Shloka 20
Garuḍa’s Assault on the Devas and the Fire-Barrier (अमृत-रक्षा-युद्धम्)
तदाननं विवृतमतिप्रमाणवत् समभ्ययुर्गगनमिवार्दिता: खगा: । सहस्रश: पवनरजोविमोहिता यथानिलप्रचलितपादपे वने,जैसे आँधीसे कम्पित वृक्षवाले वनमें पवन और धूलसे विमोहित एवं पीड़ित सहस्तरों पक्षी उन्मुक्त आकाशमें उड़ने लगते हैं, उसी प्रकार हवा और धूलकी वर्षासे बेसुध हुए हजारों निषाद गरुडके खुले हुए अत्यन्त विशाल मुखमें समा गये
tadānaṇaṁ vivṛtam atipramāṇavat samabhyayur gaganam ivārditāḥ khagāḥ | sahasraśaḥ pavanarajo-vimohitā yathānila-pracalita-pādape vane ||
Garuda said: “Then, as distressed birds rush into the open sky, so too thousands, bewildered by the wind and dust, were swept in and disappeared into my gaping, immensely vast mouth—like creatures in a forest of wind-shaken trees thrown into confusion by the gusts and the whirling dust.”
गरुड उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how overwhelming force and panic can sweep multitudes into ruin, using a natural simile (wind, dust, and frightened birds) to show how beings lose agency when overcome by fear and confusion—an implicit warning about the ethical consequences of unchecked power and violence.
Garuda describes opening his enormous mouth; driven and disoriented by wind and dust, thousands are carried into it, compared to birds fleeing into the sky in a storm and to a forest whose trees are shaken by gusts.