||Kumkumankitha Varnaaya Kundendu Dhavalayacha Vishnu Vaahana namasthubyam Pakshiraajayathe Namaha||

In every Sri Vishnu temple, we see Garuda, also known as Vainatheya folding his hand facing the main deity and waiting for the orders by Lord Srimannarayana.

Who is Vainatheya or Garuda or Garudazhwar (alvar)?

Kashyapa Brahmarishi had many wives (he was married to thirteen daughters of Dhaksha Prajapati. Among them, two daughters Kadru and Vinathe who are very important are mentioned here.

Kashyapa Brahmarishi decided to perform a yaga (offering or sacrifice) to have children. He wanted to give this opportunity to Kadru and Vinathe and granted them a wish. So, Kadru wished to have 1000 serpents as her sons who would be the most poisonous and powerful serpents. Whereas Vinathe took a step ahead and asked for just two sons who would be more powerful than Kadru’s children. Like it is said that ‘The act of jealousy’ is always wrong and eliminates mental peace. “Mana khlesho Buddhi nashaha”, this did not spare Vinathe either. Kashyapa Brahmarishi granted their wishes and started to perform yaga. Many people took part in the yaga voluntarily, helping and supporting Brahmarishi. Indra and Valakilyas were also among them.

Yaga was successfully fulfilled and as per the wish granted by Kashyapa Brahmarishi to his wives, Kadru had thousand eggs and Vinathe had two eggs. After years passed by, Kadru’s eggs started hatching and she became the mother of thousand snakes. On the other side there was no changes to
Vinathe’s eggs and she was very upset. Kadru’s children started growing and their family also extended year on year.
However, there were no changes to Vinathe’s situation. Vinathe, who was very frustrated and was getting impatient, she decided to break the eggs to see what was really happening.

As soon as she broke one of the eggs, she could see a very bright red light emerging out and filled the whole room. Then, she saw a glorious baby, whose eyes were bright red and was staring his mother, his eyes were filled with anger. The baby was developed only on the upper part of the body, just above the hip. This was due to the impatient mother. He questioned his mother’s hasty action and asked her to protect the other egg carefully and patiently, so his brother could be developed completely. He said that his brother would be more powerful than Indra. Vinathe felt very bad for Unuru (uru – means thigh, unuru

means without thighs). She was very apologetic and promised to take care of the other eggs. Then Brahma and devas decided to appoint Unuru as Surya’s charioteer. After this, Unuru was given a new name called “Aruna” who would be seen before the sun rises or also referred as “Arunodaya” i.e., Dawn. Aruna is the personification of the rising sun. Vinathe was waiting for her other egg to hatch after the tragic incident.
Meanwhile, Kadru plotted a conspiracy to trap Vinathe and make her dasi (servant). Kadru used the Samudra manthana situation to fool Vinathe.
Samudra manthana (briefly mentioned here as this is related to our main story) Indra and associates lost their power, vigor and fortune, due to Durvasa Muni/Rishi’s curse to Indra. To regain their power back, they decided to churn Kshira Sagara to get Amrith (nectar) as suggested by lord Vishnu. But, to do that, they needed enormous resource, power and strength which they could only get from Asuras (demons). Devas made a deal with asuras to share Amrith and all other things that would come along with that from the ocean (Kshira Sagara).

They decided to use Mandaara Parvatha (mountain) as spindle and Vasuki as churning rope. But Mandaara parvatha did not have any support that would keep it in a required position without slipping. This was when Lord Vishnu took his Aadi Kurmavathara (tortoise) and held the Mandara Parvatha in a required position.

The churning started, and many things came out along with Amritha. Just to name a few, Shree MahaLakshmi (The Goddess of Fortune/Wealth) – hence the name, “Kshira Sagara Thanaye”, Uchhaishravas – the divine seven headed pure white horse, Halahala – lethal poison which was produced during the churning and Lord Shiva drank it to save the universe, hence the name, Neelakanta (Neela is blue and Kanta is throat in Sanskrit), Airavata – divine white elephant,

Kamadhenu – divine cow and finally Amritha came out of the ocean and it was collected in a pot for distribution between suras and asuras along with the other things came out.

