Saṃpāti Episode

The Saṃpāti episode comes at the end of the Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa of the Tulasī Rāmāyana. The vānara search party had reached the southern shore of the ocean with no news of Sītā, and they were in deep despair. There they met the great eagle Saṃpāti, the elder brother of the dead Jaṭāyu. He came out of his cave. He told them his own history: the youthful race to the sun, the burning of his wings, and the promise of the muni Candra. Then he told them exactly where Sītā was, in the Aśoka Vāṭikā of Laṅkā on the Trikūṭa mountain. As he spoke, Bhagavān Rāma’s grace gave him new wings. The whole Sundara Kāṇḍa turns on this episode.

Despair on the ocean shore

Svayaṃprabhā had carried the southern search party to the edge of the sea. They stood before the huge, roaring ocean and were no nearer to knowing where Sītā was. The deadline Sugrīva had set, one month, was over. They saw how hard their position was. To go back to Kishkindhā without news meant punishment. To stay meant to be helpless before a sea a hundred yojanas wide.

Aṅgada wept. He cried out: “The deadline has passed and we have no news of Sītā. If my uncle Sugrīva had killed me then, I would have been spared this shame. Now Sugrīva will surely punish me. What can I do?” The other vānaras heard their prince weep and lost heart. Together they decided that they would end their lives on the shore rather than go back in failure. They spread kuśa grass on the ground and sat in prāyopaveśa, ready to fast until death.

Jāmbavān alone did not give in. He spoke with calm firmness: “Vānaras, do not lose heart. You do not yet know the full glory of Śrī Rāma. The work we have taken up will surely succeed. Rāma’s cause does not fail.” He cheered them with encouraging words and urged them to trust the grace of Bhagavān Rāma.

Saṃpāti appears

At that moment the great bird Saṃpāti came out of a cave in the nearby mountain. He was huge and very old, and his wide wings had been reduced by a burning long ago. He saw thousands of vānaras sitting helpless before him, and he spoke like a hungry eagle: “Ah, what a lucky day! Providence has given me a grand feast. I shall eat all these vānaras and ease my hunger.”

The vānaras were already worn out and in despair, and they shook at the sight of the huge bird. But Aṅgada steadied himself and called to his companions: “If we run from this creature, how will we ever face Rāvaṇa? Let us be ready to give our lives as Jaṭāyu gave his, in Rāma’s service.” He raised his voice and spoke Jaṭāyu’s name aloud in praise.

Saṃpāti hears Jaṭāyu’s name

The moment the name Jaṭāyu reached Saṃpāti’s ears, the great bird stopped. He stood still as if struck. His threatening look melted away. He spoke softly: “Do not be afraid. I will not harm you. Which of you spoke my brother’s name?”

Saṃpāti came near and said: “Tell me about Jaṭāyu. When did he die, and how, and why?” The vānaras told him everything: Rāma’s exile in the forest, Rāvaṇa’s seizing of Sītā, Jaṭāyu’s brave fight against Rāvaṇa as he tried to save Sītā, his deadly wounds, and his peaceful death in Rāma’s arms with Rāma’s blessing.

Saṃpāti listened with a breaking heart. He said he was glad that his brother had died such a holy death. To die fighting for Bhagavān Rāma, and to have Rāma himself perform the last rites, was the highest kind of moksha (liberation). Grief and reverence were mixed in him. He asked the vānaras to take him to the shore of the ocean so that he could offer tarpaṇa (water offerings) to his dead brother.

Tarpaṇa for Jaṭāyu

The vānaras took Saṃpāti to the shore of the great sea. There Saṃpāti performed the full tarpaṇa for his younger brother. He offered water and prayers for Jaṭāyu’s departed ātmā (soul) on the holy shore of the southern ocean.

Saṃpāti’s own account: the race to the sun

When the tarpaṇa was done, Saṃpāti turned to the vānaras and told them his own history:

“Jaṭāyu and I were brothers born of one womb. When we were young we made a bet: who could fly closer to the sun? We both flew up with all our strength. Jaṭāyu could not bear the blazing heat of the sun, and he turned back and came down. But I was held by pride and stubborn will, and I pressed on upward and would not give way. As I flew nearer and nearer to the sun’s disc, my wings caught fire and burned away. I fell from the sky and crashed to the earth.

