Chapter 34
‘Sauti continued, ‘Garuda then said, ‘O Purandara, let there befriendship between thee and me as thou desirest.
My strength, know thou,is hard to bear. O thou of a thousand sacrifices, the good never approveof speaking highly of their own strength, nor do they speak of their ownmerits. But being made a friend, and asked by thee, O friend, I willanswer thee, although self-praise without reason is ever improper. I canbear, on a single feather of mine, O Sakra, this Earth, with hermountains and forests and with the waters of the ocean, and with theealso stationed thereon. Know thou, my strength is such that I can bearwithout fatigue even all the worlds put together, with their mobile andimmobile objects.’
“Sauti continued, ‘O Saunaka, after Garuda of great courage had thusspoken, Indra the chief of the gods, the wearer of the (celestial) crown,ever bent upon the good of the worlds, replied, saying, ‘It is as thousayest. Everything is possible in thee. Accept now my sincere and heartyfriendship. And if thou hast no concern with the Soma, return it to me.Those to whom thou wouldst give it would always oppose us.’ Garudaanswered, ‘There is a certain reason for which the Soma is being carriedby me. I shall not give the Soma to any one for drink. But, O thou of athousand eyes, after I have placed it down, thou, O lord of the heavens,canst then, taking it up, instantly bring it away.’ Indra then said, ‘Ooviparous one, I am highly gratified with these words now spoken by thee.O best of all rangers of the skies; accept from me any boon that thoudesirest.’
“Sauti continued, ‘Then Garuda, recollecting the sons of Kadru andremembering also the bondage of his mother caused by an act of deceptionowing to the well-known reason (viz., the curse of Aruna), said,’Although I have power over all creatures, yet I shall do your bidding.Let, O Sakra, the mighty snakes become my food.’ The slayer of theDanavas having said unto him, ‘Be it so,’ then went to Hari, the god ofgods, of great soul, and the lord of Yogins. And the latter sanctionedeverything that had been said by Garuda. And the illustrious lord ofheaven again said unto Garuda, ‘I shall bring away the Soma when thouplacest it down.’ And having said so, he bade farewell to Garuda. And thebird of fair feathers then went to the presence of his mother with greatspeed.
“And Garuda in joy then spake unto all the snakes, ‘Here have I broughtthe Amrita. Let me place it on some Kusa grass. O ye snakes, sittinghere, drink of it after ye have performed your ablutions and religiousrites. As said by you, let my mother become, from this day, free, for Ihave accomplished your bidding.’ The snakes having said unto Garuda, ‘Beit so,’ then went to perform their ablutions. Meanwhile, Sakra taking upthe Amrita, wended back to heaven. The snakes after performing theirablutions, their daily devotions, and other sacred rites, returned injoy, desirous of drinking the Amrita. They saw that the bed of kusa grasswhereon the Amrita had been placed was empty, the Amrita itself havingbeen taken away by a counter-act of deception. And they began to lickwith their tongues the kusa grass, as the Amrita had been placed thereon.And the tongues of the snakes by that act became divided in twain. Andthe kusa grass, too, from the contact with Amrita, became sacredthenceforth. Thus did the illustrious Garuda bring Amrita (from theheavens) for the snakes, and thus were the tongues of snakes divided bywhat Garuda did.
“Then the bird of fair feathers, very much delighted, enjoyed himself inthose woods accompanied by his mother. Of grand achievements, and deeplyreverenced by all rangers of the skies, he gratified his mother bydevouring the snakes.
“That man who would listen to this story, or read it out to an assemblyof good Brahmanas, must surely go to heaven, acquiring great merit fromthe recitation of (the feats of) Garuda.'”
And so ends the thirty-fourth section in the Astika Parva of the AdiParva.
