Ram ki Lakshman

Chapter 12 - The sacrifice.

"R-Ram." A husky voice called out. It seemed to by dying, but it was still very much alive with the amount of bhakti the voice had. Rama's heart fluttered from the amount of devotion the voice had, he looked around, trying to find the source. "Ram." He recognized the voice, he knew it somewhere, but just couldn't grasp who it was.   

"Jatayu!" Rama gasped, he saw a small glimpse of a huge bird, who was the king of vultures and a friend of Dasharata. (I feel like it would be weird to write Rama calling him Jatayu ji for some reason.) "Oh god." Rama flinched at the scene in front of him. The old bird was lying on the ground, a pool of blood surrounding the area where his wing was supposed to be. It was cut. "Oh, Jatayu! How di-did this happen?" his heart sank as he looked at the magestic bird sympathetically.

"Prabhu! I s-saw Ravana taking Sita maa that wa-way-" Jatayu stopped, gasping for breath as Rama swallowed down tears. "I tried, prabhu! Please forgive me, I wasn't able to save her." The Raghu looked at the bird, cupping it's face softly with one hand and holding it's remaining wing with the other.  

"No! Do not apologize! You-" Rama choked on his words when he looked at the bird, who's eyes were filled with such love and devotion, that Rama's heart broke thinking about the fact that it was about to die, and for him. "Thank you," Rama finally managed to croak out as the bird smiled widely, tears forming in it's own eyes. Lakshmana just stared at the bird king, who stared back at him with a slight smile. 

"A-are you okay, ji? Bhaiya, is h-he..?" Lakshmana asked, and Jayatu sighed happily, as if he was ready to embrace death like an old friend.

"Do no worry about me, if my life was of any use to you, then I a-am b-blessed." he sighed, looking at Lakshmana knowingly, then continued with a smile, "Sita maa is sa-s-safe. R-Ravana won't be abl-a-able to touch her." Rama nodded, trying to smile through the tears. "Jay Shri Ram." the old vulture king said with a serene smile, before breathing his last breath, his eyes looking straight at Rama's. Lakshmana squeezed Rama's shoulder, who sighed sadly, eyes still not leaving Jatayu's. Rama never wanted anyone to die for him, but it had happened. Unknowingly, Rama had blessed Jatayu to attain peace. 

"Come, Lakshman. We should do his last rites."

***

This was really short- sorry. In Kerala, we have the Jatayu Para, or Jatayu rock in Kollam, symbolizing where Jatayu had fell after Ravana cut of his wings. I suggest you search it up, it is a magnificant site. 

Jatayu's story is such so, amazing, and I do not have enough talent to write it with as much emotion as it should be written with, but, either way, I hope you enjoyed. :)

PS: Next chapters are only Ramu Lakshu scenes. :D