“Where I fell, the muni Candra found me in that terrible state. He was moved with pity for my suffering. He nursed me and cared for me. He gave me jñāna (knowledge) that dissolved my ahaṃkāra (pride of self), the very pride that had brought me to ruin. When my inner sight was clear, the great muni looked at me and said:

“‘In the Tretā Yuga, Parabrahman will take a human form. His wife Sītā will be carried off by the ten-headed one. Servants of Bhagavān Rāma, vānaras who are searching for Sītā, will come to you. When you have shown them where Sītā is, Bhagavān Rāma’s grace will give you your wings again.’

“I have kept this word in my heart through all these years, waiting. Now you have come.”

Saṃpāti shows where Sītā is

Saṃpāti then said the Avadhi verse of the Tulasī Rāmāyana that tells where Sītā is:

Giri trikūṭa ūpara basa laṃkā,
Tahaṃ rahai rāvana sahaja asaṃkā.
Tahaṃ aśoka upavana jahaṃ rahaī,
Sītā bairi socata ahayī.

“On the Trikūṭa mountain in the middle of the sea stands the city of Laṅkā. There the fearless Rāvaṇa lives without worry. In the Aśoka garden of that city Sītā lives in sorrow, waiting for her lord.”

He went on: “We birds have sharp sight that can see across great distances. Even now, in this old body, I can see Sītā sitting in the Aśoka Vāṭikā. She is full of grief but she endures, held up by the power of her pativratā (faithfulness to her husband) and her faith in Rāma. I can do no more for you in this body, for I am old and wingless. But one of you has the power to cross this sea of a hundred yojanas: a wise servant of Rāma, full of devotion, who can do this task with ease.”

Saṃpāti’s wings return

As Saṃpāti finished speaking, he had fulfilled the word of Candra and shown where Sītā was. Then Bhagavān Rāma’s grace showed itself plainly. Before the eyes of all the vānaras, new wings grew on Saṃpāti’s body, fresh and full, and gave him back the strength of his youth. The word of the muni Candra, held in patience through long wingless years, was now fulfilled.

Saṃpāti blessed the vānaras with joy, saluted them, and rose into the sky. He left with the freedom of one who has done what he was meant to do.

Jāmbavān wakes Hanumān

After Saṃpāti had gone, the vānaras turned to the question of who among them could cross the ocean of a hundred yojanas. Each one spoke honestly about what he could do. Even Jāmbavān said that age had weakened him. In an earlier age he had gone round Vishṇu’s cosmic step in the Vāmana avatāra many times. Aṅgada offered to go, but he said he could not promise to come back safely.

Jāmbavān then turned to Hanumān, who had been sitting in silence. The old bear king spoke to him slowly and with weight:

“O Āñjaneya! You are equal to your father Vāyu in strength. You are the wisest among the wise. What task in all the world is beyond your power? You were born for Rāma’s work. Why do you sit in silence?”

These words struck Hanumān like a thunderbolt that wakes. The powers that had lain asleep in him since childhood surged up. His face glowed with energy. His body grew like a mountain as he stood up. He roared like a lion, and the roar shook the shore. He said firmly that he would cross the ocean that very moment, find Bhūputrī (Sītā, daughter of the Earth), learn how she was, and come back.

Jāmbavān then gave his last wise advice to the awakened Hanumān: “Go to Laṅkā and find out where Sītā is and how she fares. Bring back that news. The rest, the battle, the end of Rāvaṇa and the rescue of Sītā, Bhagavān Rāma himself will do, leading this vānara army. Your task now is to scout, not to fight. Come back with the news.” With this blessing Jāmbavān sent Hanumān on his way. The Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa ends here, and the Sundara Kāṇḍa begins.

Sources

• Tulasī Rāmāyana, Kishkindhā Kāṇḍa