Chapter 32
“Sauti said, ‘O foremost of Brahmanas, the gods having prepared forbattle in that way, Garuda, the king of birds, soon came upon those wiseones. And the gods beholding him of excessive strength began to quakewith fear, and strike one another with all their weapons.
And amongstthose that guarded the Soma was Brahmana (the celestial architect), ofmeasureless might, effulgent as the electric fire and of great energy.And after a terrific encounter lasting only a moment, managed by the lordof birds with his talons, beak, and wings, he lay as dead on the fields.And the ranger of the skies making the worlds dark with the dust raisedby the hurricane of his wings, overwhelmed the celestials with it. Andthe latter, overwhelmed with that dust, swooned away. And the immortalswho guarded the amrita, blinded by that dust, could no longer see Garuda.Even thus did Garuda agitate the region of the heavens. And even thus hemangled the gods with the wounds inflicted by his wings and beak.
“Then the god of a thousand eyes commanded Vayu (the god of wind),saying, ‘Dispel thou this shower of dust soon. O Maruta, this is indeed,thy task. Then the mighty Vayu soon drove away that dust. And when thedarkness had disappeared, the celestials attacked Garuda. And as he ofgreat might was attacked by the gods, he began to roar aloud, like thegreat cloud that appeareth in the sky at the end of the Yuga, frighteningevery creature. And that king of birds, of great energy, that slayer ofhostile heroes, then rose on his wings. All the wise ones (thecelestials) with Indra amongst them armed with double-edged broad swords,iron maces furnished with sharp spikes, pointed lances, maces, brightarrows, and many a discus of the form of the sun, saw him over head. Andthe king of birds, attacked them on all sides with showers of variousweapons and fought exceedingly hard without wavering for a moment. Andthe son of Vinata, of great prowess blazing in the sky, attacked the godson all sides with his wings and breast. And blood began to flow copiouslyfrom the bodies of the gods mangled by the talons and the beak of Garuda.Overcome by the lord of birds, the Sadhyas with the Gandharvas fledeastwards, the Vasus with the Rudras towards the south, the Adityastowards the west, and the twin Aswins towards the north. Gifted withgreat energy, they retreated fighting, looking back every moment on theirenemy.
“And Garuda had encounters with the Yakshas, Aswakranda of great courage,Rainuka, the bold Krathanaka, Tapana, Uluka, Swasanaka, Nimesha, Praruja,and Pulina. And the son of Vinata mangled them with his wings, talons,and beak, like Siva himself, that chastiser of enemies, and the holder ofPinaka in rage at the end of the Yuga. And those Yakshas of great mightand courage, mangled all over by that ranger of the skies, looked likemasses of black clouds dropping thick showers of blood.
“And Garuda, depriving them of life, and then went to where the amritawas. And he saw that it was surrounded on all sides by fire. And theterrible flames of that fire covered the entire sky. And moved by violentwinds, they seemed bent on burning the Sun himself. The illustriousGaruda then assumed ninety times ninety mouths and quickly drinking thewaters of many rivers with those mouths and returning with great speed,that chastiser of enemies, having wings for his vehicle extinguished thatfire with that water. And extinguishing that fire, he assumed a verysmall form, desirous of entering into (the place where the Soma was).'”
So ends the thirty-second section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva.
