Garuda
Garudas are distant descendants of the goddess Janasini, the mother of birds.1
History & mythology
Legend tells that Janasini made an unwise wager with her sister Ravithra, the goddess of nagas and snakes. Ravithra cheated, and Janasini lost and became the slave of Ravithra's naga children. Sudachala, the first of Janasini's garuda children, offered to complete any task to free his mother. The nagas demanded a legendary bowl of nectar said to rest atop the tallest mountain in Vudra. Sudachala flew to the mountain and overcame many obstacles to retrieve the bowl, as detailed in the Azvadeva Pujila.1
As Sudachala flew back, the god Gruhastha appeared and told Sudachala that the nectar was the elixir of immortality. The wicked nagas had tried to trick Sudachala into stealing the elixir from the gods' hiding place so they could drink it and live forever.1
Sudachala alighted in front of the waiting nagas, placing the bowl on some sedge grass, and the nagas freed Janasini from servitude. But when the nagas tried to drink from the bowl, they cut their tongues on the sharp grass, for as Sudachala and Gruhastha had planned, the god had whisked the true elixir away, leaving only an illusion in its place.1
Since then, garudas have been the mortal enemies of nagas. Only the most depraved and outcast garuda would knowingly associate with any kind of aberrant serpent.1
On Golarion
Within the Impossible Kingdoms of Vudra, the garudas are most populous within the Lohaparbat Mountains and across the whole Falling Mountains region. One of the region's most famous inhabitants is the garuda monk Mahadev who began meditating near the peak of Gyanpad over a decade ago, and a small cult has grown up around him.2
References
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Mark Moreland. (February 9, 2011). The Origin of the Garuda, Paizo Blog.
- ↑ . “Vudra, the Impossible Kingdoms” in Sixty Feet Under, 71. Paizo Inc., 2020
External links
- Garuda (real-world deity) on Wikipedia