Garuda is the celestial falcon, who is the chariot of Bhagavan Vishnu. At the time of pralaya, only Bhagavan Vishnu was there. Bhagavan Vishnu wished to create the universe. A 14-petalled lotus emerged from Bhagavan Vishnu’s navel. From that navel came Chaturmukha Brahma. Bhagavan instructed Chaturmukha Brahma to perform the task of creation. Lord Brahma divided Himself into two parts from which two people came, namely Svayambhu Manu and Shataroopa Devi, who were the first man and woman respectively in the universe. They both had three daughters by name Akooti, Prasooti and Devahooti.
Following Bhagavan’s instructions, Brahma gave birth to children, who were born from his mind for continuing the creation. That’s why they were known as Brahma Maanasa Putras. Out of these were the 4 Kumaaras, Sage Marichi, and Daksha Prajapati. Daksha Prajapati was married to Prasooti, the daughter of Svayambhu Manu. From Daksha Prajapati and Prasooti came 14 daughters. Out of 14 daughters, 13 daughters were married to Sage Kashyapa, the son of Sage Marichi. Whereas the 14th daughter, Satidevi, was married to Lord Shiva.
Now, out of these 13 wives of Sage Kashyapa, Aditi gave birth to the devatas, Diti gave birth to the demons, Danu gave birth to the Daanavas, and so on. Now, in this answer, we require only two wives of Sage Kashyapa, namely Vinata and Kadru. They had worshipped their husband, Sage Kashyapa, with great devotion. Sage Kashyapa, pleased by their devotion, asked them to ask for a boon. Kadru asked for 1000 powerful serpent sons. Whereas Vinata asked for only 2 sons who were more powerful than all 1000 sons of Kadru combined. Sage Kashyapa blessed them with the same.
As per the blessing, Kadru laid 1000 eggs, from which the serpents led by Vaasuki, Aadishesha, etc. were born. Whereas Vinata laid 2 eggs, from which two were born - Garuda and Aruna. Aruna became the charioteer of Suryadeva. Vinata and Kadru were rivals from the beginning itself. During the Samudra Mathana, a horse named Uchhaishravas came out from the Milky Ocean. Now, Kadru and Vinata got into an argument over whether this Uchhaishravas horse was black or white. Kadru said it was black, whereas Vinata said it was white.
Both placed a bet that if Kadru won, Vinata would be her maid, whereas if Vinata won, Kadru would be her maid. Kadru, for the sake of winning the bet, asked her sons to cover the Uchhaishravas horse so that it looked black and she would win. Note that Aadishesha had already left his brothers and had gone to do penance to please Lord Brahma. Now, these serpents disagreed with Kadru to do the same. Enraged by this disobedience by her own sons, she cursed the snakes to be burnt in the fire. These snakes were later burnt in the Sarpa Satra done by King Janamejaya, the son of King Parikshita. The serpents agreed and then covered the horse, and thus from far it looked black in color, and then Kadru finally won deceitfully, and Vinata had to become her maid.
Vinata was treated as a maidservant by Kadru and her sons. Kadru used to order Vinata to do heavy tasks. She even once asked Vinata to carry her on Vinata’s back and cross the ocean to a distant island, which was the island of the serpents. Vinata had to fly across the ocean carrying Kadru on her back. She even used to torture Garuda by ordering him to carry her sons on a pleasure trip on Garuda’s back. So, they were tortured a lot by Kadru and her sons. Garuda couldn’t see his mother suffer like this, and Vinata too couldn’t see her son suffering like this. When Garuda grew up, He asked the serpent sons what ransom they would take to stop torturing his mother.
The serpent sons demanded Amrita. Garuda, agreeing to that, flew to Svarga. His power was so much that He defeated Indra and other devatas in Svarga, bypassed all the securities in the Svarga, which were kept for the protection of Amrita, and then took the Amrita from there and came out of Svarga. There Bhagavan Vishnu appeared in front of Him. He saw that Garuda hadn’t drunk the Amrita out of selfishness. On seeing His selflessness and his struggle to save his mother, Bhagavan Vishnu was pleased. Lord Vishnu asked Garuda to ask for a boon.
Garuda asked for two boons, namely: To become ageless without drinking Amrita and to be above Bhagavan Vishnu on the flag of His chariot. Lord Vishnu, on this, said, “So be it.” That’s why Bhagavan Vishnu is known as Garuda Dhvaja. Lord Vishnu instructed Garuda to be His vehicle. Garuda joyfully agreed to be the Vaahana of Bhagavan Vishnu. So, Bhagavan Vishnu accepted Garuda as His vehicle because of His sheer selflessness, kindness, and devotion towards Him. Thus, Garuda became the vehicle of Bhagavan Vishnu.
Bhagavan Vishnu also has a name ‘Vishva ’, which is the first name of Bhagavan Vishnu in the Vishnu Sahasranaama. One of the meanings of the name Vishva is:
1. Vishanti Asmin Ananta kalyaana gunaaha iti Vishvam: The one who is the abode of all auspicious qualities.
2. Vishati iti Vishvam: The one who is all-pervading Bhagavan.
3. Vina Garudena Shvayate Iti Vishvam: The one who has Garuda as His vehicle. ‘Vi’ in Vina stands for Garuda, the celestial falcon, which is the chariot of Bhagavan Vishnu.
Since Bhagavan has Garuda as His Vaahana, He is also known as Vishvam. Actually, there are 100 meanings for the word Vishva, but these are a few meanings of the name Vishva.
Now, when Garuda brought the Amrita from the heavens, He kept it in front of the serpents, His step-brothers, on the Kusha grass. He advised them, “You cannot consume this Amrita when you are impure. First go and have a bath and become pure, then come and have it. Now, that I have brought Amrita for you, release my mother from slavery.” The serpents were overjoyed, and they declared Vinata free from slavery. They went for the bath. Here, while coming from Svarga, Garuda had made a pact with Indra. So, as the serpents went for a bath in the river, Indra came down, took the Amrita, and flew back to Svarga.
The serpents came back and saw there was no Amrita. They came and started licking the Kusha grass because they thought some drops of Amrita may have fallen. As the blade of the Kusha grass was sharp, it divided their tongues into two parts. That’s why the snakes or serpents have split tongues. And since the Kusha grass had the touch of Amrita Kalasha, they gained the property of shedding their old skin and growing a new skin. This is even today observed in snakes and serpents. Thus, this was the story of Garuda, as to how his life was, how he became the vehicle of Bhagavan Vishnu, and how he cleverly prevented the serpents from drinking the Amrita, thus gaining multiple boons from the Supreme Bhagavan Vishnu Himself.
He is equal to Aadishesha and Rudra in power, Vishnu Bhakti and knowledge, as stated in the Garuda Purana. His wife is Souparni Devi.
SriVishnuvaahana Garudaya namaha!🙏😊✨
Hope this helps!
Jay SriRam!
ShriGaruda Antargata SriBhaaratiramana Mukhyaprana Antargata ShriKrishnarpanamastu!