Garuda, in hindu mythology, the bird a kite or an eagle and the vahana mount of the god vishnu. In the rigveda the sun is compared to a bird in its flight across the sky, and an eagle carries the ambrosial soma plant from heaven to earth. The mythological account of garudas birth in the mahabharata identifies him as the younger brother of aruna, the charioteer of the sun god, surya. Garudas mother, vinata, mother of the birds, was tricked into becoming the slave of her sister and co wife, kadru, mother of the nagas serpents. The lasting enmity between the birds, particularly garuda, and the serpents is attributed to this. The nagas agreed to release vinata if garuda could obtain for them a drink of the elixir of immortality, the amrita, or soma. Garuda performed that feat, thus giving the snakes the ability to slough off their old skins, and, on his way back from the heavens, he met vishnu and agreed to serve him as his vehicle and also as his emblem.