūjā in yajñas and is held worthy of the highest honour (yajña-pūjya). In some traditions his form is white-winged, golden-bodied and swift as thought, and it is the form taken by the Vedic gāyatrī herself.

Garuḍa’s doubt and the meeting with Kākabhuśuṇḍi

The Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa (Uttara Kāṇḍa) tells of Garuḍa’s doubt. In the war at Laṅkā, Garuḍa saw Bhagavān Rāma lying bound on the battlefield by the nāgāstra of Meghanāda. Garuḍa himself had freed Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa from the serpent bonds. But the sight of the all-pervading Bhagavān Rāma lying helpless before the weapon of a mere dānava stayed in his mind. He thought: “The one who has come down as Rāma is the Parabrahman, all-pervading (sarvavyāpaka) and beyond māyā (māyātīta). How did he become a captive of a petty dānava?”

Troubled by this doubt, Garuḍa first went to Nārada. Nārada sent him to Brahmā, and Brahmā sent him to Bhagavān Śiva. Śiva told him that only long satsaṅga (company of the holy) could settle such a doubt. He sent Garuḍa to Kākabhuśuṇḍi at Mount Nīlādri. The whole journey through doubt was Rāma’s own saṅkalpa (resolve), to humble even his greatest devotees and lead them to satsaṅga.

As Garuḍa came near Nīlādri, the nearness of the holy mountain began to clear the clouds of māyā from his mind. He bathed in the sacred lake and went to the great vaṭa (banyan) tree. The whole assembly of birds received him with deep respect. Kākabhuśuṇḍi received him with humility and joy. He told him the whole Rāmāyaṇa. He gave him the key to understanding the avatāra-līlā (the divine play of the avatāra) of Bhagavān Rāma: “Just as an actor wears many costumes in a play yet remains always the actor, so too must one understand the descent of Bhagavān Rāma in a human form. Those who are foremost among devotees never fall into this confusion.”

After he heard the whole Rāmakathā, Garuḍa’s doubt was gone, and his bhakti became firm and unshaken. He bowed deeply to Kākabhuśuṇḍi, took his blessing, and went back to Vaikuṇṭha, singing the glories of Nārāyaṇa.

The Sauparṇopākhyāna in the Ādi Parva

The Āstīka Parva of the Mahābhārata’s Ādi Parva (Chapters 14–34) holds the fullest account of Garuḍa’s birth and of his mission to get amṛta. It is called the Sauparṇopākhyāna, “the narrative of Suparṇa”. It sits inside the Āstīka Upākhyāna and explains the origin of the lasting enmity between Garuḍa and the serpents.

Birth

Garuḍa was the second son of Kaśyapa Prajāpati and Vinatā. His elder brother Aruṇa had been born too early. Aruṇa gave a śāpa (curse) that Vinatā would be the slave of Kadrū for five hundred years.

When Garuḍa hatched from the second egg, he came out whole. He was huge, of cosmic size, and blazed like two suns. Brahmā and the devas knew him at once and stood in awe.

The mission: amṛta for Vinatā’s freedom

Garuḍa learned of his mother’s slavery. He asked the nāgas what price would free her. They said, “Bring us amṛta.” He set out.

On the way, his father Kaśyapa told him to eat a group of Niṣādas. Garuḍa carefully let go a brāhmaṇa among them, who was burning in his throat. Then he ate a great elephant and a tortoise. They had once been the brāhmaṇa brothers Vibhāvasu and Supratīka, who were turned into animals by a śāpa after a quarrel.

He flew to the Rohiṇī tree. But he found the Vālakhilyas there, sixty thousand ṛṣis, each the size of a thumb, hanging from its branches in tapas. He flew elsewhere to eat, so that he would not disturb them.

The battle at the amṛta

Garuḍa came down on the place where the amṛta was kept, guarded by all the devas. He raised a great dust-storm with his wings and blinded the devas. He defeated them all in battle. He put out the guarding fire with river water carried in his beak. He made his body small enough to pass through the gaps of the spinning cakra-yantra (wheel-machine). He blinded and killed the two serpent guards, and he seized the amṛta.

Meeting Viṣṇu: the banner and the vāhana

As Garuḍa flew up with the amṛta, he met Bhagavān Viṣṇu in the sky. Viṣṇu was not threatened. He was pleased, and he offered Garuḍa a vara. Garuḍa asked to be deathless without drinking amṛta, and to have a place above Indra. Viṣṇu gave it.

Garuḍa asked what Viṣṇu wished in return. Viṣṇu said, “Be my vāhana always.” Garuḍa agreed. Viṣṇu placed Garuḍa on his dhvaja (banner). So Garuḍa became both his vehicle and his standard.

The return of the amṛta and the friendship of Indra

Garuḍa put the amṛta on darbha grass and asked for Vinatā’s release. The nāgas gave it. Then Indra swept down and took the amṛta back before the nāgas could drink it. The agreement was already kept, because Vinatā was free.

The nāgas tried to purify themselves by licking the place where the amṛta had lain. They cut their tongues on the sharp darbha grass. From this came the forked tongues of serpents.

Indra was moved by Garuḍa’s noble act of not drinking the amṛta himself. He offered Garuḍa a vara of friendship. Garuḍa said, “Let serpents be my food always.” Indra agreed. So began the lasting enmity between Garuḍa and serpents.

The name Suparṇa

During this whole flight, Garuḍa dropped a beautiful feather. Those who saw it said, “What a beautiful wing (suparṇa)!” From this he got the name Suparṇa, “he of the beautiful feathers”. He also has the name Garuḍa, which his father Kaśyapa gave him for carrying the Vālakhilyas to safety.

Unable to see the limit of Śeṣa

The Umā-Maheśvara Saṃvāda in the Anuśāsana Parva of the Mahābhārata (Chapter 147, the Puruṣa-māhātmya chapter) tells of Garuḍa. Bhagavān Śiva says that Garuḍa, son of Kaśyapa Prajāpati, once asked the gathered devas to help him see the full extent of Viṣṇu in his form as the cosmic serpent Śeṣa or Ananta. This chapter names that form as Balarāma or Saṅkarṣaṇa. Garuḍa has great power, yet even he could not find the limit of that form.

Sources

• Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Āchāra Khaṇḍa, Chapters 1–3
• Nārada Mahā Purāṇa, Uttarārdha, Chapter 67 (Vainateya-śilā at Badarikāśrama)
• Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaiṣṇava Khaṇḍa, Badari Kṣetra Māhātmya, Chapter 4 (Gāruḍī Śilā)
• Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Āstīka Parva, Chapters 14–34
• Mahābhārata, Anuśāsana Parva, Chapter 147
• Tulasī Rāmāyaṇa, Uttara Kāṇḍa (Śiva narrating to Pārvatī; the meeting of Garuḍa and Kākabhuśuṇḍi; Kākabhuśuṇḍi’s teaching)