page_title: Garuda
section_title: Buddhism
hierarchical_section_title: Garuda / Buddhism
caption_attribution_description: English: Garuda in Koh Ker style. Made of sandstone, the statue is from first half of 10th century (Angkor period). Statue on display at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
context_page_description: Garuda is a legendary bird or bird-like creature in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faith. He is variously the vehicle mount of the Hindu god Vishnu, a dharma-protector and Astasena in Buddhism, and the Yaksha of the Jain Tirthankara Shantinatha.
  Garuda is described as the king of birds and a kite-like figure. He is shown either in zoomorphic form or an anthropomorphic form. Garuda is generally a protector with power to swiftly go anywhere, ever watchful and an enemy of the serpent. He is also known as Tarkshya and Vynateya.
  Garuda is a part of state insignia in India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. The Indonesian official coat of arms is centered on the Garuda. The national emblem of Indonesia is called Garuda Pancasila. The Indian Air Force also uses the Garuda in their coat of arms and named their special operations unit after it as Garud Commando Force. It is often associated with the greater adjutant stork.
context_section_description: Garuda, also referred to as Garula, are golden-winged birds in Buddhist texts. Under the Buddhist concept of saṃsāra, they are one of the Aṣṭagatyaḥ, the eight classes of inhuman beings. In Buddhist art, they are shown as sitting and listening to the sermons of the Buddha. They are enemies of the Nāgas (snakes) and are sometimes depicted with a serpent held between their claws. Like the Hindu art, both zoomorphic (giant eagle-like bird) and partially anthropomorphic (part bird, part human) iconography is common across Buddhist traditions.
  In Buddhism, the Garuda (Sanskrit; Pāli: garuḷā) are enormous predatory birds with a wingspan of 330 yojanas. They are described as beings with intelligence and social organization. They are also sometimes known as suparṇa (Sanskrit; Pāli: supaṇṇa), meaning "well-winged, having good wings".  Like the Nāgas, they combine the characteristics of animals and divine beings, and may be considered to be among the lowest of the devas. The Garudas have kings and cities, and at least some of them have the magical power of changing into human form when they wish to have dealings with people. On some occasions Garuda kings have had romances with human women in this form. Their dwellings are in groves of the simbalī, or silk-cotton tree.
  Jataka stories describe them to be residents of Nagadipa or Seruma.
  The Garuda are enemies to the nāga, a race of intelligent serpent- or dragon-like beings, whom they hunt.  The Garudas at one time caught the nāgas by seizing them by their heads; but the nāgas learned that by swallowing large stones, they could make themselves too heavy to be carried by the Garudas, wearing them out and killing them from exhaustion.  This secret was divulged to one of the Garudas by the ascetic Karambiya, who taught him how to seize a nāga by the tail and force him to vomit up his stone (Pandara Jātaka, J.518).
  The Garudas were among the beings appointed by Śakra to guard Mount Sumeru and the Trāyastriṃśa heaven from the attacks of the asuras.
  In the Maha-samaya Sutta (Digha Nikaya 20), the Buddha is shown making temporary peace between the Nagas and the Garudas.
  In the Qing Dynasty fiction The Story of Yue Fei (1684), Garuda sits at the head of the Buddha's throne. But when a celestial bat (an embodiment of the Aquarius constellation) flatulates during the Buddha's expounding of the Lotus Sutra, Garuda kills her and is exiled from paradise. He is later reborn as Song Dynasty General Yue Fei. The bat is reborn as Lady Wang, wife of the traitor Prime Minister Qin Hui, and is instrumental in formulating the "Eastern Window" plot that leads to Yue's eventual political execution. The Story of Yue Fei plays on the legendary animosity between Garuda and the Nagas when the celestial bird-born Yue Fei defeats a magic serpent who transforms into the unearthly spear he uses throughout his military career. Literary critic C. T. Hsia explains the reason why Qian Cai, the book's author, linked Yue with Garuda is because of the homology in their Chinese names. Yue Fei's courtesy name is Pengju (鵬舉). A Peng (鵬) is a giant mythological bird likened to the Middle Eastern Roc. Garuda's Chinese name is Great Peng, the Golden-Winged Illumination King (大鵬金翅明王).
caption: Garuda in Koh Ker style. Made of sandstone, this statue is from the first half of 10th century, (Angkor period). On display at the National Museum of Cambodia.
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