Garuda Puranam | Who Is Garuda | Blog 3

Blog Story Tile: GARUDA PURANAM - THE JOURNEY AFTER DEATH

Blog Tile: WHO IS GARUDA

Blog Series: #3

Written By: DHEERAJ EDAT

After reading my previous blog (B#2) on Garuda Puranam - The Journey After Death, I believe that you would have understood what Puranam is all about and what are the 18 Maha Puranas. And I mentioned that in today’s blog I will be writing about Garuda. But before knowing about Garuda, I prefer to give you a short understanding on Hindu Mythology, which will be helpful for you later while reading out other stories related to this on my blog.

Welcome to the 3rd Story Blog Post of Garuda Puranam - The Jounrey After Death.

Hindu Mythology

Today, Hinduism has millions of followers in India and around the world. Hinduism is also one of the world's oldest religions. For well over 3,000 years, it has been accumulating the sacred stories and heroic epics that make up the mythology of Hinduism. Nothing in this complex and colorful mythology is fixed and firm. Pulsing with creation, destruction, love, and war, it shifts and changes. Most myths occur in several different versions, and many characters have multiple roles, identities, and histories. This seeming confusion reflects the richness of a mythology that has expanded and taken on new meanings over the centuries.

Hindu mythology is the body of myths and literature attributed to, and espoused by, the adherents of the Hindu religion, found in Hindu texts such as the Vedic literature, epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana, the Puranas, and regional literature like the Tamil Periya Puranam and Naalayira Divya Prabandham, and the Mangal Kavya of Bengal. Hindu myths are also found in widely translated popular texts such as the fables of the Panchatantra and the Hitopadesha, as well as in Southeast Asian texts.

It says that, around 1700 B.C, peoples from the area to the northwest of India began migrating to India. Called Aryans or Indo-Europeans. They brought a mythic tradition that became the basis of an early form of Hinduism. Over the years, as the Aryans mingled with the peoples and cultures of the Indian subcontinent, the mythology grew increasingly complex.

Hinduism has gone through various stages, which can be linked to the most important texts surviving from each period. The earliest stage is associated with the Vedas, the oldest Indian documents. One of them, the Rig-Veda, is a collection of 1,028 hymns of praise and prayers to the gods with references to myths. The Vedas are based on ancient Aryan traditions that were long communicated only in oral form.

The next group of texts, the Brahmanas, date from 900 to 700 B.C. Though concerned mainly with the rituals of Hinduism, the Brahmanas contain many myths. The Upanishads, written around 700 B.C . and after, focus on ideas but often communicate them through myths. The two great Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, written down sometime between 300 B .C . and A.D. 300, contain stories about a number of major deities. After that time, the chief expression of Hindu mythology and religion was in texts called Puranas, "stories of the old days." Most of the stories are devoted to one god or another. The Puranas often retell earlier myths, sometimes in the voices of the gods themselves.

Who Is Garuda?

Now let us get to into the main subject of this blog. Most among us know that Garuda is Lord Vishnu’s vaahanam. But how many of you know that Garuda is an immortal deity? So let us explore more on this.

Garuda is a supreme devotee of Lord Vishnu. Garuda, in Hindu mythology, the bird (a kite or an eagle) and the vahana (mount) of the god Vishnu.

In the Rigveda the sun is compared to a bird in its flight across the sky, and an eagle carries the ambrosial soma plant from heaven to earth. The mythological account of Garuda’s birth in the Mahabharata identifies him as the younger brother of Aruna, the charioteer of the sun god, Surya. Garuda’s mother, Vinata, mother of the birds, was tricked into becoming the slave of her sister and co-wife, Kadru, mother of the nagas (serpents). The lasting enmity between the birds, particularly Garuda, and the serpents is attributed to this. The nagas agreed to release Vinata if Garuda could obtain for them a drink of the elixir of immortality, the amrita, or soma. Garuda performed that feat, thus giving the snakes the ability to slough off their old skins, and, on his way back from the heavens, he met Vishnu and agreed to serve him as his vehicle and also as his emblem.

Garuda is described in one text as emerald in colour, with the beak of a kite, roundish eyes, golden wings, and four arms and with a breast, knees, and legs like those of a kite. He is also depicted anthropomorphically, with wings and hawk like features. Two of his hands are folded in adoration (The Anjali Mudra), and the other two carry an umbrella and the pot of amrita. Sometimes Vishnu rides on his shoulders. Images of Garuda are used by devotees of Vishnu to designate their affiliations; such images appear on coins of the Gupta period.

Garuda is described as the king of the birds. He is shown either in a zoomorphic form (a giant bird with partially open wings) or an anthropomorphic form (a man with wings and some ornithic features). Garuda is generally portrayed as a protector with the power to swiftly travel anywhere, ever vigilant and an enemy of every serpent. He is also known as Tarkshya and Vainateya.

Garuda's links to Vishnu – the Hindu god who fights injustice and destroys evil in his various avatars to preserve dharma, has made him an iconic symbol of king's duty and power, an insignia of royalty or dharma. His eagle-like form is shown either alone or with Vishnu, signifying divine approval of the power of the state. He is found on the faces of many early Hindu kingdom coins with this symbolism, either as a single-headed bird or a three-headed bird that watches all sides.

Throughout the Mahabharata, Garuda is invoked as a symbol of impetuous violent force, speed, and martial prowess. Powerful warriors advancing rapidly on doomed foes are likened to Garuda swooping down on a serpent. Defeated warriors are like snakes beaten down by Garuda. The Mahabharata character Dhrona uses a military formation named after Garuda. Krishna even carries the image of Garuda on his banner. The one of the famous 18 Maha Puranas are named after Garuda which is called “GARUDA PURANAM”, a wonderful conversation between Garuda and Lord Vishnu is regarding the meaning of human life, death, afterlife, sin, life in hell, location of hell, Yama, the Lord of the Underworld, his assistant Chitragupta, description of the City of Yama, the various kinds of punishments meted out to the sinners, how to avoid sin upon earth, expiation of sin, what types of funeral rites should be performed for the departed and what happens when they are not performed and so on.

World’s Third Tallest Statue - Gaurda Wisnu Kencana

It is dedicated to the Hindu God of Vishnu and his mount, the mythical bird Garuda. It is located in Ungasan area on the southern part of Bali.

This colossal statue was completed in August 2018, and was inaugurated by the seventh Indonesian President Joko Widodo on September of 2018. It was built with the intention of being Bali’s landmark, which lives up to its name, as the statue is visible from many locations on the island due to its immense size. Now the GWK statue serves as a cultural park where visitors can come and see the statue itself, as well as other cultural dances and performances. Garuda Wisnu Kencana stands 121 meters tall with a wingspan measuring 65 meters, making it taller than the Statue of Liberty by up to 30 meters. It is considered to be the third tallest structure in the world after the Spring Temple Buddha, which towers at a height of 153 meters, and Myanmar’s Laykyun Sekkya Buddha at 135 meters. Domestically however, it remains the tallest structure in all of Indonesia.

Well so that's all about today's blog on Garuda. I haven't elaborated on this topic as this Blog Series features about Garuda Puranam.

In my next blog we will start with the most awaited “Garuda Puranam - The Journey After Death”

Till then, stay tuned!!!

Written By

DE (Dheeraj Edat)

www.dheerajedat.com