Yes, Garuda can be seen more powerful and stronger than Shesha but I consider them both equals. Let’s see the strength of Garuda as described in The Mahabharata :
- Garuda in a moment of time can travel almost anywhere :
Citation :
Where will I discard this branch of the tree? O lord! Tell me of a land where there are no Brahmanas.” Kashyapa told him of a mountain that was uninhabited by men, inaccessible and incapable of being penetrated by others even in their thoughts, covered with snow and full of caves. The great bird, Tarkshya,78 carried the branch, the elephant and the tortoise and swiftly, with the power of his mind, entered the mountain’s wide base. A thin leather strap cut out of a hundred skins wouldn’t have been long enough to encircle that giant branch the giant bird carried in his flight. Garuda, the lord of all the birds, flew over 100,000 yojanas in the briefest possible time. As if in a moment, he reached the mountain his father had described and released the branch, which fell down with a great roar. On being struck by the wind unleashed by the bird’s wings, the king of mountains trembled.
Reference : Adi Parva Section Five Astika Parva Chapter 26
- Garuda in any day is superior than the 33 Gods as he is the second Indra after Purandra, King of Gods though 100 times more stronger than him :
Citation :
According to the rites, these great sages, rigid in their austerities, poured libations into the sacrificial fire and chanted mantras saying, “The gods will have another Indra, capable of going anywhere at will and capable of summoning up any power at will. He will bring great fear to the present king of the gods. Through the fruits of our austerities, there will be born one, swift as the mind, who will be a hundred times better than Indra in strength and valour.” On learning of this, Shatakratu,89 the king of the gods, was greatly alarmed and sought refuge with Kashyapa, rigid in his vows.
Reference : Adi Parva Section Five Astika Parva Chapter 27
- Garuda defeated the entire army of gods for the sake of taking amrita for his mother :
Citation :
Souti said, ‘O best of the twice born! When this turmoil was going on, Garuda, the king of the birds, swiftly came to where the gods were. Having seen his great strength, the gods began to tremble in fear. They even began to attack each other with their weapons. Among those guarding the soma, was Bhouvana,95 as radiant as the lightning and fire and unparalleled in his great valour. But after an instant’s great fight, he lay dead, ripped apart by the beaks, talons and wings of the Indra among birds. Darkening the worlds with a great storm of dust created by his wings, the giant bird overwhelmed the gods, and overcome with that dust, the gods were deluded. Those who were guarding the amrita could not see it because of that dust. Thus, Garuda brought complete turmoil to the world of the gods. He ripped the gods apart with his wings and beak. Then, the god with the thousand eyes96 commanded Vayu,97 “O Marut! It is your duty to drive the dust away.” Then the mighty Vayu drove the dust away. ‘When the darkness had disappeared, the gods attacked the bird. He roared in the sky, like a giant cloud, terrifying all beings. Attacked by the army of the gods, the immensely valorous king of the birds, the destroyer of enemies, rose into the sky, above the heads of the gods. Led by Indra and armoured, they attacked him with many weapons like lances, iron clubs, spears, maces, many sharp swords and chakras as radiant as the sun. Attacked from every side, the king of birds didn’t even tremble. Vinata’s powerful son fought a tremendous battle, showing no signs of tiring out. Like the roar of thunder in the sky, Vinata’s powerful son attacked the gods from all sides with his wings and breast and scattered them in all directions. Oppressed and mangled by Garuda’s beak and talons, a lot of blood flowed from the bodies of the gods and they fled. The saddhyas and gandharvas fled to the east, the vasus and rudras to the south, the adityas to the west and the Nasatyas98 to the north. They retreated while fighting and looked back repeatedly at the immensely energetic enemy. He fought with the brave Ashvakranda, the bird Renuka, the brave Krathana, the bird Tapana, Uluka, Shvasana, the bird Nimesha, Praruja and Pulina. Vinata’s son tore them into pieces with his wings, talons and sharp beak, like the wrathful and enemy-destroying Pinaki99 at the end of a yuga. Those immensely powerful and energetic warriors, draining showers of blood from their many wounds, looked like dark clouds. ‘Thus rendering the gods almost dead, the best of the birds went to where the amrita was and found it surrounded from all sides by fire. The flames of that great raging fire covered up by the entire sky and moved by violent winds seemed to burn up the hot and sharp rays of the sun. The great-souled Garuda thereupon assumed ninety times ninety mouths and drank up with these mouths water from rivers. Returning with great speed and using his wings as a chariot, he quenched the blazing fires with the rivers. Putting out the fires, he adopted a very small form, wishing to enter.’100
Reference : Adi Parva Section Five Astika Parva Chapter 28
The strength of Garuda is described by him as follows :
Citation :
‘As the bird, the enemy of the gods, flew on with the amrita, Indra powerfully struck him with his vajra. Struck by the vajra, Garuda, supreme among those who fly, tauntingly told Indra in a pleasant voice, “I shall respect the rishi from whose bones the vajra has been constructed. O Shatakratu! I shall respect the vajra and you too. I will cast off one of my feathers and you will never be able to find its ends. I have not felt the slightest pain at being struck by your vajra.” On seeing that beautiful feather, all the beings were amazed and exclaimed, “Let this bird be called Suparna.”104 On seeing this marvellous act, the thousand-eyed Purandara was surprised and concluded that the bird must be a great being. He said, “O supreme among birds! I wish to know the extreme limits of your incomparable strength. I wish to be your eternal friend.”’ ‘Garuda said, “O Purandara! As you wish, let there be friendship between us. But know that my strength is great and hard to bear. O Shatakratu! There is no doubt that the learned do not approve of speaking highly of one’s own strength or of praising one’s own qualities. O friend! Since we are now friends and since you ask me, I will tell you, though there should never be self-praise without reason. O Shakra! On a single one of my feathers, without any fatigue, I can bear the wide world with its mountains, forests, oceans and even you suspended there, even all the worlds together, with all their mobile and immobile objects. Know this to be my great strength.”
Reference : Adi Parva Section Five Astika Parva Chapter 29, 30
- We all know that Shesha is the one who holds up the 3 worlds on its hoods. As per the statement of Garuda, he can carry the weight of the 3 worlds on any one of his feathers.
Though, it should be wrong to compare both Shesha and Garuda, but I don’t think Garuda is weaker than Shesha. They should be considered as equals.
Source :
The Critical Edition of Mahabharata