How Garuda Got His Name

The little bird pecked the egg from inside. He pecked and pecked until the egg cracked and broke and the hatchling clumsily made its way out into the world, waddling on the ground. With each step, he grew in size, and miraculously, within a few minutes, the bird had grown to its full size and splendor.

This massive bird, that was now larger than a banian tree, had white wings and a body blazing like the fire itself. He looked up at the sun, flapped his mighty wings, and soared through the air to salute the sun. He surveyed the earth from that lofty point in space, and as if by instinct, he plunged down towards a distant land where his human mother, Vinata, stayed.

When he approached his mother, he saw her kneeling on the ground. She waited patiently as another woman climbed onto a small rock platform and sat on her shoulders. This mighty bird reduced its size to that of its mother and folded its wings to greet her.

Vinata's face brightened. For a moment, she forget the load that she bore on her shoulders. Her gloomy face suddenly has a smile on it, and she said:

"O beautiful, golden child of mine, you have finally come. I am very pleased to see you," she said with tears in her eyes.

"O mother, pray, tell me what should I do?" The bird asked its mother.

"Allow the thousand sons of your aunt Kadru to sit on your back, my child."

"Where are her sons, mother?" The bird asked.

Vinata pointed to a large tree that had snakes crawling all over it.

"These thousand snakes are her sons, my child. Bear them on your back for we have to take them and their mother to the island of Nagas (snakes) and Makaras (crocodiles) in the middle of the ocean."

The bird did as his mother said. He grew in size to accommodate Kadru's sons and once the snakes were comfortably seated on his back, both mother and son took flight towards the island.

Kadru, who was seated comfortably on Vinata’s shoulders, commanded her to fly closer to the water as they crossed a lake. And the snakes commanded the bird to fly closer to the ground when they passed a forest with golden trees. After crossing several lakes and mountains and forests and orchards and meadows, they flew over to the middle of an ocean and finally hovered over the island of the Nagas.

On one side of the island was a forest washed by the waters of the sea. The forest resounded with beautiful music from the birds that had made their home on the varied trees that grew in it. A gentle breeze smelling like fragrant incense blew across it. The rest of the island was spotted with lotus-filled tanks and beautiful mansions. Several clear water lakes adorned the island and some of the trees were so tall that they appeared to shoot out like brown and green projectiles from the earth to the heavens.

"We want to see this island. We want to play here for some time," many of the snakes screamed in wonder.

"I too want to bathe in that lake. Take me down to the island, sister," Kadru told Vinata pointing to a lake with clear emerald water.

Vinata and the bird alighted on the island, as told. Kadru bathed in the emerald lake while her sons, the thousand snakes, climbed and wrapped themselves around the towering trees and swung from its branches. After they had partaken of all the joys, the island had to offer, the snakes told the bird:

"O mighty bird, now we want to see another island of even greater beauty and clearer waters. We command you to bear us on your back and take us to such a place."

The bird looked at the snakes and closed his eyes, as if in deep thought. Then he turned to its mother and asked:

"Mother, why must I do the bidding of these snakes?"

Vinata looked at her child with sadness in her eyes and answered, "My child, my sister, Kadru, challenged me to a wager which I lost. Since then, I have become enslaved to her and must do as she says."

The bird turned to the snakes and asked them, "How can my mother and I free ourselves from slavery? What can I bring you to win our freedom?"

"Bring us the Amrit (nectar) from the gods and free yourself," the snakes answered instantly.

The bird looked at the sky towards Indra's abode. He turned to the snakes with eyes fiery like the sun itself, and said, "Wait here. I will bring the nectar before the sun sets." Then, with a few mighty flaps of its wings, it soared towards the sky, off to the heavens where the gods stayed.

Just as the bird had earlier gone instinctively to his mother, this time, he turned instinctively towards a mountain called Gandhamadana where his father, sage Kashyap, sat in meditation. He alighted on the mountain and folded his wings respectfully to his father. Kashyap opened his eyes and smiled.

"I am very pleased to see you, my child. How are you doing in the world of humans? Are you happy? Do you have enough to eat?"

The bird said, "I am happy, father. I am going to bring the nectar from the gods to free my mother from slavery, but I'm hungry. Can you tell me where I can get food?"

Sage Kashyap pointed to a lake in the distance and said, "My child, in the depth of this lake is a huge elephant and a mighty turtle. They were once brothers who had a disagreement over their father's inheritance. They have been quarreling ever since. Now they have taken the form of an elephant and a turtle and still continue to fight. They are creating immense chaos in the lake. Their quarrel has tormented the fishes for centuries. Eat them to satisfy your hunger."

"So be it," the bird said, and reached the lake at the speed of thought. The mighty bird plunged into the depth of the lake until he saw the elephant and the turtle. Just as his father had described, they were fighting and creating great chaos and violent waves around them. The bird caught the elephant in one claw and the turtle in the other and rose like a phoenix from the water back into the sky.

With the animals in his claws, he needed to land in a place where it could place these huge animals to eat them. He flew over several lakes and forests until he came to an island that had a huge banian tree with a branch larger than a thousand kilometres. The mighty tree said to the bird:

"O great bird, you can sit on my branch. It is strong and will not break under your weight. Sit here and have your meal."

The bird gratefully perched on the branch, but as soon as his claws touched it, the massive branch snapped under the weight of the giant bird and hurtled towards the ground with great speed.

The bird, with his sharp eyes, noticed tiny, thumb-sized sages hanging upside down from a leaf on the branch and performing great austerities. Seeing the danger that awaited these great sages, who were known as the Vilkhiliyas, the bird’s heart was filled with compassion. He dived and grabbed the branch in its beak and, once again, with a few thrusts of his mighty wings, he was soaring in the sky in search of a place where he could place this branch carefully without harming the sages or any other life. He flew great distances with the massive elephant in one claw, the giant turtle in another, and the huge branch held in its beak.

When the sages opened their eyes, they were wonder-struck by the might and compassion of this bird.

The Vilkhiliya sages, delighted by the bird, proclaimed in unison: "May this mighty and noble bird be called Garuda — bearer of great weights."