Suta said: “The instant mighty Garuda's feet touched it, the branch of the tree broke off, and he held on to it broken. Looking with a smile upon that great broken branch, he saw the Valakhilyas hanging from it, head downward. Dreading to destroy them, the lord of birds, without letting the branch fall, seized it in his beak out of care for them, and, flying slowly, went on, shattering mountains as he passed. Thus he flew over many lands, carrying the elephant and the tortoise as well, but out of compassion for the Valakhilyas he found no place to drop it. Arriving at the finest of mountains, imperishable Gandhamadana, he saw there his father Kashyapa, established in austerity. And the father, too, saw that bird of divine form, endowed with splendor, valor and strength, swift as thought and wind; resembling a mountain peak, like the upraised rod of Brahma; inconceivable, unknowable, striking terror into all beings; bearing wondrous power, as if fire itself blazing before the eyes, unassailable by gods, danavas and rakshasas; the splitter of mountain peaks, the drier of river waters, the dread convulser of worlds, in appearance like the god of death. Seeing him arrived and knowing his intent, the illustrious Kashyapa then spoke these words: ‘Son, do not act rashly, or you will at once bring disaster upon yourself; let not the enraged Valakhilyas, drinkers of sunbeams, burn you.’ Kashyapa placated those Valakhilyas, who had attained perfection through austerity, for his son's sake, explaining the reason: ‘Garuda's undertaking is for the good of creatures, O you rich in austerity; he has conceived a great deed — be pleased to grant him leave.’ Thus addressed by the illustrious one, those sages, leaving the branch, withdrew to the sacred mountain Himavat, seeking a place for their austerities.”