Great Works at 10.20am Spring 2015

Jatayu the vulture king fighting with Ravana who is carrying Sita

The scene opens up with Hanuman and his companion Angada sitting on a flat surface while a vulture approaches them who they believe is death, Angada begins to say that “Death has come upon us in the form of this vulture, much like the noble Jatayu gave up his life in order to serve Rama.” The vulture over hears this and tells them that Jatayu was his brother and that he has not heard from him in a very long time, so Hanuman and Angada tell the story to Sampati the younger vulture brother about the heroic tale of his brother Jatayu. The reason why this scene is so important in the epic of Ramayana is due to the fact that there are many similarities between Sampati and Jatayu compared to Rama and his brother Laksmana as well as the choices they make during their journey such as:

• When Sampati jumped in front of Jatayu to protect him from the heat of the sun having his wings burnt and falling down would be like Rama protecting Laksmana, that brotherly bond
• Sampati follows his own dharma such as placing the guru at the highest point in the authoritative chain when he visits the sage Nisakara
• The separation of the two vulture brothers, after Sampati falls down to the ground in Janasthana and Jatayu landed in Vindhya bares a similar resemblance to the splitting up of Rama and Sita putting their dharma to the test
• When Sampati tells the story how how Sita is still alive to Hanuman and Angada his wings regrow allowing him to be of service to Rama just like his brother was when he fought Ravana