09 – The Eagle Landed, but the Vultures Fell

Hi Friends!

Today let us try to complete the story we have been talking about in the last post, and the one before that.

As we saw that Garuda, the feathered son of Vinata, successfully snatched away amruta from the Adityas, to fulfil the terms for his and his mother’s freedom, set by the Nagas, the serpentine sons of Kadru. When Vishnu came to stop Garuda, he impressed the Lord of Preservation so much that he was granted immortality, power and position of respect as a trusted companion (and place on Vishnu’s battle-flag).

As Vishnu and Garuda were mutually admiring each other, the King of Adityas, i.e. Indra came over, and even he was impressed by Garuda’s respectful demeanour in spite of winning against all his forces so easily. This time instead of fighting, he requested Garuda to not let the Nagas drink of the Nectar of Immortality, as then they would definitely try and attack him.

Garuda understood Indra’s concern and suggested: “I have promised that I will bring the amruta to them. I can try and keep them distracted after I give it to them, and you are free to fly away with it. And as I would not be their servant any more, I would neither stop you, nor chase after you.”

Indra happily agreed, and realised that the dark-mark of defeat he was made to bear, had been the conspiracy of the treacherous Nagas, and not the fault of respectful Garuda. He granted that Garuda and his descendants would be able to feast on the Nagas and their descendants, and he would always win against them.

Even this boon came to play during the time of the Seventh Incarnation of Lord Vishnu, King Rama. We will discuss that in some future post, but suffice to say when the Nagas had tied and incapacitated the King Rama, Garuda freed the Vishnu-Avataar and his younger brother. And this happened on Lanka, the island created when he threw the branch of Valakhilyas onto the seabed. Interestingly the younger brother was an incarnation of Sesha, who some list as one of the sons of Kadru.

Once this plan of double-cross was made, Garuda took his leave from Vishnu, with Indra following him invisibly. He came to the Nagas, and said: “Here is the Pitcher of Immortality Nectar, the amruta kalasha. Take it and set me and my mother free.”

The Nagas happily said: “Yes, give it to us, and you are free, as we no more need to fear you, or in fact anyone else, once we are immortal like gods.”

As they lined up to drink the nectar, Garuda said: “Brothers, are you sure you want to drink such a sacred thing without taking a bath. At least wash off the burnt skin on your bodies from out last ‘joy -ride’. You can keep it on the kusha grass near the river, and I will stand guard.”

The Nagas forgetting that Garuda was no more their slave, put the pitcher on the grass under his supposed watch, and went to take a bath. As soon as they left it there, Indra appeared and flew away with the amruta, while Garuda stood with his arms (wings?) crossed.

Realising that they had been tricked by Garuda, the Nagas tried to get whatever amruta they could, from the kusha grass it had been kept on. They rolled on it. That is said to be the reason for snakes being able to “renew” their skins, as their skin is immortal, though they are not. They also tried to lick the kusha grass. This is considered the reason for the snakes having forked tongues, cut in the middle due to this “licking”. Kusha grass is used respectfully in sacred events in India, and for sprinkling sanctified water, due to them once having held the Pitcher which contained the Nectar of Immortality, amruta.

Once Garuda had freed himself and his mother Vinata from the service of Kadru and her sons, he maintained his enmity with the Nagas. He attacked them incessantly, and used to eat them whenever he got chance. The Nagas fled underground in fear of him, to Paatal Loka, the subterranean land of Daityas and Nagas. Even now snakes, the descendants of the Nagas, are hunted by eagles, the descendants of Garuda, and live underground.

That ends the story, for now, of the younger son of Vinata. Let’s now look at what happened to the elder child of Vinata. She had succumbed to impatience, and broke her first egg too early, as we saw in the earlier post. Due to this unfortunate incident, that divine child was formed perfectly above, but was fluid in the lower part of body. When he/she took a male form, he was called Aruna, and when he/she took a female form, she was called Aruni.

Elder Daughter of Vinata: As Aruni, she was more beautiful than any divine nymph or apsara. In this form she was granted a child by Surya, and another child by Indra. The son of Indra and Aruni, was the elder brother, strong of body though a little quick with his temper, hence called Vaali. The son of Surya and Aruni was the younger brother, with well formed throat and well-spoken, hence called the One with the Beautiful Throat, or SuGriva.

They were given to a learned sage and his wife to raise. The sage was called Gautama, and his wife was the beautiful Ahilya, and they raised them along with their own daughter, called Anjana. We shall discuss the sad story of how Ahilya turned to stone, and her daughter and two foster sons (biological sons of Aruni) were abandoned by their father, and turned to vaanaras. All due to no fault of theirs! Later Anjana had the honour to be birth-mother to the most well-known vaanara, the Hero named as Hanumaan. This hero, along with his foster maternal uncle, Sugriva, was of great help to the Seventh Incarnation of Lord Vishnu, King Rama. The elder brother, Vaali, had unfortunately had a falling-out with his brother and nephew, due to some misunderstanding, and met a sad-end, by the arrows of Rama.

By the way the term “vaanara” may mean monkeys, or members of a tribe of forest-dwelling people, or vana-naras, who were considered uncivilised, and hence not-human, or vaa-naras. Let’s leave it at that!

Elder Son of Vinata: When the elder child of Vinata, took the male form, he was called Aruna. He was the charioteer of the sun-god, Surya. Aruna’s wife was called Shyeni. They had two strong and fearless sons, called Sampaati and Jataayu. They were as fearless as their uncle, Garuda, but not that powerful and immune to harm.

One day the two brothers were flying in the sky. The younger brother, Jataayu, decided to go as close as possible to their father, who was driving the chariot of Surya. The heat of the sun started to burn his feathers, making them fall off in tufts. Seeing this his elder brother, Sampaati, flew even higher than him, and shielded him with his wings. This caused his wings to burn up so badly that he fell down on to the ground, and could never fly again. Jataayu could still fly, but he was no more as strong as earlier. The two brothers, who were so strong earlier and beautiful, were now with burnt looking bodies and considerably weaker. They now could not hunt that well, so had to eat whatever they could, including carrion. These two brothers played important roles in the story of Raja Rama, and helped him, along with their half brother Sugriva, and his foster nephew, Hanumaan.

Their descendants are the vultures, who look quite bedraggled, and eat all the refuse and dead animals. In fact vultures are very important to the environment, and serve as the waste-disposal system for the forests.

Sometimes I wonder, what would be the story like, if these two brothers were not hurt so badly, as their ambition made them careless, and hence caused harm to themselves. And what if Vaali and Sugriva had stood together strong and united, rather than mistrust and misunderstanding making them weaker, as they fought each-other rather than together.

If all the four sons of Aruna/i stood together, in support of an incarnation of Vishnu, it would have been a very short fight, whoever be their opponent.

But what if the opponent was meant to fight longer to enable the world to know that even when Forces of Wrong-Doing (“Adharma”) is strong, in the end the Forces of Right-Action (“Dharma”) wins. Next time let’s look at the divine plan of future wars between Dharma and Adharma, and how the Kumaras, first four sons of Lord Brahma (whom we met in an earlier post), caused the circumstances for it.