Shloka 30

Garuḍa–Śakra Saṃvāda and the Retrieval of Amṛta (गरुड–शक्र संवादः अमृत-अपहरण-प्रसङ्गः)

Devanagari script

ततस्तस्य गिरे: शृड्रमास्थाय स खगोत्तम: । भक्षयामास गरुडस्तावुभी गजकच्छपौ

Transliteration

tatas tasya gireḥ śṛṅgram āsthāya sa khagottamaḥ | bhakṣayāmāsa garuḍas tāv ubhī gajakacchapau ||

Translation

तदनन्तर खगश्रेष्ठ गरुड़ उस पर्वत की एक चोटी पर उतरकर बैठ गया और वहीं उन दोनों—हाथी और कछुए—को खा गया।

Word by Word

• ततः: then, thereafter
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: ततः

• तस्य: of that (mountain)
• तस्य: Sambandha
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: masculine/neuter, genitive, singular

• गिरेः: of the mountain
• गिरेः: Sambandha
• Type: Noun
• Root: गिरि
• Form: masculine, genitive, singular

• शृङ्गम्: peak, summit
• शृङ्गम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: शृङ्ग
• Form: neuter, accusative, singular

• आस्थाय: having mounted/sat upon
• Type: Verb
• Root: आ-स्था (धातु: स्था)
• Form: क्त्वा (absolutive/gerund)

• सः: he
• सः: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• खग-उत्तमः: the best of birds
• खग-उत्तमः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: खग + उत्तम
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• भक्षयामास: ate, devoured
• Type: Verb
• Root: भक्ष्
• Form: लिट् (periphrastic perfect), 3rd, singular, parasmaipada

• गरुडः: Garuda
• गरुडः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: गरुड
• Form: masculine, nominative, singular

• तौ: those two
• तौ: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: तद्
• Form: masculine, accusative, dual

• उभौ: both
• उभौ: Karma
• Type: Adjective
• Root: उभ
• Form: masculine, accusative, dual

• गज-कच्छपौ: the elephant and the tortoise
• गज-कच्छपौ: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: गज + कच्छप
• Form: masculine, accusative, dual

Speaker

कश्यप उवाच

Characters & Entities

• कश्यप (Kaśyapa)
• गरुड (Garuḍa)
• गिरि (mountain)
• शृङ्ग (mountain peak)
• गज (elephant)
• कच्छप (tortoise)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the overwhelming potency of a divinely endowed agent (Garuḍa) and the inevitability of outcomes when strength, hunger, and circumstance align. Ethically, it invites reflection on power: might can be decisive in the world of beings, yet its exercise remains a serious moral spectacle within the epic’s larger dharmic frame.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kaśyapa narrates that Garuḍa lands on a mountain peak and devours two creatures he has seized—an elephant and a tortoise—marking the completion of that action in the Sauparṇa episode.