Jatayu, mythical bird from Ramayana, spotted in Kerala? No, it’s a condor from Argentina - Alt News
Arjun Sidharth
29th July 2019 / 4:41 pm / Last updated: 9th June 2021
A video of a huge, magnificent bird fluttering its wings while perched on a cliff, was posted by Facebook user Ajit Rathi with the claim that this bird is Jatayu, the mythical bird of the Ramayana. His post gained 33,000 shares
The video is also circulating on Twitter.
.रामायण में जिसका वर्णन है वही जटायू पक्षी का किसी को एक बार भी दर्शन नहीं होता।
यह जटायू पक्षी केरल के एक जंगल मे दिखाई दिया। कितना सुंदर पक्षी है ऑंखें भरकर देखो। दर्शन करें।
जय श्री राम 🙏
सौजन्य : Whatsapp pic.twitter.com/iczFNI5v4j
— Col Mayank Chaubey🇮🇳 (@a_proud_veteran) June 7, 2021
The video had viral on Facebook in 2019 when the bird’s name was misspelt as ‘Jadayu’.
In the epic Ramayana, Jatayu witnesses Sita being kidnapped by Ravana and tries to stop him before Ravana chops off one of its wings. According to legend, the mythical bird fell at Chadayamangalam in the Kollam district of Kerala. The viral message claims that the Jatayu has been spotted there. The message had also been circulated in Marathi.
The bird seen in the video is a condor. The condor is a common name for two species of vultures- the Andean Condor which is found mainly in the Andes mountain range of South America, and the California Condor which inhabits California and parts of Arizona and Utah in the USA. These are two of the largest flying birds, with a wingspan of up to 3.2 metres for Andean Condors.
The video circulated on social media platforms is not recent. Alt News reverse-searched one of the frames of the video and found that it was uploaded on YouTube in April 2014. The video is posted below.
The name of this condor is Sayani. Sayani was found poisoned at Catamarca, Argentina before she was rescued and successfully released into the wild. The Dodo reports,
“With the help of local police and officials, Sayani was sent to the Buenos Aires Zoo for treatment for over a year. And finally, 16 months after being found, the bird became strong enough to be wild again. On March 28, 2014, Sayani’s rescuers gathered on the top of a mountain in Catamarca with Sayani, ready to set him free.”
A giant sculpture of Jatayu has been installed atop a hill in Chadayamangalam in Kerala, the place where the mythical bird is supposed to have fallen. It may be reiterated that the claim accompanying the viral video asserts that the bird was spotted there.
In conclusion, it may be stated that the viral video does not depict the mythical bird Jatayu. It is a video of a condor that was rescued and then released into the wild in 2014. A giant sculpture by an Italian artist was passed off as the skeleton of Ghatotkach, the son of Bheem in the Mahabharata.
Arjun Sidharth is a writer with Alt News. He has previously worked in the television news industry, where he managed news bulletins and breaking news scenarios, apart from scripting numerous prime time television stories. He has also been actively involved with various freelance projects. Sidharth has studied economics, political science, international relations and journalism. He has a keen interest in books, movies, music, sports, politics, foreign policy, history and economics. His hobbies include reading, watching movies and indoor gaming.
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