Garuda the Protector: The Epic Legend of the Rescue of Dewi Winata

In a prosperous and peaceful kingdom in Bali, there lived a beautiful woman named Winata. Winata was one of several daughters of Prajapati Daksa, she had beauty and intelligence that could attract many people around her. Winata has an older sister named Kadru, they both married Resi Kasyapa. After they had served their husband wholeheartedly, Resi was satisfied and gave them the opportunity to make a request. Kadru asked that she be blessed with thousands of sons in the form of mighty dragons. After learning of her sister's request for thousands of sons, Winata joined in asking for sons but there only two of them, who were expected to be stronger and more famous than Kadru's sons. Kasyapa granted both of their wishes, and gave thousands of eggs to Kadru, while to Winata only two eggs. He advised the two of them to take good care of the eggs. Then Resi left the two of them to meditate.

Kadru's son hatched from the egg (Source : Personal Collection)

After five hundred years had passed, the eggs that Kadru had guarded finally hatched, giving birth to thousands of dragons of various shapes and sizes. Seeing the birth of Kadru's sons, Winata felt worried because the eggs she was guarding had not hatched. Feeling impatient, Winata broke one of the eggs she had. Then a son appeared who was imperfect and appeared out of the egg, the child was named Aruna.

Aruna flies up into the sky (Source : Personal Collection)

Aruna felt annoyed because she was hatched prematurely. Therefore, he cursed that Winata would become Kadru's slave. Aruna also announced that her mother's savior from slavery would be born through another egg. After saying this to Winata, Aruna rose to the sky and was appointed as the chariot driver of the god Surya. One day, God Indra, who is the leader of the gods, appeared. God Indra obtained a white horse named Uccaihswara from the sea of ​​milk. After that, there was a difference of opinion between Winata and Kadru about the color of the horse's tail which led to a dispute.

Winata and Kadru debate (Source : Personal Collection)

According to Kadru, the color of the horse's tail was black, while Winata said it was white. They decided to confirm the truth the next day and bet that whoever was wrong should be enslaved by the right one. The next day, Kadru won the bet. Kadru's victory contained fraud in it because the Dragons knew that their mother would lose the bet, so to win, they sprayed Uccaihsrawa's horse's tail to make it black. So Winata loses her bet and becomes Kadru's slave.

Birth of Garuda (Source : Personal Collection)

After waiting for a long time, Winata's second son finally hatched and came out of the egg, he was named Garuda. He felt sad because he knew that his mother had experienced slavery. He also begged Kadru to let his mother be released. Kadru is willing to grant Garuda's request on the condition that Winata's freedom must be exchanged for Tirta Amerta, which is being kept in Kahyangan. Without thinking, Garuda immediately went to Kahyangan. Before leaving, Winata advised Garuda that he was allowed to prey on the Nishada tribe he encountered on his journey, but not a Brahmana. Long story short, Garuda succeeded in carrying out his task, and after he succeeded in defeating a number of Gods in his efforts, God Vishnu promised him the Tirta Amerta on the condition that Garuda had to become his holy vehicle or vessel. He also gave the Tirta Amerta jug to Kadru so that Winata was freed from slavery.