Garuda's Story

This is the story of Garuda, the eagle who is also the vahana or the vehicle of Vishnu.

Kashyapa Prajapati had 2 wives : Kadru and Vinita. Kadru gave birth to a thousand snakes and was very proud. By deceit, she made Vinitha her slave. Vinitha prayed to Kashyapa who then gave her a boon that she will give birth to 2 sons who will redeem her from slavery. In time, Vinitha gave birth to 2 eggs which she protected till they hatch. However she got impatient when the eggs did not hatch for a long time and therefore forcefully broke opened the first egg. Immediately a very handsome man came out of the egg and lamented to his mother : "Mother, why did you break the egg so quickly ? If you had waited a little longer, I would have grown fully and would have freed you from slavery ? Since you broke the egg so quickly I have not grown below by thighs". Hearing this Vinita plunged into deep grief. Hearing this her son said "Mother do not worry, Please preserve the other egg carefully and he will grow to be a very strong man and will save you from slavery". So saying Vinitha's first kid who was called Aruna left her and became the chariotter of Surya the sun god. In time the second egg developed fully and out came a very powerful eagle called Garuda. He came to know the plight of his mother from her and approached Kadru and asked her what she wanted in return for his mother's freedom. Kadru knew that her sons were no match to Garuda in terms of strength and hence she asked for the divine Amruta of the gods for her sons. At once Garuda flew to the heavens and got the Amruta from the gods, but Garuda also knew that if he gave the Amruta to the snakes, they would become immortal and therefore would again trouble his mother. Hence he took the Amruta and told the snakes that he would give it to them at the banks of the river. However he cunningly took them to a place where there were a lot of Dharba (sharp grass) growth and poured the Amruta there. At once all the snakes in their eagerness to drink the Amruta and become immortal, went and licked the Dharbas. The sharp Dharba grass cut their tounges into two. Hence all the snakes from then on have 2 tounges.