Download PDF

Aquila, Abode of Garuda
Garuda carries Sri Vishu to Vaikuntha the spiritual abode of Supreme Lord, where He lives. Garuda is the
son of Kasypa, His father and mother Vinata. Garuda first burst forth from his egg, he appeared as a raging
inferno equal to the cosmic conflagration that consumes the world at the end of every age. Frightened, the
gods begged him for mercy. Garuda, hearing their plea, reduced himself in size and energy. Garuda has six
sons. Garuda is portrayed in the Mahabharata as having violent force and speed. Garuda is depicted as
having a golden body, white face, red wings, and an eagle's beak, with a man's body. Various names have
been attributed to Garuda - Chirada, Gaganeshvara, Kamayusha, Kashyapi, Khageshvara, Nagantaka,
Sitanana, Sudhahara, Suparna, Tarkshya, Vainateya, Vishnuratha and many others. The Vedas, scriptures,
provide the earliest reference of Garuda, by the name of yena, where this mighty bird is said to have brought
nectar to earth from heaven. The Puranas, which came into existence much later, mention Garuda as doing
the same thing, which indicates that yena (Sanskrit for Eagle) and Garuda are the same. He wears a crown on
his head. He is ancient and has size enough to block out the sun. The Garuda is also the Hindu name of the
constellation Aquila.
In Hindu mythology, the Aquila constellation is identified as Garuda, a half-eagle-half human deity. The
constellation has always been associated with a winged, short-necked bird or an eagle. Greek mythology, it
was identified as the eagle which carried the thunderbolts of Zeus and was sent by him to carry the shepherd
boy Ganymede, who he desired, to Mount Olympus where he became the winepourer for all the gods, who is
also identified as constellation Aquarius. Greek myth associates the origin of the constellation with the eagle
Ethon. There are legends of Zeus using the disguise of an eagle, in one seducing Aegina, daughter of the
river-god Asopus, in another carrying off the beautiful youth Ganymede, son of King Tros (of Troy), to
serve as cupbearer to the gods. Possibly as a reward for its services, possibly as a symbol of his own royalty,
Zeus is said to have placed the image of an eagle in the sky. In the Chinese love story of Qi Xi. According to
the story, Niu Lang (Altair) gets separated from his wife, Zhi Nu (Vega) forever, as she becomes stranded on
the far side of the river (the Milky Way).
In the Qing Dynasty fiction The Story of Yue Fei (1684), Garuda sits at the head of the Buddha's throne. But
when a celestial bat (an embodiment of the Aquarius constellation) farts during the Buddha’s expounding of
the Lotus Sutra, Garuda kills her and is exiled from paradise. He is later reborn as Song Dynasty General
Yue Fei. The bat is reborn as Lady Wang, wife of the traitor Prime Minister Qin Hui, and is instrumental in
formulating the "Eastern Window" plot that leads to Yue's eventual political execution. It is interesting to
note The Story of Yue Fei plays on the legendary animosity between Garuda and the Nagas when the
celestial bird-born Yue Fei defeats a magic serpent who transforms into the unearthly spear he uses
throughout his military career. Literary critic C.T. Hsia explains the reason why Qian Cai, the book's author,
linked Yue with Garuda is because of the homology in their Chinese names. Yue Fei's style name is Pengju
().[12] A Peng () is a giant mythological bird likened to the Middle Eastern Roc. Garuda's Chinese name is
Great Peng, the Golden-Winged Illumination King ().
In the mythologies of China, Japan and Korea, Altair, Aquila's brightest star, is part of a myth related to
another bright star, Vega, in the configuration known as the Summer Triangle. Altair represents a royal
herdsman and Vega represents the Sun king. The herdsman falls in love with the king's daughter and marries
her, but they are banished to opposite sides of a "river" (the Milky Way) for being so in love that they
neglect their duties. They are said to be able to reunite when birds span the river. The birds associated with
the myth are magpies, but may have been inspired by the two bird-shaped constellations, Aquila and
Cygnus, that appear in this area of the Milky Way. This love story is still celebrated by a Japanese festival.
Aquila was one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. It had been earlier
mentioned by Eudoxus in the 4th century BC and Aratus in the 3rd century BC. It is now one of the 88
constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. The constellation was also known as Vultur
volans (the flying vulture) to the Romans. Ptolemy catalogued nineteen stars jointly in this constellation and
in the now obsolete constellation of Antinous, which was named in the reign of the emperor Hadrian (AD
117–138), but sometimes erroneously attributed to Tycho Brahe, who catalogued twelve stars in Aquila and
seven in Antinous. Hevelius determined twenty-three stars in the first, and nineteen in the second. The
Greek Aquila is probably based on the Babylonian constellation of the Eagle (MUL.A.MUSHEN), which is
located in the same area as the Greek constellation.
Fact about Aquila
1. Symbolism: The Eagle
2. Right ascension: 20 hours
3. Declination: +5 degrees
4. Latitudes visible at: between +85 degrees and -75 degrees
5. The best time to view: 9:00 PM (21:00), during the month of August
6. Area of sky: 652 square degrees
7. Nearest star: Altair (alpha Aquilae, 16.72 light years)
8. The Brightest Star
9. Aquila is the 22nd biggest star constellation in the sky, occupying an area of 652 square degrees in the
fourth quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ4).
10. The neighboring constellations are Aquarius, Capricornus, Delphinus, Hercules, Ophiuchus, Sagitta,
Sagittarius, Scutum, and Serpens Cauda.
11. Aquila has seven stars with known planets and contains no Messier objects.
12. The brightest star in the constellation is Altair, Alpha Aquilae, which is also the 12th brightest star in the
sky.
13. There are two meteor showers associated with Aquila: the June Aquilids and the Epsilon Aquilids. 14.
Aquila belongs to the Hercules family of constellations, together with Ara, Centaurus, Corona Australis,
Corvus,
Crater, Crux, Cygnus, Hercules, Hydra, Lupus, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Scutum, Serpens,
Sextans, Triangulum
Australe, and Vulpecula.