Garuda, The Divine Bird

suchandra · February 14, 2009

PAGES FROM HISTORY : GARUDA, THE DIVINE BIRD

Prof. A.V. Narasimha Murthy,

http://www.starofmysore.com/main.asp?type=specialnews&item=3679

Just an ordinary bird of the vulture group to an Ornithologist, Garuda has attained a divine status from his unique personality to the Indian mind. It is also known as Brahmani Kite. It is not confined to India alone; it is found in Burma, Ceylon, Malaya, Indo-China, Philip-pines, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan etc.

The uniqueness of this bird is his white beak which has distinguished him from others of his category. But in our tradition, he is not just a bird but a divine being worthy of worship in temples. There is a vast mythological literature which describes his origin, personality, character and divinity.

Basically, he is the king of birds with unlimited strength and energy and his power of seeing is proverbial. He can penetrate to long distances and understand the nature of things. Actually 'garutman' was originally Sun god conceived as a bird in Rigveda. Mythology has many stories with regard to him. He is the son of seer Kashyapa and Vinate. Aruna is his brother. There is also an upanishad called garu-doupanishat attached to Atharvaveda. In ancient warfare, garudavyuha was quite popular — it was a geometric formation of soldiers and to come out of it was difficult for the enemy.

Garuda Purana

There is a Purana named after him called Garuda Purana. Actually, it was composed by Vedavyasa as one of the eighteen puranas and it is said Vishnu himself revealed it to Garuda. It contains two parts; the second part which is more popular deals with knowledge regarding the dead persons' journey towards heaven or hell and the rituals that have to be performed by sons to help the dead persons to have a smooth journey.

Hence, in traditional homes, even today a priest is invited to recite garuda purana after the death of a person so that the sons are given the required knowledge to perform sraddha and other rituals towards the dead. It is very interesting to note that this book is a taboo and nobody would like to keep a copy of garuda pu-rana in their homes. Further nobody would read this book on ordinary days except during the ten days of the death of a person.

Garuda is said to have gone to heaven, fought against the gandharvas and brought amrita and gave it to his step-mother. Vishnu was greatly impressed by his strength and made him his vahana (vehicle). Garuda is inva-riably carved on the doorjambs of sanctums of Vishnu temples.

Another important aspect is the garuda pillar (garuda-gamba) established in front of Vishnu temples. Vishnu also permitted him to be used as insignia in his flag and hence garuda-dhwaja became famous. The concept of a bird and snake was prevalent in Mesopotamia more than 5,000 years ago. Garuda became such a popular deity that even Buddhists adopted him in their pantheon. The eastern gateway of Sanchi stupa contains a garuda.

Sculptures

In Hindu sculptural art, garuda has a special place. He was elevated to the level of a human being in form with divine status. According to texts on sculpture, garuda should have a round face, wide eyes, prominent nose, human legs, four hands, wings and carrying a pot of amrita. When carrying Vishnu on his back, he should have two hands which should support the feet of Vishnu. But other varieties are also known where he is shown as kneeling on his knees and his crown should be adorned with snakes. He should be shown as strong bodied and in a posture of devotion to Vishnu — sometime as dvarapala he holds shankha, chakra and gada.

Perhaps the earliest garuda sculpture was the one created by a Greek Vishnu devotee by name Heliodorus. He created a pillar at Besnagar with a garuda capital on it. As Guptas were great patrons of Vaishnavism, garuda-dhwaja became quite popular. With the development of Srivaishnavism in Karnataka, his sculptures in human form became quite popular in South India as wall sculptures.

Shrines within the temple came to be included for this deity. Most of the Vaishnava Hoysala temples contain scul-ptures of garuda. The one at the Channakeshava temple at Belur is specially noteworthy.

Garudotsava, carrying the deity in procession on an image of garuda became a po-pular ritual and endowments were given for this service. The Vijayanagara rulers continued this tradition in sculpture. The wheeled stone ratha in the Vitthala temple at Hampi has an image of garuda. Vija-yanagara kings also minted Garuda type coins. Such coins of Harihara I and Krishna-devaraya are highly elegant.

Garuda became a symbol of protection of his master as his Vahana. Hence during the Hoysala period, there arose a group of commandoes who took oath of saving their masters or kings and did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for their masters. They were called 'garudas' and hundreds of such brave soldiers are mentioned in the Hoysala inscriptions eight hundreds years ago. Thus Garuda became an icon of protection and devotion. Though place names after garuda did not become popular, personal names like Garudachar, Garuda-iyengar etc. became popular among Srivaishnavas.

Outside India

The concept of garuda crossed Indian borders and went to South-East Asian countries. The image of Vishnu (King Airlanga) sitting on a garuda at Belhan (Java) is a masterpiece. Angkor Vat and Thom have a large number of garuda images. This bird had become a symbol of Romans more than 2000 years ago.

A similar bird became quite popular in modern Europe also. Even today one of the Airlines (Indonesian) is known as Garuda Airlines. Thus our garuda has spread his wings far and wide in most parts of the world. But to us he is a devotee par excellence of great Vishnu and his Vahana.