Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.2168

c7.2168

On hearing this, Garuḍa went to the lake and caught the elephant and tortoise in his claws and flew up into the sky. The mountains began to tremble and a whirlwind swept the Heavens when Garuḍa beat with his wings. He flew about here and there unable to find a convenient place to sit and enjoy his meal. On the way, his eye caught sight of a huge banyan tree spreading its branches far and wide, to a distance of 100 yojanas around it. When he perched on one of its branches with the elephant and tortoise, the branch broke and fell down. From that branch certain sages known as Bālakhilyas were hanging with their heads downwards. So, to prevent them from falling to the ground, Garuḍa lifted it in his beak and began to fly up again. Unable to find a suitable spot where he could deposit the branch with the sages, Garuḍa returned to his father again. At the request of Kaśyapa, the Bālakhilyas went to the Himālayas. He showed Garuḍa a vast, snow-clad mountain on which he could deposit the broken branch he was carrying. Garuḍa flew to that mountain and ate up the elephant and tortoise and thus gained strength to fight with the Devas for Amṛta. After that he proceeded to Heaven. (M.B. Ādi Parva, Chapters 29-31).