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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00038 Mar 2008

 
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post 3. Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,

 

While writing about raavaNa remembering garudan, you might have noticed that garudan's feats are remembered by raavana – as per vaalmeeki. That means it should have happened long before raamaayaNam. But actually the full story is available in mahaa bhaaratham.

 

Then which one is time-wise old, – is it raamaayaNam or mahaa bhaaratham. That doubt will arise for any body who is not exposed in depth to both, raamaayanam and bhaaratham. So it is my duty to clear that point.

 

The rishi sauti who is detailing all these, explains as 'these are old stories, learnt from vyasa thru his son, from his son to my father romaharshana and then to me and from me to you all' - to the assembly of rishis who were interested to know past things – the time stated is around or just after janamejaya, the great grand son of paandavaas performed the snake yaagam.

 

This means even after the period of paandavaas and return of krishNa to his abode. For that matter even bhaaratham is retold story or a flashback only, after it happened long back and at the time of the snake yaagam. So, this garuda story is definitely a very old one, but retold in bhaaratham.

 

Coming to 'raavaNa remembering garuda' means – again - it should be long before birth of raama himself - for raavaNa had a very long life and he, to some extent wanted to prevent even dhasaratha's marriage to kousalya, the patta mahishi of dhasaratha – for he knows when raama is born, raavaNa's days are numbered. [recall when raama is 38 or 42 in age he finished raavaNa – according to Prof.Vartak raama at 32 finished raavana]

 

Let us return back to our topic instead of being carried away --

 

Part of 29th section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva – continued – quote

 

Sauti continued, 'Having said so unto Garuda, he (Kasyapa) blessed him, saying, 'Blest be thou when thou art in combat with the gods. Let water pitchers filled to the brim, Brahmanas, kine, and other auspicious objects, bless thee, thou oviparous one. And, O thou of great strength, when thou art engaged with the gods in combat, let the Riks, the Yajus, the Samas, the sacred sacrificial butter, all the mysteries (Upanishads), constitute thy strength.' -- unquote

 

[Point by MGV: it is due to father kaasyapa prajaapathi's blessing all vedhaas and upanishadhs constitute garuda's strength or power. So he becomes a vEdha swaroopi. See blow how he gets the name garuda –bearer of heavy weight.]

 

quote continued—of 29th section

"Garuda, thus addressed by his father, wended to the side of that lake. He saw that expanse of clear water with birds of various kinds all around. And remembering the words of his father, that ranger of the skies possessed of great swiftness of motion, seized the elephant and the tortoise, one in each claw. And that bird then soared high into the air. And he came upon a sacred place called Alamba and saw many divine trees. And struck by the wind raised by his wings, those trees began to shake with fear. And those divine trees having golden boughs feared that they would break. And the ranger of the skies seeing that those trees capable of granting every wish were quaking with fear, went to other trees of incomparable appearance. And those gigantic trees were adorned with fruits of gold and silver and branches of precious gems. And they were washed with the water of the sea. And there was a large banyan among them, which had grown into gigantic proportions, that spoke unto that lord of bird coursing towards it with the fleetness of the mind, 'Sit thou on this large branch of mine extending a 100 yojanas and eat the elephant and the tortoise.' When that best of birds, of great swiftness and of body resembling a mountain, quickly alighted upon a bough of that banian tree, the resort of 1000s of winged creatures-that bough also full of leaves shook and broke down.'"

 

30th section of asthika parva:

 

Sauti said, 'At the very touch by Garuda of great might with his feet, the branch of the tree broke as it was caught by Garuda. Casting his eyes around in wonder he saw Valakhilya Rishis hanging therefrom with heads downwards and engaged in ascetic penances. Reflecting that if that bough fell down, the Rishis would be slain, the mighty one held the elephant and the tortoise still more firmly with his claws. And from fear of slaying the Rishis and desire of saving them, held that bough in his beaks, and rose on his wings. The great Rishis were struck with wonder at the sight of that act of his which was beyond even the power of the gods, and gave that mighty bird a name. And they said, 'As this ranger of the skies rises on its wings bearing a heavy burden, let this foremost of birds having snakes for his food be called Garuda (bearer of heavy weight).'

-- Unquote

 

point: so dear readers, you got the point who named that huge bird as garudan – it is the rishis vaalakhilyaas. Also please see that the commentary or explanatory note added as seen in post 1 is based on this detailed account. 

 

Then the story goes on – as garudan could not find a place to place this branch with rishis hanging down, he flew to gandha maadhhana mountains where father kaasyapa was doing thapas. At his request on behalf of his son garuda, the valakhilya rishis left the branch. And then garuda placed the branch in a place where human habitation was not there and where lots of caves lakes etc were there.   Then he ate the elephant and tortoise.

 

Only thing is a small variation – there in raamaayaNam raavaNa remembers the nishaadha tribes beings killed. Here no mention about that.

 

We will continue how garuda brought the amirtham and for what purpose. See 4 or 5 slokams in raamaayaNam – that too a remembrance by raavaNa – led us to have a series.  May be with 2 posts we can complete this series - of course it is more a 'cut and paste' effort only.

 

Dhasan


Vasudevan MG __._,_.___

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