Jatayu - mystical bird, king of vultures

Jatayu, the king of vultures, was not a ordinary bird, but a religious mystical bird, like a sage, fully acquainted with the rules of dharma.

Vinita, the wife of the sage Kashyap had 2 sons, Garuda and Arun. Garuda became the vehicle of Lord Vishnu, while Arun became the charioteer of Surya (the sun God). Arun had 2 sons- Sampati and Jatayu.

Once in their childhood, Sampati and Jatayu decided to reach to the sun. So they began to fly higher and higher. But very soon, Jatayu seemed to have lost his tolerance to the heat of the sun. Hence to save him, his elder brother Sampati spread his wings over the younger Jatayu. He did save his younger brother but got his own wings burnt by the heat and he fell at the seashore. Later Jatayu came to stay in Panchavati. Later on king Dasharatha came to the forests for hunting, where he met and made friends with Jatayu.

When Ravana, after abducting Sita, was on his way to Lanka on his Pushpak vimana, he encountered Jatayu. Jatayu fought a fierce battle with Ravana and smashed his aerial cart. But Ravana cut his wings and he fell on the ground.

On their way to find Sita, Rama meets Jatayu for the first time though Jatayu had known Rama from earlier times. Jatayu was then breathing his last. He said : "O Lord, the demon king Ravana has forcibly taken Sita towards the south. I have been holding my breath to have a sight of you. Now, I desire to breath my last, so kindly allow me to leave now". Shri Rama performed Jatayu's last rites and respectfully cremated his body and then offered libations for him. It was indeed a high fortune for Jatayu, that Lord Rama who could not perform his father's last rites came to perform the last rites of Jatayu.

"Markandeya said, 'That heroic king of the vultures, Jatayu, having Sampati for his uterine brother and Aruna himself for his father, was a friend of Dasaratha. And beholding his daughter-in-law Sita on the lap of Ravana, that ranger of the skies rushed in wrath against the king of the Rakshasas.

And the vulture addressed Ravana, saying, 'Leave the princess of Mithila, leave her I say! How canst thou, O Rakshasa, ravish her when I am alive? If thou dost not release my daughter-in-law, thou shalt not escape from me with life!' And having said these words Jatayu began to tear the king of the Rakshasas with his talons.

And he mangled him in a hundred different parts of his body by striking him with his wings and beaks. And blood began to flow as copiously from Ravana's body as water from a mountain spring. And attacked thus by that vulture desirous of Rama's good, Ravana, taking up a sword, cut off the two wings of that bird. And having slain that king of the vultures, huge as a mountain-peak shooting forth above the clouds, the Rakshasa rose high in the air with Sita on his lap.

And the princess of Videha, wherever she saw an asylum of ascetics, a lake, a river, or a tank, threw down an ornament of hers. And beholding on the top of a mountain five foremost of monkeys, that intelligent lady threw down amongst them a broad piece of her costly attire. And that beautiful and yellow piece of cloth fell, fluttering through the air, amongst those five foremost of monkeys like lightning from the clouds.

And that Rakshasa soon passed a great way through the firmament like a bird through the air. And soon the Rakshasa beheld his delightful and charming city of many gates, surrounded on all sides by high walls and built by Viswakrit himself. And the king of the Rakshasa then entered his own city known by the name of Lanka, accompanied by Sita.' "And while Sita was being carried away, the intelligent Rama, having slain the great deer, retraced his steps and saw his brother Lakshmana (on the way).

And beholding his brother, Rama reproved him, saying, 'How couldst thou come hither, leaving the princess of Videha in a forest that is haunted by the Rakshasa?' And reflecting on his own enticement to a great distance by that Rakshasa in the guise of a deer and on the arrival of his brother (leaving Sita alone in the asylum), Rama was filled with agony. And quickly advancing towards Lakshmana while reproving him still, Rama asked him, 'O Lakshmana, is the princess of Videha still alive? I fear she is no more!' Then Lakshmana told him everything about what Sita had said, especially that unbecoming language of hers subsequently.

With a burning heart Rama then ran towards the asylum. And on the way he beheld a vulture huge as a mountain, lying in agonies of death. And suspecting him to be a Rakshasa, the descendant of the Kakutstha race, along with Lakshmana rushed towards him, drawing with great force his bow to a circle. The mighty vulture, however, addressing them both, said, 'Blessed be ye, I am the king of the vultures, and friend of Dasaratha!' Hearing these words of his, both Rama and his brother put aside their excellent bow and said, 'Who is this one that speaketh the name of our father in these woods?' And then they saw that creature to be a bird destitute of two wings, and that bird then told them of his own overthrow at the hands of Ravana for the sake of Sita. Then Rama enquired of the vulture as to the way Ravana had taken. The vulture answered him by a nod of his head and then breathed his last. And having understood from the sign the vulture had made that Ravana had gone towards the south, Rama reverencing his father's friend, caused his funeral obsequies to be duly performed.