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Upanishads · Gāruḍa 1.4
॥
Devanāgarī
पौण्ड्रकालिकनागाभ्यां चामराभ्यां स्वीजितम् । एलापुत्रकनागाद्यैः सेव्यमानं मुदान्वितम्
Transliteration (IAST)
pauṇḍrakālikanāgābhyāṃ cāmarābhyāṃ svījitam | elāputrakanāgādyaiḥ sevyamānaṃ mudānvitam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पौण्ड्र-कालिक-नागाभ्यांpauṇḍra-kālika-nāgābhyāṃfanned by the nāgas Pauṇḍra and Kālika
चामराभ्यां स्वी-जितम्cāmarābhyāṃ svī-jitamas with two fans
एलापुत्रक-नाग-आद्यैःelāputraka-nāga-ādyaiḥserved by the nāgas Elāputra and the rest
सेव्यमानं मुदा-अन्वितम्sevyamānaṃ mudā-anvitamfilled with joy
Translation
«Fanned, as with two fans, by the nāgas Pauṇḍra and Kālika; served by the nāgas Elāputra and the rest, filled with joy».
Version
d430aca965da · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Note that here comes a change: serpents pass from ornaments into servants. Two hold fans, the rest sevyamāna, “serve”; and it is said mudā-anvitam, “filled with joy.” That is, the picture is no longer of battle or capture, but of a court: the lord sits, and around him stand attendants with fans.
This shift, to my mind, deserves attention and explains this whole class of image. The enemy turned servant is, in Indian literature, the constant outcome: the defeated is not destroyed, but kept close. The Vaiṣṇava side stands on this especially, and has many stories for it.
Kāliya, the serpent who poisoned the Yamunā, was not killed but banished, and the mark of the footsteps remained on his heads, by which Garuḍa will not touch him (Bhāgavatam 10.16). Bali, who took heaven, was not destroyed but made a doorkeeper, and the Lord remained at his door. Hence its own rule is stated thus: it is not the one who destroys who wins, but the one who takes to himself; and Garuḍa with fans made of yesterday's enemies is a picture of exactly this.
And the word mudā-anvitam, “filled with joy,” is not ornament here: the joy is ascribed not to victory, but to a state in which no one hostile remains nearby.