"And Indra said, 'O best of birds, I desire to know the limit of thy great
strength. I also desire eternal friendship with thee.'"
So ends the thirty-third section in the Astika Parva of the Adi Parva.
SECTION XXXIV
(Astika Parva continued)
"Sauti continued, 'Garuda then said, 'O Purandara, let there be friendship
between thee and me as thou desirest. My strength, know thou, is hard to
bear. O thou of a thousand sacrifices, the good never approve of speaking
highly of their own strength, nor do they speak of their own merits. But
being made a friend, and asked by thee, O friend, I will answer thee,
although self-praise without reason is ever improper. I can bear, on a
single feather of mine, O Sakra, this Earth, with her mountains and
forests and with the waters of the ocean, and with thee also stationed
thereon. Know thou, my strength is such that I can bear without fatigue
even all the worlds put together, with their mobile and immobile objects.'
"Sauti continued, 'O Saunaka, after Garuda of great courage had thus
spoken, Indra the chief of the gods, the wearer of the (celestial) crown,
ever bent upon the good of the worlds, replied, saying, 'It is as thou
sayest. Everything is possible in thee. Accept now my sincere and hearty
friendship. And if thou hast no concern with the Soma, return it to me.
Those to whom thou wouldst give it would always oppose us.' Garuda
answered, 'There is a certain reason for which the Soma is being carried
by me.
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