Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c8.777

c8.777

At this time there happened a few bad omens in the ocean of milk where Viṣṇu was residing, and calling Garuḍa to his side Viṣṇu asked him to go and enquire about the battle that was going on between the devas and asuras. To prevent him from being deceived by the magic of the asuras Viṣṇu dropped into the mouth of Garuḍa a pill of great potency. Garuḍa reached the battlefield very soon but could not find anything out of the way and so flew to Kailāsa. He did not see Pārvatī first but hearing a noise from somewhere else peeped in and saw Māyāśiva. Garuḍa could understand him because of the power of the pill and so flew swiftly back to Mahāviṣṇu and told him what he saw.