King of birds, mount of Vishnu
Garuda is the king of birds: a golden being, half man, half eagle, whose red wings blot out the sun and whose wingbeats shake mountains. At his hatching the gods mistook his blaze for a cosmic fire and hymned him in alarm. As the mount of Vishnu he bears the great god across the three worlds, and as the devourer of serpents his image guards temple lintels against snakes and poison.
His story is told in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata. His mother Vinata lost a wager to Kadru, mother of the nagas, and fell into slavery; the serpents named their ransom—the amrita, heaven's nectar of immortality. Garuda stormed Indra's heaven alone, quenched the fire that guarded the nectar, smashed the whirring wheel of blades, beat back the gods and flew off with the vessel. Vishnu, marvelling that he carried the nectar without stealing a sip, granted him immortality and took him as his mount. By arrangement with Indra, Garuda set the pot on sharp kusha grass; while the serpents purified themselves before drinking, Indra snatched it back. The nagas licked the razor-edged grass and their tongues were split in two—the forked tongue of snakes ever since—but Vinata was already free.
Garuda travelled with Indian culture across Southeast Asia: he is the national emblem of both Indonesia and Thailand, the badge of the Thai monarchy, and the namesake of Indonesia's flag carrier. In Buddhism he joined the eight legions of dharma protectors, rendered in Chinese scriptures as the golden-winged bird.
