[1] Comprising six stanzas composed in the dandaka metre, the hymn eulogises Garuda, the vahana (mount) of the Hindu deity Vishnu.

[4] Vedanta Desika agreed on the persuasion of his pupils, drawing seven lines on the ground and asking the snake-charmer to show the power of his snakes.

When the snake-charmer released a number of his venomous snakes (cobras) upon the ground, they perished after crossing the first and the second lines; when more venomous snakes were released, they died after crossing the fifth and the sixth lines.

[5][6] The first verse of the hymn praises the attributes of Garuda:[7] garuḍamakhilavēdanīḍādhirūḍhaṁ dviṣatpīḍanōtkaṇṭhitākuṇṭha vaikuṇṭhapīṭhīkṛta skandhamīḍēsvanīḍā gatiprītarudrā sukīrtistanābhōga gāḍhōpagūḍhaṁ sphuratkaṇṭaka vrāta vēdhavyathāvēpamāna dvijihvādhipā kalpaviṣphāryamāṇa sphaṭāvāṭikā ratnarōciśchaṭā rājinīrājitaṁ kāntikallōlinī rājitamGaruda dwells in all the Vedas, which are his nest.

They embrace him tightly upon his return, causing his hair to rise and snakes to move their hoods in pain.