In ages primeval, when destiny wove its complex patterns, Kadru and Vinata, the two wives of sage Kashyapa, entered into a wager that would stake their very freedom. The contest concerned the celestial horse Ucchaihśravas, born of the churning of the ocean. Returning home, Kadru summoned her serpent sons and commanded them to coil around the horse’s tail so that it might appear black, thereby ensuring her victory and Vinata’s bondage.
But her sons, mindful of virtue, reproved her for suggesting deceit unworthy of her station. They refused to tarnish her honour with falsehood. Enraged by their defiance, Kadru cursed her offspring to perish in the sacrificial fire of King Janamejaya’s great serpent-yajna. Only Karkotaka, fearful of her wrath, clung to the horse’s tail and fulfilled her scheme. Thus, when the sisters approached the ocean on the following morn, Vinata beheld the horse as dark-tailed and was enslaved, enduring years of servitude.
In the midst of her sorrow, one of her eggs at last hatched, and from it emerged the mighty Garuda. His vast wings spanned the heavens, casting shadows upon mountains, while the force of their beatings fanned flames from hermitages and churned the winds. With filial devotion, he bowed before his mother, who rejoiced with unmeasured delight.
Yet his humility also led him to Kadru, whose envy smoldered as she beheld his grandeur. She bound him under the command of her serpent children, forcing him to bear them upon his back to distant realms—mountains, forests, oceans, and the domains of the guardians of the quarters. Patient and obedient, Garuda endured this burden with steadfast devotion to his mother.
One day, desiring to visit the domain of the Sun, the serpents bade him carry them thither. He complied, but the burning rays scorched them, and they fainted before his return. Kadru, through prayers to Indra, restored their lives, yet her malice toward Vinata and Garuda never softened. At last, weary of the yoke, Garuda sought from his mother the cause of their bondage.
She revealed the secret—the deceit of Kadru, the curse upon her serpent sons, and the prophecy that Vinata’s freedom would come through Garuda’s strength. She urged him to fulfill the word of her elder son, who had foretold deliverance. Stirred to resolve, Garuda approached his serpent cousins and demanded the price of his mother’s release. They declared, “Bring us the nectar of immortality, guarded by the gods, and we shall grant Vinata her freedom.” He assented, extracting their solemn oath, and returned to his mother for blessings.
Vinata, placing her hands with gentle caress upon his wings and neck, invoked the powers of the Sun, the Moon, Fire, and the universe itself, beseeching them to guard her son in his perilous task. She instructed him to feed upon the demon clans of the ocean to gain strength, warning him never to harm a Brahmin. Thus fortified, Garuda devoured the Nishada demons who lurked beneath the waves, yet spared one Brahmin who was wed to a Nishada woman, honouring his mother’s counsel. With renewed Vigor, he sought his father Kashyapa’s guidance, who directed him to the cursed brothers transformed into elephant and tortoise—beings of immense size—fit sustenance for Garuda’s strength.
Bearing them aloft, Garuda alighted upon the mighty Rohita tree, but its branch cracked under the strain. Upon it clung the ascetic Valakhilya sages, performing penance suspended upside down. Out of reverence, Garuḍa held the branch in his beak, carrying sages, elephant, and tortoise alike to Mount Gandhamādana. There, Kashyapa persuaded the sages to release the branch, blessing Garuda, who then feasted upon his prey and prepared for the greater quest.
Soaring heavenward, his wings showering sparks and stirring storms, Garuda pierced the strongholds of the gods. Indra beheld the upheaval and, counselled by Brhaspati, learned of Garuda’s divine mission, born of Kashyapa’s austerities and the Valakhilyas’ blessings. Indra armed the guardians of Amrta, but they fell like moths before flame when Garuda struck. With wings that shattered weapons and eyes that blazed fire, he scattered the gods to the quarters. Piercing through the barriers of flame, he quenched the fires with the waters of rivers, subdued the guardian serpents with dust, and seized the pot of nectar.
Then, as he soared with his prize, Lord Visnu appeared and, marvelling at his valour, offered him a boon. With humility, Garuda declined the nectar for himself but sought eternal youth and strength without it, and pledged service to Visnu. Thus, he was made the bearer and banner of the Lord.
Indra too confronted him, hurling the vajra fashioned from sage Dadhīci’s bones. But Garuda, honouring the weapon, yielded only a feather. Then he spoke openly of his strength, confessing his power to sustain mountains, drain oceans, and traverse the worlds in a breath. Pleased, Indra asked his desire, and Garuda requested serpents as his perpetual food. This boon was granted.
At last, Garuda placed the nectar upon sacred grass before the serpents, declaring that his mother’s bondage was ended. While the serpents departed to bathe before drinking, Indra swiftly reclaimed the nectar, leaving only the sanctified darbha upon which it had rested. The serpents, licking the grass in despair, split their tongues and bore that mark forever.
Thus was Vinata freed, and Garuda rose as the immortal king of birds, the scourge of serpents, and the eternal vehicle of Lord Viṣṇu. From that time forth, the very thought or name of Garuda was held as a shield against fear of serpents and demons, and the great tale of his advent opened a new chapter in the destiny of gods and men.
