The Stealing of Amrit

THIS IS THE FIRST and only time Garuda fights the gods openly. Among the first casualties on Indra’s side is Brahmana, the celestial architect, who succumbs to the bird’s talons and beak. Garuda raises a dust storm with his incessant flapping so that the immortals are blinded, and then he mangles them with his beak.

Even with the arrival of Vayu, the wind god, the balance of the fight does not tilt. Not even wavering for a moment, the son of Vinata attacks the celestials from all sides at once, changing shape and size at will, using stealth and power alternately. The Sadhyas and the Gandharvas are the first to flee eastwards, followed by the Vasus and the Rudras who take refuge in the mountains to the south. The Adityas run to the west, and the twin Ashwins to the north.

Garuda destroys the Yakshas as well, and in doing so resembles Shiva himself, that destroyer of enemies, that holder of the Pinaka at the end of an epoch.

With Indra’s army dispensed with, Garuda goes to where the amrit is kept, and sees that it is surrounded by tall flames that cover the entire sky, so hot and orange that they look intent on swallowing the sun itself. Garuda enlarges the size of his mouth by ninety times and fills it with the waters of many rivers. And returning to the place of the amrit in less than a moment, he douses the fires with the water in one full swoop.

Now, placed near the amrit, he sees a wheel of steel-edged swords revolving incessantly, designed by the Gods to keep robbers at bay. To thwart this contraption, Garuda diminishes the size of his body to that of a fly and whizzes past the rotating blades.

Next, he faces two serpents who could turn the object of their gaze into ashes. Here he covers the eyes of the reptiles with dust so that they cannot look at him, and having blinded them thus, he picks them apart with his talons and cuts them into pieces. Thus he took the jar containing the amrit and, having broken the machine with the rotating swords with the strength of his wings, he rises to the sky once again, intent on reaching his half-brothers and freeing his mother Vinata from slavery.

However, his journey home would not be smooth, for standing in his way amid the clouds is none other than Vishnu.