Uchhaishravas is a pure white horse which was topic of discussion picked by Kadru to trap Vinathe. Kadru told Vinathe that Uchhaishravas has a black tail. Then both started arguing and that argument turned into challenge or bet. The loser would become dasi to their other opponent and would serve them. So, both decided to go and see the reality the next morning. Kadru called her 1000 naga sons for an urgent meeting and ordered them to coil around the horse’s tail to make it look black. They did not agree to their mother’s plans and were cursed by her for not obeying, she ordered them to fall into a yaga kunda (hence many of them died in the sarpa yaga performed by Janmejaya, which is a different story). However, few of the serpents decided to make their mother happy as they knew that they would soon be dead. They went and coiled to the horse’s tail, which made the tail look black. The same was witnessed by Vinathe the next morning and she became dasi for Kadru.

Vinathe started serving Kadru as dasi and could not pay any attention to her egg which finally hatched. A half-bird and half-man emerged out of the shell, He had the body and legs of a human, but the head and wings of a bird. This creature was the one the Valakhilyas had prayed for (will be mentioned in the following paragraph). Vinata was delighted with the long-awaited birth of her son. He was vibrant and radiant like the sun and Agni. His lustre was like a fire that would consume all creations when this world would end. His eyes were big and burning red in colour, body was the colour of emerald and his wings were golden-yellow and very wide, and he was born with enormous power. Mother Vinathe was very happy and named him Vainatheya.

Vainatheya understood the complete situation and how his mother got cheated. He also started serving Kadru’s family along with his mother. He asked his mother how to put an end to this slavery. Vinathe said, if Kadru agreed and accepted your request we would be free. Vainatheya went to his aunt and her 1000 children (nagas) and made a request. He told them, that he could kill all ofthem just by flapping his wings. However, he also wanted to be within the boundaries of Dharma, hence requested them to tell him how to end this slavery – dasya vimochana. Kadru and her family got the message and they started discussion amongst themselves and told Vainatheya to bring ‘Amuritha’ (nectar which was collected during the Samudra manthana) from Indralokha to release them from the dasi vrithi.

Vainatheya agreed to this demand and went to his father Kashyapa Brahmarishi. He recounted all that had happened, and his aunt’s and her children’s demand were. He requested his father to advise him for a right diet, so that he could gain more power to complete the task and win war over Indra and his subordinates. Kashyapa Brahmarishi told Vainatheya to eat the tortoise and elephant who lived in the near- by lake. They were brothers in their previous birth who had a property dispute and had become enemies and were now reborn as animals but still they hated each other.

Vainatheya within no time flew to the lake and grabbed the huge tortoise and elephant and flew up in the sky looking for a place to eat his food. An old banyan tree welcomed him to sit and eat his meal. Before he sat, a huge branch of that banyan tree was knocked off just by a slight touch of the huge tortoise. As soon as the branch fell, Vainatheya spotted Valakhilyas sages who were meditating upside-down hanging on the branch. Valakhilyas consumed rays from Sun as their food and they were very tiny (thumb size).

Vainatheya immediately caught the falling branch with his beak and continued flying back to his father kashyapa Brahmarishi. Valakhilyas were not disturbed by this at all, but the other rishis who witnessed this situation were astonished by Vainatheya’s strength and called him “Garuda” – Garudasthu kagah shresta thasmath pannaga bojanha.

Kashyapa Brahmarishi understood Vainatheya’s situation and requested Valakhilyas to stop their meditation. Valakhilyas opened their eyes and understood the situation and got off the branch. They knew who Garuda was and blessed Garuda. Valakhilyas travelled towards Himalayas to continue their thapas (meditation).

Soon after, Garuda flew to Swargaloka. The speed at which he travelled shook the entire swargaloka. Indra and Davas could not understand what was happening. Indra approached their preceptor Brihaspati for help. Brihaspati cautioned and reminded him about valakhilyas shapa (curse)to Indra. Garuda, the son of Vinathe and Kashyapa Brahmarishi planned to steal Amritha (nectar) and that “he is more powerful than Indra and unbeatable”.

