Garuda Garuda "For the national airline of Indonesia, see Garuda Indonesia" The Garuda is a legendary bird or bird-like creature in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain mythology. He is variously the vehicle mount ("vahana") of the Hindu god Vishnu, a dharma-protector and Astasena in Buddhism, and the Yaksha of the Jain Tirthankara Shantinatha. Garuda is described as the king of birds and a kite-like figure. He is shown either in zoomorphic form (giant bird with partially open wings) or an anthropomorphic form (man with wings and some bird features). Garuda is generally a protector with power to swiftly go anywhere, ever watchful
Garuda Indonesia Vishnoe's vogel, die zijn vleugels uitslaat hoog boven uw eilanden"", which means "I'm Garuda, Vishnu's Bird, that spreads its wings high above the Islands". In Hindu tradition, Garuda is the name of Lord Vishnu's mount ("vahana"). The line was mentioned by Sukarno during the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference at The Hague, from 23 August to 2 November 1949. In its current institutional form, Garuda Indonesia had its beginnings in the Indonesian war of independence against the Dutch in the late 1940s, when Garuda flew special transports with a Douglas DC-3. The first aircraft was a DC-3 known as "Seulawah" (Acehnese: