One of the most heartrending moments in the Ramayana is the tragic death of Jataayu, the vulture-king, in his vain attempt to defend Sita as she is being abducted by Ravana. “Jataayu-Vadha”, the ceremonial enactment of this event, is part of the repertoire of many genres of classical and folk theatre and dance in different parts of the country. Jataayu was a friend of Rama and a decent person pledged to performing his duty, upholding his sacred dharma.

While Jataayu’s sorrow-laden tale is part of the mythological, literary, pictorial, sculptural and performing heritage of our land, we are assured by biologists that for millions of years the grand bird has been part of our ecological heritage. And true to Jataayu’s promise the Indian vulture has performed its dharma, scavenging and cleaning up our environment. All of a sudden in the last decade of the previous century, our vultures started dying by the hundreds of thousands. When concerned citizens started worrying about the fate of Jataayu’s descendants, our government predictably retreated into its usual pattern of denial. India refused to even participate in the international research seeking the causes for the declining vulture population. Nepal and Pakistan took up a more constructive attitude and finally the Peregrine Foundation (certainly not an Indian entity and almost certainly a sinister imperialist neo-colonialist organisation) established that vultures were dying because the carcasses of cattle and sheep (the natural food of the vultures) were full of a chemical called diclonefac. This chemical is a drug prescribed for animals by veterinarians.

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