The garudas are the ancient and implacable predators of the nagas, seizing serpents in their golden talons and devouring them whole, until the Buddha intervened and brokered peace between the two races.
The Ashtasena gathers before the Buddha as the great assembly of eight non-human classes — devas descending from their heavens, nagas rising from underwater palaces, yakshas and asuras setting aside their warfare, gandharvas and kinnaras filling the air with celestial music, garudas folding their vast wings, and mahoragas dragging their serpent coils forward — all drawn by the power of the dharma to hear, protect, and transmit the teaching.
The divine eagle Garuda was transmitted from Hindu cosmology into Buddhist tradition as one of the eight classes of supernatural beings, and thence into Tibetan Buddhism where Garuda is invoked as a wrathful protector and healer, retaining his serpent-devouring nature.
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