GARUDA

GARUDA Whose master is the light of the world (i.e. the sun), and whose relative (brotner) is Garuda, the king of the birds,that Aruna is crippled because of his past actions. (Dhanasari Trilochan, p. 695) Govind (The Lord) came riding on Garuda, producing music of the wings (of Garuda). (Bhairo Namdev, p. 1166) The mouth in which there is Garuda-mantra, it does not have any fear of a serpent. (Mali Gaura M. 5, p. 987) Garuda is the Vehicle of Vishnu. He is half-man and half-bird and is the younger brother of Aruna, the charioteer of sun-god. He was the son of Kashyapa and, Vinata.

He is the mortal enemy of snakes. His mother\’ Vinata quarrelled with her sister Kadru, the mother of\’ the snakes. It is written in Mahabharata that his mother lost her wager with her sister regarding the colour of the sea-produced horse and thus became a slave to Kadru, who promised to set her free, if her son Garuda should bring the Amrita from the moon. After surmounting astonishing dangers, Garuda accomplished his task and got the liberty of his mother.

For stealing Amrita, he had to fight with Indra and other gods. He overcame all of them except Vishnu, who made him his vehicle. Because of his enmity with the snakes, there is a mantra (incantation) in his name, known as Garuda Mantra. Anyone who knows this mantra has no fear of the snakes. He had a son named Sampati and his wife was Unnati or Vinayaka. See : Aruna

References :

1. Kohli, Surindar Singh (ed), Dictionary of Mythological References in Guru Granth Sahib, 1993