In the Ramayana, Jatayu is mentioned as the son of Aruna and Syeni. He is the nephew of Garuda, wonderful bird.

Jatayu is a semi-divine bird or demi-god in the form of a vulture. Jatayu tries to save Sita, Rama`s wife from Ravana when Ravana kidnapped Sita and was taking her to Sri Lanka. Jatayu fought gallantly with Ravana, to stop his chariot. But as Jatayu was very old he was defeated by Ravana. Rama and Lakshmana met the wounded and dying Jatayu when they were in search for Sita. Jatayu informs them of the fight between him and Ravana and that he had taken Sita towards the southern direction.

Jatayu`s had a younger brother, Sampati. When Jatayu and Sampati were young, they used to compete as to who could fly higher. Once when they were challenging Jatayu flew so high that he was about to get seared by sun`s flames. Sampati saved his brother by spreading his own wings and thus defensive Jatayu from the hot flames. In the process, Sampati himself got injured and lost his wings. Sampati lived wingless for the rest of his life.

The place where Jatayu died was named, Jatayu Mangalam now known as Chadaya Mangalam in Kerala. A huge rock in this place is named after Jatayu as JatayuPara. When Jatayu died, the funeral rites of the chief of vultures were carefully performed by Rama and Lakshmana.

This article is a stub. You can enrich by adding more information to it. Send your Write Up to content@indianetzone.com