Jatayu Asks for Unbroken Devotion, and Rama Performs His Last Rites
Aranya Kanda, Doha 32
Doha 32 · Movement 3 of 3
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
At the end of his hymn, Jatayu asks for one boon: devotion that flows without interruption. He does not request renewed strength, another body, or reward for the battle. His final desire is that remembrance of Rama should never break.
With the boon held in his transformed heart, the king of birds departs for Hari's abode. The forest that witnessed his fall now witnesses the completion of a life spent for another's welfare.
Rama remains beside the abandoned body and performs the proper funeral rites with his own hands. The Lord whom Jatayu called master accepts the duty of a son. Fire, offering, and sacred action answer the bird's sacrifice with an intimacy no celestial splendor could replace.
Jatayu enters Hari's abode while Hari himself tends the final fire.
Read the passage from the Manas
अबिरल भगति मागि बर गीध गयउ हरिधाम। तेहि की क्रिया जथोचित निज कर कीन्ही राम।।32।।
Asking for the boon of abiral bhagati, unwavering devotion, the vulture Jatayu departed to Haridhaam. Rama performed his last rites with his own hands, as was fitting.