The Karura (迦楼羅) is a divine creature with human torso and birdlike head in Japanese mythology. The name is a transliteration of garuda, a race of enormously gigantic birds in Hinduism. the Japanese Buddhist version is based upon Hindu Mythology. The same creature may go by the name of konjichō (金翅鳥, lit. "gold-winged bird", Skr. suparṇa). Karura is one of the proselytized and converted creatures recruited to form a guardian unit called the (八部衆, "Devas of the Eight Classes").