(Astika Parva continued)
Sauti said, "Garuda, thus addressed by the snakes, then said unto his
mother, 'I shall go to bring amrita. I desire to eat something in the way.
Direct me to it.' Vinata replied, 'In a remote region in the midst of the
ocean, the Nishadas have their fair home. Having eaten the thousands of
Nishadas that live there, bring thou amrita. But let not thy heart be ever
set on taking the life of a Brahmana. Of all creatures a Brahmana must not
be slain. He is, indeed, like fire. A Brahmana, when angry, becomes like
fire or the Sun, like poison or an edged weapon. A Brahmana, it has been
said, is the master of all creatures. For these and other reasons, a
Brahmana is the adored of the virtuous. O child, he is never to be slain
by thee even in anger. Hostility with Brahmanas, therefore, would not be
proper under any circumstances. O sinless one, neither Agni nor Surya
truly can consume so much as does a Brahmana of rigid vows, when angry. By
these various indications must thou know a good Brahmana. Indeed, a
brahmana is the first-born of all creatures, the foremost of the four
orders, the father and the master of all.' Garuda then asked, 'O mother,
of what form is a Brahmana, of what behaviour, and of what prowess? Doth
he shine like fire, or is he of tranquil mien? And, O mother, it behoveth
thee to tell my inquiring self, those auspicious signs by which I may
recognise a Brahmana.' Vinata replied, saying, 'O child, him shouldst
thou know as the best amongst Brahmanas who having entered thy throat
would torture thee as a fish-hook or burn thee as blazing charcoal. A
Brahmana must never be slain by thee even in anger.' And Vinata out of
affection for her son, again told him these words, 'Him shouldst thou know
as a good Brahmana who would not be digested in thy stomach.' Although she
knew the incomparable strength of her son, yet she blessed him heartily,
for, deceived by the snakes, she was very much afflicted by woe. And she
said. 'Let Marut (the god of the winds) protect thy wings, and Surya and
Soma thy vertebral regions; let Agni protect thy head, and the Vasus thy
whole body. I also, O child (engaged in beneficial ceremonies), shall sit
here for your welfare. Go then, O child, in safety to accomplish thy
purpose.'"
Sauti continued, "Then Garuda, having heard the words of his mother,
stretched his wings and ascended the skies. And endued with great strength,
he soon fell upon the Nishadas, hungry and like another Yama. And bent
upon slaying the Nishadas, he raised a great quantity of dust that
overspread the firmament, and sucking up water from amid the ocean, shook
the trees growing on the adjacent mountains. And then that lord of birds
obstructed the principal thoroughfares of the town of the Nishadas by his
mouth, increasing its orifice at will. And the Nishadas began to fly in
great haste in the direction of the open mouth of the great serpent-eater.
And as birds in great affliction ascend by thousand into the skies when
the trees in a forest are shaken by the winds, so those Nishadas blinded
by the dust raised by the storm entered the wide-extending cleft of
Garuda's mouth open to receive them. And then the hungry lord of all
rangers of the skies, that oppressor of enemies, endued with great
strength, and moving with greatest celerity to achieve his end, closed his
mouth, killing innumerable Nishadas following the occupation of
fishermen."
So ends the twenty-eighth section in the Astika Parva of Adi Parva.