"The rushing wind grew loud,
Red lightnings flashed from banks of cloud,
The mountains shook, the wild waves rose,
And, smitten by resistless blows,
Uprooted fell each stately tree
That fringed the margin of the sea.
All life within the waters feared:
Then, as the Vanars gazed, appeared
King Garud's self, a wondrous sight,
Disclosed in flames of fiery light.
From his fierce eye in sudden dread
All serpents in a moment fled;
And those transformed to shafts, that bound
The princes, vanished in the ground.
On Raghu's sons his eyes he bent,
And hailed the lords omnipotent.
Then o'er them stooped the feathered king,
And touched their faces with his wing.
His healing touch their pangs allayed,
And closed each rent the shafts had made.
Again their eyes were bright and bold;
Again the smooth skin shone like gold." [**]

For this great work of restoration Rama expressed his gratitude, whereupon Garuda replied--

"In me, O Raghu's son, behold
One who has loved thee from of old.
Garud, the lord of all that fly,
Thy guardian and thy friend am I.
Not all the gods in heaven could loose
These numbing bonds, this serpent noose,
Wherewith fierce Ravan's son, renowned
For magic arts, your limbs had bound.

[paragraph continues] Those arrows fixed in every limb
Were mighty snakes, transformed by him.
Bloodthirsty race, they live beneath
The earth, and slay with venomed teeth."

Garuda is represented in pictures and sculpture in various ways. Sometimes he has the head and wings of a bird, with a human body; sometimes he has a bird's claws; and at others he has a human face, and the body of a bird.

JATAYUS AND SAMPATI.

Garuda had two sons, named Jatayus and Sampati, who also assisted Rama. As he, Lakshman and Sati reached the hermitage in the forest where they intended to remain, they saw "a mighty vulture, of size and strength unparalleled." Struck with his appearance, Rama inquired who he was, when Jatayus informed them of his parentage, and offered to be their friend:

"Thy ready helper will I be
And guard thy house, if thou agree:
When thou and Lakshman urge the chase,
By Sita's side shall be my place." [**]

This offer was accepted; and when Rama saw the stag which Ravana sent to attract him from his home, he went after it with the greater sense of security because Jatayus was there to guard his wife. When Ravana seized Sita, she cried out to Jatayus--

"Oh see, the king who rules the race
Of giants, cruel, fierce, and base!
Ravan, the spoiler, bears me hence,
The helpless prey of violence." [*+]