Sampati ( sa, सम्पाति;
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
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
. He is the elder 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 an ...
and Shyeni. He is the elder brother of
Jatayu
Jatayu ( sa, जटायुः, IAST: ) is a demigod in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'', who has the form of either an eagle or a vulture. He is the younger son of Aruṇa and his wife Shyeni, the brother of Sampati, as well as the nephew of Garud ...
. He has the form of either a vulture or an eagle. According to the
Brahma Purana
The ''Brahma Purana'' ( sa, ब्रह्मपुराण or ; ) is one of the eighteen major Puranas collections of Hindu texts in Sanskrit Language. It is listed as the first Maha-Purana in all the anthologies, and therefore also called Adi ...
, Sampati is said to have a son named Babhru, who is swift and very well-known. Sampati loses his wings when he is a child.
Legend
Flight towards the sun
During their youth, Samapati and his younger brother, Jatayu, in order to test their powers, 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 m ...
, 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. Sampati is said to have been enlightened with spiritual knowledge in these mountains by sages, who told him to cease lamenting about his broken body, and wait patiently until he is able to serve
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 Bein ...
. He never met his brother alive again.
Assisting Rama
Eight millennia after his descent upon the earth, Sampati proves instrumental in the search for
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 ...
in the
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
. The search party sent to the south, led by
Hanuman
Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...
with
Angada
Angada (Sanskrit: अङ्गदः, IAST: Aṅgada) is a legendary vanara in Hinduism. He helps Rama find his wife Sita and fight her abductor, Ravana, in the epic Ramayana. He is the prince of Kishkindha, and is later crowned as the kingd ...
,
Jambavan
Jambavan (Devanagari: जाम्बवान्), also known as Jambavanta (Devanagari: जाम्बवत्), is the king of the bears in Hindu texts.
He emerges out of the mouth of Brahma when the creator deity yawns. He assists the Ra ...
,
Nala
Nala (Sanskrit: नल) is a character in the ''Vana Parva'' book of the ''Mahabharata''. He was the king of Nishadha Kingdom and the son of Veerasena. Nala was known for his skill with horses and for his culinary expertise. He married prince ...
, and
Nila, exhausted and thirsty, happened to come across the cave of Sampati. The demigod exclaimed his fortune, deciding to consume the
vanaras
In Hindu, Vanara ( sa, वानर, , forest-dwellers) are either monkeys, apes, or a race of forest-dwelling people.
In the epic the ''Ramayana'', the Vanaras help Rama defeat Ravana. They are generally depicted as humanoid apes, or human-l ...
one after the other after they starved to death. Angada heard Sampati, and dejected, proclaimed that death itself had appeared before them in the form of a vulture. He grieved that they had been unable to find Sita, but considered their party to be blessed, just like Jatayu, to die for Rama's cause. Sampati grew anxious hearing his brother's name, enquiring as to whether he was truly dead, and the circumstances of his death.
Angada, Hanuman, and Jambavan recounted the events of Rama's exile, the abduction of Sita, and the heroic death of Jatayu in his attempt to rescue her. Sampati reveals his identity, and tells them that he would have gladly accompanied them to
Lanka
Lanka (, ) is the name given in Hindu epics to the island fortress capital of the legendary asura king Ravana in the epics of the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata''. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known ...
if he still had his wings, and was not ancient in age. When enquired, he promised them that he had heard Sita shout Rama's name as she was abducted by Ravana towards Lanka, and his supernatural vision, with which he could see that she was located 1000
yojanas
A yojana (Sanskrit: योजन; th, โยชน์; my, ယူဇနာ) is a measure of distance that was used in ancient India, Thailand and Myanmar. A yojana is about 12–15 km.
Edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BCE)
Ashoka, in his Major R ...
(100 miles) away, in the island. He revealed that his son had come across Ravana, and had gleaned that Sita was at the
Ashoka Vatika
Ashoka Vatika was a grove in Lanka that was located in the kingdom of the Rakshasa king Ravana, as mentioned in the Vishnu Purana and the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' of Valmiki, and all subsequent versions, including the ''Ramacharitamanas'' written ...
, a park that was guarded by
rakshasis. After this revelation, Sampati's wings grew back, an event that was predicted by Nishakara. He performed the funeral rites of Jatayu.
In popular culture
The
Griddhraj Parvat
Griddharaj Parvat, which means "the hill of vultures" (also called Griddhakut Parvat, known locally as Giddhaila Pahar and known in English as Vulture Peak), is a hill of religious, archeological and ecological importance.
It is situated nea ...
, situated in
Satna district
Satna District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The city of Satna is the district headquarters. The district has an area of 7,502 km², and a population of 22,28,935(2011 census), 20.63% of which is urban. The district ...
in
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...
, is believed to be the birthplace of Sampati.
['']Skanda Purana
The ''Skanda Purana'' (IAST: Skanda Purāṇa) is the largest ''Puranas#Mahapuranas, Mukyapurana'', a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts. The text contains over 81,000 verses, and is of Kaumaram, Kaumara literature, titled after Kartikeya ...
''
References
{{Ramayana
Characters in the Ramayana
Legendary birds