Krishna subdues Indra
Hearing that
Indra facing
The arrows of Indra fell on Garuda and were reduced to ashes with the fire of glory, tejas, of Garuda, and were like the ghee poured on the sacrificial fire because Garuda appeared to shine more with them.
Desika describes Garuda fighting with the devas thus:
thungapakshathiSathAngaSAlinah
bheemanAgaghatithAkrtheh abhooth
vAhathAm cha vahathah sapatthithAm
sainyathA asya surasainya yoDhinah
Garuda, was himself the four kinds of army, his wings containing hundreds of feathers, thunga pakshathi SathAnga, the serpents which formed his ornaments, bheemanAga, his stature as the vehicle of the Lord, vAhathAm vahathah and the gait of him, sapatthithA. The four kinds of army, namely ratha, gaja thuraga padhAthi, are implied with the pun on the words, SathAnga, which also means ratha, chariot, nAga meaning the elephant, vAha denotes cavalry and patthi is the infantry.
The army of the devas were overpowerd with the poison of the serpents and the outgoing breath of Garuda was so strong that they scattered the winds that formed the armour of Indra and made the arrows of Indra recoil on the army of devas.
How ever Krishna did not want to destroy the devas because even though they were under delusion at that time, they were his dependents.The devas faced extinction of their valour as the planets and stars lose their luster going near the Sun. Desika says that they attained dhurdhaSA like the planets, meaning that as the evil planets rahu and kethu are not visible, the devas also reached a state when they appeared to be extinct even though they were alive.Indra being defeated, again started attacking Krishna with the desire to retrieve the parijatha tree and wielded his vajra when Krishna took his chakra. All beings waited with trepidation to see the effect of this act.
Indra became ashamed of his helplessness and Sathyabhama looked at him in derision.
Desika explains the result of the battle thus:
yAdhavendhra vibudhendhrayoh thadhA
rathnayoriva thulADhirooDayoh
gouraveNa dhadhrSe samunnathih
lAghavena cha nathih thadhadhbhutham
Indra realized his mistake of fighting for a tree with the Lord of the universe and derided himself that he was lost due to his forgetfulness (as to the real identity of
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