fuel for the mission

fuel for the mission

Now the time came for Garuda to go in search of Amrutha. He is conscious that the task he has to undertake is really tough. Even though he possesses extreme efficiency, he should also have the physical energy and the propelling force to launch Him further to where the pot of ambrosia ( in Bharatham and Puranas we see amrutham and somam used to connote the ambrosia). Garuda asks his mother what he should eat to gains sufficient energy. Her advise was that the young bird should eat away all the Nishadaas, a community of fishermen, and satiate his hunger. The Nishadas colony was situated in the middle of the ocean.

Vinatha gave a warning note also. People called Brahmanas were everywhere and it was possible that such persons would be available in the Kingdom of Nishadas also. Vinatha advises Garuda that he should not go anywhere near a brahmana with his intention to eat him. Brahmana was the power of Indra, Vayu, Yama Agrni, Ashwins, Marut etc all rolled into one. Devas can kill by action brahmana can annihilate you with mere words. Then Garuda asks his mother how he should recognize a Brahmin. She says it should very easy to recognize as the Brahmin would ooze out luster of his penance and knowledge. And if by any chance a brahmana entered his throat, he will start having a deadly buring sensation In the mouth and immediately he should spit the victim out. Anyway garudas intestinal juices were incapable of digesting a Brahman. 

In his Bada Khaana of Nishadas, Garuda ate away all the fishermen, but as feared by Vinatha, one Brahmin was also available in the town of Nishada and was taken in and Garuda's throat started giving burning sensation. The brahmana was only placed near the outer peripheralas of his his beak and so was requested to move out or jump out. But the funny Brahmin had a wife from the Nishada Community and the person would leave only if the Lady was also released. Garuda has to concede that demand, for fear of the curse of the Brahmin. We talk of a Nair tea shop even in the moon, but see how the funny Brahmins reach everywhere in the universe in search of livelihood and family? That continues till now.

Garuda was only partially satisfied with the eating of Nishadas. He soared up and on his way he met his father Kashyapa Prajapati and explained to him about his mission to capture amrutha and also about his insatiable hunger. Kashyapa had a beautiful solution. There were two Rishis, both brothers called Vibhavasu and Supratika. Vibhu was the elder and was keeping the ancestral family properties with him. The younger brother Supratika knew he was entitled to half the portion of the property and every week would visit his elder brother and demand partition. The elder brother was not willing to do this. He advised the younger one about the family property being scattered and the vedic rites and other offerings getting obstructed in the process. Behind such pious entreaties, the avarice for the whole wealth was working. When the younger brother became impossible to handle with his eternal nagging, Vibhavasu cursed him for pestering and the younger brother became an elephant. The younger brother also did not keep quiet. He cursed the elder one to be a tortoise. Even in those forms their desire for wealth did not abate. Every now and then the elephant would stand on the banks of a celestial water-spot calling the brother for a fight and the tortoise would respond immediately and the elephant would drag the elder brother tortoise to the ground and the tortoise in turn will pull back the elephant to the water. For the onlookers sometimes the fight was amusing but for most of the time it was a nuisance. The elephant and tortoise were of mammoth size and their belligerent movements caused disturbance and quakes everywhere. So it was Garuda's turn to make a quick supper of the elephant and tortoise both. He captured them, one on each leg, but he required a place where he should place them and break them with his beak.. This lead to funny results, which you can see in the next dispatch.

Garuda was asked to eat the Nishadas mainly because they were a belligerent lot causing dislocation to other tribes. The bird's hunger would be over and the nuisance from the group also. Even there the

funny Brahmin interfered and just by virtue of a marriage a nishada woman also escaped and she would continue to produce more and 

more nishadas.. especially considering the Brahmins capacity to procreate.

The haggling for wealth and its partition would never end even if the parties to the argument may pass away. The fight between these two would have been for some trees, wooden barks, or kamandalus. Still they fought, cursed one another and finally Garuda had to settle the 

issue.