Been seeing seeing a lot of #TTRPG/#dnd5e posts about this pic, to showcase the size of a Roc to players!
But the real story of this statue, & the mythical Indian Creature behind it, Jatayu, is something I feel more people would be interested in!
Let's Go!
(Thread)
So, let's start with the myth.
The story of Jatayu comes from the Ramayan, one of the major Indian Sagas depicting the adventures of the God King Rama, an avatar of the Major God Vishnu!
In the Myth, Vishnu re-incarnates as one of his avatars (a word directly borrowed by the English language from Sanskrit), called Rama, to help rid the world of demons, primarily the great demon king Ravana.
During his life, and due to various circumstances, Rama gets exhiled from his kingdom of Ayodhia into the wilderness for 14 years. His wife Sita, and his third brother Lakshmana, decide to accompany him during this exile.
Such an exile is called Aranyavasam, btw (Aranya means forest, vasam means exile; stems from the sanskrit word vanvas)
More about what it means:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanvas
During this exile, the demon king Ravana, who resides his kingdom of Lanka, now current day Sri Lanka, comes to know of this group, and more specifically about Rama's wife Sita and her divine beauty, and cooks up a plan to distract Rama and abduct Sita.
Ravana employes one of his subordinate Maricha, who is a master illusionist, to go and distract Rama and Lakshmana by becoming a golden deer, so that he may then take the oppurtiny of their absense to then grab Sita.
Long story short, the plan works, and Ravana is able to kidnap Sita.
This is where Jatayu comes in! In Ravana's journey back to Lanka with the kidnapped sita, he comes across the giant bird.
A Demi-god in the form of vulture, Jatayu was an old friend of Rama's father.
He recognizes Sita in Ravana's clutches and tries to stop Ravana!
They have an epic battle, & Jatayu fights valiantly, but int he end Ravana bests him. In his malice, he proceeds to cut off Jatayu's wings, leaving him for dead.
Rama and Lakshmana come across his dying body in their search for Sita.
In his dying breath, Jatayu is able to convey to Rama about Ravana & his abduction of Sita, & was able to give key info to allow Rama to track them.
Unfortunately, unable to sustain his life further, Jatayu dies in Rama's arms.
Filled with grief and gratitue, Rama, who once again is the re-incarnation of the all-powerful god Vishnu, gives him eternal salvation in his heavenly abode for his faith and service.
And it is THIS story, and THIS mythical being, that this statue seeks to honor.
Built in the Southern Indian state of Kerala, this statue is supposed to be a 1-to-1 scale of the size Jatayu, and depicts him in his dying breadth.
Notice the missing wing!
The location of the statue is supposed to be the same location as Jatayu's final resting place!
And there you have it.
That's the significance of this statue!
I hope you found it interesting, and I hope it inspires some new stories in your world!
Thanks for reading!
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I frequently post about Indian Mythology, culture, fashion, traditions, folklores, and even horror stories!
I also do my best to take inspo from my heritage on all my other works!
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