Jatayu (Ramayana)

Jatayu
Ravana fighting with Jatayu

In the Indian epic Ramayana, Jatayu is the youngest son of Aruṇa. His brother, Sampaati, is a demi-god who has the form of an eagle and was an old friend of Dasharatha (Rama's father).

In the Epic Ramayana when Jatayu sees Ravana abducting Sita, he tries to rescue Sita from Ravana . Jatayu fought valiantly with Ravana, but as he was very old Ravana soon got the better of him. As Rama and Lakshmana chanced upon the stricken and dying Jatayu in their search for Sita, he informs them of the fight between him and Ravana and tells them that he had gone south.

Jatayu and his brother Sampaati, when young, used to compete as to who could fly higher. On one such instance, Jatayu flew so high that he was about to get seared by the sun's flames. Sampati saved his brother by spreading his own wings and thus shielding Jatayu from the hot flames. In the process, Sampaati himself got injured and lost his wings. As a result, Sampaati lived wingless for the rest of his life.

While Jatayu was wounded and lying on the ground when Lord Rama arrived, Lord Rama sensed the end result and decided that Jatayu gets moksha. Lord Rama then slammed an arrow into the ground so as to call all seven sacred rivers, called teertha. Six rivers waters arrived, one river water failing to obey Lord Rama's call. Since Lord Rama was himself an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, He forced the Gaya teertha to arrive at the spot.

According to the legend, it is believed that Jatayu fell on the rocks in Chadayamangalam, 38 km from Kollam district of Kerala, India after his wings were chopped off by Ravana. Formerly, the place was called Jatayumangalam. This is the place which is mostly credited to the falling place of Jatayu since rocks there holds stricking carvings of Jatayu's beak mark during his last breath and footprints of Lord Rama. Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh, India is also attributed to the place where Jatayu fell after being wounded by Ravana, and Ramarkal Mettu is the place where the last rites were performed. Rama is said to have commanded the bird to rise Le Pakshi, hence the name for that town.