Jatayu ( sa, जटायुः,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: ) is a demigod in the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

epic ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages ...

'', who has the form of either an eagle or a vulture. He is the younger son of

Aruṇa Aruna ( sa, अरुण ) is the charioteer of Surya (Sun god) in Hinduism. He is the elder brother of Garuda. Aruna and Garuda are the sons of Vedic sage Kashyapa and his wife Vinata, daughter of Prajapati Daksha. His children were Sampati ...

and his wife Shyeni, the brother of

Sampati Sampati ( sa, सम्पाति; IAST: ') is a demigod in Hinduism. He is the elder son of Aruṇa and Shyeni. He is the elder brother of Jatayu. He has the form of either a vulture or an eagle. According to the Brahma Purana, Sampati is ...

, as well as the nephew of

Garuda Garuda ( Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garu ...

. He is also an old friend of King

Dasharatha Dasharatha (Sanskrit: दशरथ, IAST: Daśaratha; born Nemi) was the king of the Kosala kingdom and a scion of the Suryavamsha dynasty in Hinduism. He ruled from this capital at Ayodhya. Dasharatha was the son of Aja and Indumati. He h ...

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bei ...

's father.

Legend

Flight towards the sun

During their youth, Jatayu and his elder brother, Sampati, under a wager, flew towards

Surya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a ...

, the solar deity. Jatayu, careless due to his youthfulness, outflew his brother, and entered the Sūryamaṇḍala, the orbit of the sun, during noon. Due to the blazing heat of Surya, his wings started to get scorched. In a desperate bid to rescue his brother, Sampati flew ahead of him, spreading his wings wide open to shield him. As a consequence, it was Sampati who had his wings burnt, descending towards the Vindhya mountains. Incapacitated, he spent the rest of his life under the protection of a sage named Nishakara, who performed a penance in the mountains. Jatayu never met his brother again.

Battle against Ravana

The ''

Araṇya-Kāṇḍa ''Araṇya-Kāṇḍa,'' or ''The Forest Episode,'' is the third book of the epic poem Ramayana. It is also found in the Rāmcaritmānas. It follows the legend of Rama through his fourteen-year exile in the forest, joined by his wife and his ...

'' of the ''

'' mentions that Jatayu is the "King of Vultures"(''gṛdhrarāja''). According to the epic, the

rakshasa Rakshasas ( sa, राक्षस, IAST: : Pali: ''rakkhaso'') lit. 'preservers' are a race of usually malevolent demigods prominently featured in Hindu mythology. According to the Brahmanda Purana, the rakshasas were created by Brahma when ...

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic '' Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He ...

was abducting the avatar of

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with '' Maya'' ("Illusion"). A ...

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

, when Jatayu tried to rescue her. Jatayu fought valiantly with Ravana, but as Jatayu was very old, Ravana soon defeated him, clipping his wings, and Jatayu descended upon the earth.

and

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic '' Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja ( ...

, while searching for Sita, chanced upon the stricken and dying Jatayu, who informed them of the battle with Ravana, and told them that Ravana had headed south. Jatayu then died of his wounds and Rama performed his final funeral rites.

Veneration

*According to local lore of Kerala, it is believed that Jatayu fell on the rocks in

Chadayamangalam Chadayamangalam is a village located in Kollam district of Kerala state, India. It is located along the Ithikkara river and the MC road that passes across the major urban locations of Kerala. It acts as centre for Chadayamangalam block panch ...

in the

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major Laccadive Sea seaport and an i ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

after his wings were clipped off by

. The name "Chadayamangalam" is said to be derived from "Jatayu-mangalam".

Jatayu Earth's Center Nature Park Jatayu Earth Center, also known as Jatayu Nature Park or Jatayu Rock, is a park and tourism centre at Chadayamangalam in Kollam district of Kerala. It stands at an altitude of 350m (1200ft) above the mean sea level. Jatayu Nature Park holds t ...

in Chadayamangalam features a wide statue of Jatayu, which is credited as the world's largest bird sculpture. * Lepakshi in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

is also attributed as the place where Jatayu fell after being wounded by Ravana. Rama is said to have commanded the bird to rise, saying ''Le Pakshi'' (literally: "Get up, Bird" in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

), hence the name for the village. *

Vijayaraghava Perumal temple Vijayaraghava Perumal temple is a Vishnu temple in Thiruputkuli, a village in Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated about 7 miles west of Kanchipuram and half a kilometre from Baluchetti Chattiram, which lies on the Chenna ...

in Thiruputkuli,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

is associated with Jatayu because the presiding deity, Vijayaraghava Perumal (a form of Rama), is believed to have performed the last rites of Jataya at this place. The water body where Jatayu fell is called Jatayu Tirtham. *

Thirupullabhoothangudi Temple Thirupullabhoothangudi Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu located in Pullabhoothangudi near Kumbakonam in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Constructed in Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the ''Divya Prab ...

in Pullabhoothangudi, Tamil Nadu is also claimed as the location of Jatayu's last rites.

References

Bibliography

* ''Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend'' () by Anna Dhallapiccola * ''Ramayana'' () by C. Rajagopalachari

External links

* The Hindu.
Rama’s paratva
'. {{HinduMythology Characters in the Ramayana Hindu legendary creatures Mythological birds of prey