Hari Om.
Let us begin the fourteenth sarga of the araNya kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
The trio reached the hermitage of sage agastya. The celebrated sage was in anticipation of them and was absolutely thrilled to meet rAma. He had special praise for sItA who in following her husband through days good and bad, through thick and thin unflinchingly set a fantastic example of loyalty and devotion to her lord. He specifically told rAma to ensure that sItA is kept happy! Then rAma enquires of the sage for an appropriate dwelling place for the remaining period of their exile. The sage directs them to panchavaTi on the banks of river gOdAvari. Onwards…
rAma set out to pnachavaTi as directed by the sage agastya and on the way he met a giant and mighty vulture. The brothers saw him perched on the banyan tree and for a moment wondered if he was a demon and inquired about his identity. The vulture sweetly, gently and lovingly replied that he was a fatherly figure and was indeed a friend of their father daSaratha. rAma was delighted to know that and approached him affectionately and assuredly enquired who he was. Hearing the gentle enquiry of rAma, the giant bird began to narrate the history of creation of all beings and that of his own –
“O mighty rAma, listen, I shall narrate to you the creation since the beginning, that is since the times of prajApatis, the creators and their progeny. Among them the first was kardama, followed by vikrIta, followed by sEsha, samSraya, mighty bahuputra, sthANu, marichi, atri, the valorous kratu, pulastya, Angirasa, prachEta and pulaha. They were followed by the creators daksha, vivasvAn, arishTanEmi. The kASyapa was the last one among that lineage. It is well known that daksha had sixty daughters. kAsyapa wedded eight of them – ditI, aditI, danu, kAlikA, tAmrA, krOdhavaSa, manu and analA. The great kASyapa exhorted his young wives to create progeny who are resplendent like him to rule over the three worlds. Among the eight wives, aditI, ditI and kAlikA took his advise seriously while the rest of them didn’t.
His wife aditI gave birth to the twelve Adityas, eleven rudras, eight vasus and two aSvins – thirty three in all.
Of ditI were born mighty daityas to whom belonged the entire earth.
danu gave birth to hayagrIva while kAlikA gave birth to naraka and kAlaka.
Five famous daughters – kraunchI, bhAsI, SyEnI, dhRtarAshTrI and SukI were born of tAmrA.
kraunchI gave birth to owls, bhAsI to floating birds, SyEnI to radiant vultures and eagles and dhRtarAshTrI to sweet singing swans and chakravAkas.
SukI gave birth to nata and from nata was born vinata.
krOdhavasa gave birth to blessed mRgI, mRgamandA, harI, bhadramadA, mAtangI, SArdUlI, swEtA, surabhI and kadrukA. Of these, mRgI gave birth to the beasts such as bears and mRgamandA to deers.
harI gave birth to the lions and swift moving monkeys.
bhadramadA had daughter by name irAvatI who gave birth to airAvata, the lord of elephants. To mAtangI were born the elephants.
SArdUlI gave birth to tigers and monkeys called gOlAngUlA while to SwEtA were born elephants that guarded the eight quarters.
surabhI begot two famous daughters – gAndharvI and rOhiNI.
rOhiNI created cows while gAndharvI begot horses. surasA begot cobras while kadru (sister of surasA) begot other poisonous serpents.
manu gave birth to humans – brAhmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas and SUdras.
analA gave birth to trees bearing great fruits. kadru gave birth to the thousand hooded serpent that supports the whole earth. vinatA gave birth to two sons garuDa and aruNa.
I am born of that aruNa and sampAti is my elder brother. My name is jaTAyu, the son of SyEnI. O rAma, if you so wish, I can guard your hermitage in this treacherous forest infested with wild beats and demons. I shall protect sItA when you or lakshmaNa are out”.
rAma was extremely happy to meet the fatherly jaTAyu, he embraced him time and again and affectionately enquired and understood the instances of his friendship with daSaratha. Entrusting the safety of sItA to jaTAyu, the trio headed to panchavaTI headed by rAma who was desirous of vanquishing the demons like the fire destroying the moths.
Here we conclude the the fourteenth sarga of the araNya kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 3.15. And they delighted in panchavaTI
Previous: 3.13. Destination panchavaTi
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
