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Spoiler Alert!
Warning! This page contains spoilers for Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes. |
| “ | Because of how I protected the amrita, Aranyani, goddess of the forests, entrusted me with the task of helping to hide Kalpavriksha. | ” |
–To The Potatoes/ The Potato Gang, in Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes | ||
Garuda ("GAH-ru-dah") is the King of Birds and A Legendary Bird/ Sort of bird creature in Hindu Mythology. He is the Vahanas (mount) of Vishnu.
History[]
Kashyapa's two wives, Vinata and Kadru, wanted to have children, so he granted each of them a boon. Kadru asked for one thousand Naga sons, but Vinata only asked for two, yet each an equal to all of Kadru's thousand sons. Kashyapa blessed them, and then retreated to a forest to meditate. Later, Kadru gave birth to one thousand eggs while Vinata gave birth to two. After incubating them for five hundred years, Kadru's eggs hatched and out came all of her sons. Vinata, eager for her own sons, impatiently broke one of her eggs. From this egg emerged the partially formed Aruna, although he looked like the morning sun, he was not as bright as the midday sun as promised. Aruna chided his mother, Vinata for her impatience, and warned her to not break open the second egg, cursing her to be a slave until his brother rescued her. Aruna then left to become the charioteer of Surya, the sun god. Vinata waited, and after many years the second egg hatched, and Garuda was born.[1]
After losing a bet to Kadru through trickery, Vinata was forced to become her slave. Garuda later asked his brothers to free his mother from her slavery, to which they demanded amrita from heaven. Garuda waged a war against gods with his extraordinary might and abilities beyond thinking, and defeated all of them, including King Indra. He then took Indra's nectar vessel and flew back to earth. Vishnu then came to Garuda, and asked him to be his ride, to which he agreed. Indra requested that Garuda not give the amrita to the Nagas though, as it would bring great trouble later, so they forged a plan. Upon reaching his brothers Garuda placed the vessel before them, and asked them to first purify themselves before drinking. Meanwhile, Jayanta, the son of Indra, stole the vessel back. Upon returning, the Nagas were all devoured by Garuda.[2]