How Garuda frees his mother Also, why snakes have split tongues!

Kashyap finished his story and told Garuda that the elephant and the tortoise, the two brothers kept fighting with each other still. This was due to faults in their character. Both the animals were huge in size and were intent on killing each other. Kashyap instructed Garuda to eat the animals and satisfy his hunger and proceed on his journey to get Amrit. Having thus gained the permission of his father, Garuda went to the island where the animals lived ,grabbed them in his claws, and flew away. On his way he reached the Suvarna mountains.

There were giant trees on the mountains and Garuda started looking for a tree to perch so that he could eat the animals. The trees of the Suvarna Mountains were very scared to see the mighty Garuda and prayed to him not to destroy them by the force of his wings. Garuda saw their fear and moved away from them. Then a huge Banyan tree offered him a giant branch on which he could perch. The moment Garuda sat on it the branch broke and started to fall. Garuda caught hold of the falling branch in his beak and saw with surprise that a family of Valkhalya Saints was meditating on the branch, hanging upside down! Garuda thought that if he left the branch then the ascetics would fall and die.

Now he had no option but to keep flying till he reached a suitable place where he could eat the animals. He reached Gandhamadan Mountains. Rishi Kashyap saw the plight of Garuda and said to him, "Son, be very careful. The saints hanging from this branch are very powerful as they only drink sunlight. Do not do anything to make the saints angry as they will reduce you to ashes with their curse." Then Kashyap prayed to the Valkhalya saints and told them that Garuda was going to do a great service to mankind and requested them to bless him. The saints were pleased and left the branch and went to the Himalayas to continue their meditations. Garuda was then able to drop the branch and eat the elephant and the tortoise perched on the top of the mountain.

As he flew higher towards the heaven, the Gods started feeling the effects of his approach. Indra, the God of Lightening, went to Brahma to ask the reason for the chaos in heaven. Brahma told Indra that it was due to Garuda who was approaching the heaven armed with the blessings of his father and the Valkhalya saints to take Amrit to free his mother. Brahma warned Indra that Garuda was an independent spirit and could change appearances and increase or decrease his size according to will. He said that Garuda is so powerful that he is capable of taking Amrit away from heaven.

A worried Indra went to warn the guardians of Amrit to be alert as the King of Birds, the all-powerful Garuda was coming to take Amrit from heaven. All the Gods and Indra himself decided to guard the Amrit themselves. When Garuda reached there, he flapped his mighty wings so hard that a huge cloud of dust covered the Gods. The dust blinded them and the guardians of Amrit were scared. They were unable to see Garuda even for a second and Garuda with his wings and powerful beak created havoc among the Gods. Indra went to Vayu, the God of Winds and requested him to blow the clouds of dust enveloping heaven.

Vayu did so and the Gods started attacking Garuda. This did not deter him and he continued his rampage. Soon the Gods were wounded and were unable to fight. Garuda then saw that the pot of Amrit was guarded by fire and huge flames surrounded it. Garuda increased his size and created one thousand one hundred mouths on his body. He then drank the water of many rivers and poured all the water on the flames. The fire was quenched and Garuda reduced his size again and went ahead. Garuda with his beautiful white and gold body looked as if he was wearing sunlight.

He reached the place where the pot of Amrit was kept. When he reached there he saw that there was a spinning iron wheel near the pot. The edges of the wheel were sharp and there were thousands of weapons mounted on the wheel. Garuda searched for a way to get past the wheel. He then reduced his size and went past the wheel avoiding all the weapons. But his trials had not yet ended. There were two dangerous snakes protecting the pot of Amrit. Their flickering tongues, luminous eyes and fiery bodies were enough to scare anyone. They were also poisonous. Garuda, with his beak and claws, ripped these two snakes apart and picked up the pot of Amrit and flew off with great speed. He did not partake of this life giving ambrosia and flew straight to his brothers, the snakes where his mother Vinta worked as a slave. On his return journey Garuda saw Vishnu, the preserver. When Vishnu realised that Garuda did not want the Amrit for himself he was very pleased. He asked Garuda to ask for a wish. Garuda asked Vishnu to bless him and always keep him near his self and to grant him immortal status even without drinking Amrit. Then Garuda asked Vishnu to ask him for a wish.

So Vishnu requested Garuda to become his vehicle. Garuda agreed and flew off with the pot of Amrit. Meanwhile, Indra who had lost consciousness while fighting Garuda, regained his senses and was filled with anger to see Garuda fleeing with the Amrit. He threw his weapon, Vajra (lightening) at Garuda. The Vajra hit him but had no affect on him. Garuda laughed at Indra and said softly, "Indra, in respect of the great saint Dadhichi, out of whose bones this weapon is made I am leaving a feather from my wings. Your weapon has not hurt me even a little." Upon this, Garuda dropped a feather from his wings. People were very happy to see the feather. They called Garuda, the owner of the beautiful feather, Suparn. Indra was humbled and surprised at the might of this great bird. He said to Garuda, "O king of the birds, I want to know how powerful you are and I also want you as my friend. Garuda agreed to be friends with him and declined any discussion on his strength. He said that boasting was not a good thing and one should always be humble and modest about one's achievements.

When Indra insisted, he said, "You are a friend and so I shall tell you. I can carry all the mountains, forests, oceans, the earth and all its inhabitants on one of my feathers and fly without any effort." Indra was impressed by this and requested Garuda to be his friend. He asked Garuda to return the pot of Amrit to him, as he was worried that once the snakes partake of the ambrosia they would trouble the Gods no end. Garuda assured him and said that he does not want that the snakes should drink Amrit, but explained that he had to take it as his mother's freedom depended on it. He requested Indra to pick it up from the place where he kept it. Indra was pleased and asked Garuda to ask for a wish.

Garuda remembered the plight of his mother and her grief at being treated like a slave by the snakes and he asked Indra to bless him so that the snakes become his food. Indra agreed and Garuda bid farewell to him and flew to the snakes without further hindrances. Garuda reached the snakes and kept the pot on the spiny grass in front of them. He said to them, "Don't be in a hurry to drink the Amrit. Have a bath and purify yourself. According to your condition, I have done what you asked me to do, so my mother is free of slavery now." The snakes agreed and went to have their bath. Now Indra appeared and stole the pot of Amrit from where it was kept. When the snakes came back after purifying themselves, they found that the Amrit had vanished!

They understood that it was a punishment for the trick that they had played on Vinta to make her a slave by wrapping themselves round the tail of the horse Uchchashrava. They were sad but could do nothing. Thinking that some Amrit must have spilled on the spiny grass where it was kept, the snakes started licking the grass. The blades of the grass were so sharp that the tongues of the snakes split into two. That spiny variety of grass called Kush acquired a pure status as it had come in contact with Amrit and is used as an ingredient in the prayer services of the Hindus. This is how Garuda freed his mother, this is also the reason why snakes are eaten by the birds of prey and snakes have split tongues.