Talking about the history of Hinduism, we get information about some such mystical beings who used to reside in the land of India. But among these divine and miraculous beings, there are some such creatures who are said to exist even today and Garuda is one of them. Garuda is one such divine creature of Hinduism that everyone knows about and is usually depicted as a huge bird, or even half-human and half-bird. He is described as celestial deva with wings. Garuda Dev is worshiped not only by Hindus but also by Buddhists and Jains and the description of Garuda Dev is also found in their ancient texts. He is primarily depicted as the vehicle (vahana) of the Hindu god Vishnu.
Sage Kashyapa and Vinata had two sons, one of whom is Aruna, the charioteer of the God Sun, and his younger brother Garuda, a mighty bird of immense power. He is the half-brother of Devas and half of Daityas, Danavas, and Yakshas. Information about Garuda is found in the Vedas and Puranas, and along with India, he is also worshiped in Thailand, China, Cambodia, and Indonesia. The national emblem of Indonesia is called Garuda Pancasila.
The enmity between Garuda and the snakes is written in our scriptures. It is said that Vinata, the mother of Garuda, and Kadru, the mother of snakes (Nagas), were married to sage Kashyapa. After the marriage, a rift started between these two women and soon both of them became enemies of each other. Vinata and Kadru both wanted to have children, and Kashyapa granted each of them a boon. Kadru wished for one thousand Naga sons, and Vinata asked for just two sons, but each an equal to all of Kadru's thousand sons.
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Once Vinata and Kadru made a bet on something which was won by Kadru through trickery. After losing the bet, Vinata was forced to become Kadru's slave. Garuda, later on, asked his brothers (Nagas) to free his mother from slavery, to which Nagas promised Garuda that they would free his mother, but for this, he would have to bring nectar (Amrit) from heaven. On this, Garuda agreed to bring the nectar of immortality to the snakes.
He waged a war against Devas with his extraordinary might and abilities and won the pot of nectar. Garuda flew off with the nectar and reached earth, where he succeeded in freeing his mother from slavery. However, the snakes were not allowed to drink the nectar because of a plan executed by the Devas. But seeing the atrocities done to his mother, Garuda became very angry with the Nagas. Since then it is believed that Garuda is treating snakes as his food and destroying them. Therefore, the enmity between Snakes and Garuda can still be clearly seen.
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