Valakhuilyas – as mentioned previously, Kashyapa Brahmarishi was engaged in performing a yaga with a desire to get a valorous child. The Valakhuilyas, whose height was not more than a human thumb, were making herculean efforts to carry a twig and they fell into a small puddle. Indra came back carrying a large log. He saw what happened to Valakhilyas and made fun of them. The Valakhilyas were furious on Indra and they decided to bring his ego down by creating more powerful person who could replace Indra. Then Indra was apologetic and requested Valakhuilays to tweak the curse so that Indra would not lose his position based on the request made by Kashyapa Brahmarishi, but was aware that this person would still be more powerful than Indra. Indra remembered all these; He alerted his team to secure amritha and asked them to create chakravyuha loaded with weapons and poisonous snakes to arrest Garuda. The nectar was secure in a strong room which had mechanical rotating wheels with very sharp edges so that no one could cross that.

Garuda flapped his wings and the entire devalokha was filled with dust and no one could see anything. Within no time Garuda decreased in size, crossed all hurdles and carried the Amritha pot and stared his flight towards his home. Indra and his team only realised after Vainatheya flew away with the nectar pot.

Lord Sri Vishnu who witnessed Vainatheya’s braveness and his honesty from a distance, appeared in front of Vainatheya and praised him about his strength and determination to curb any temptation to consume this nectar, although even the devas would be tempted by the Amrita. Then Maha Vishnu wanted to grant him two boons.

Garuda bowed down to Lord Vishnu and requested him to make him immortal and free from all diseases. Next, he asked to be above lord Vishnu too.

                                   

Maha Vishnu granted Vainatheya both requests and said he would always stay on his flagstaff (Dhwaja)so that Vainatheya will always be above Sri Vishnu in a way. Vainatheya was very happy and hence the name “Garuda Dhwaja” which we witness in every Vishnu temple, above the main deity.

Garuda was very happy about his grants and said, “I wish to grant you a boon as well, My Lord”. Maha Vishnu told Garuda to be his mount and to carry him around everywhere as his Vahanam. Vainatheya agreed and was very pleased. Vainatheya took permission from Maha Vishnu to finish his current task of freeing his mother from slavery.

Meanwhile, Indra appeared again to take back the nectar pot from Garuda. Garuda refused to return the pot and challenged that Indra could not cause any harm to him. Indra, who was not happy with this challenge, threw his Vajrayoudha at Garuda. Indra’s Vajrayudha is made from the backbone of Dadhichi Maharishi. Vainatheya told Indra that the Vajrayudha would not cause any harm to him, however, with lots of respect to Dadhichi Maharishi, he would shed one of his feathers.

Garuda dropped a feather which gleamed like a gold and hence he was also named as “Suparna” Indra understood the reality and agreed not to fight Garuda. He offered his friendship and asked to return the nectar pot. Garuda refused to hand over the nectar pot as he needed this to release his mother and himself from slavery.

However, he mentioned that he could take it back once he has handed over to Kadru and the serpents. Then Garuda requested Indra to allow him to eat Snakes (Pannaga Bhojana) as his natural food as Garuda was still angry at Kadru
and family and to teach them a lesson. Indra granted that wish to Vainatheya.

Garuda went to Kadru and her children and he asked them to prepare a place to keep Amritha using Kusha grass (hence Dharba is considered as pavithram) The Amrita had to be consumed after bathing. So, Garuda placed it on this Kusha grass while they went for ablutions and sought permission to take his mother from there. Kadru and family were happy to release Vinathe.

The Nagas declared Vinata’s freedom and then went to cleanse themselves. Indra was waiting for this opportunity to steal the nectar pot, like it was agreed between Vainatheya and Indra, Before Nagas could approach the nectar, Indra
held the pot and made his way to swarga lokha. The Nagas were very upset when they saw Indra stole the nectar pot but were helpless. However, they saw few drops of Amritha fallen on the dharba grass. So, the Nagas decided to lick
those drops of Amrita. However, the sharp grass/dharba slit their tongues. Hence, the snakes have forked tongue always (it’s a belief).

After leaving Vinathe safe and in a secured place, Vainatheya went to vaikunta to serve Lord Vishnu as his vahanam.