Jambavaan

Jambavan is the divine boar who came out of Brahmas nostrils when he slept inadvertently during his duties. He is blessed with eternal life and he is also an erudite scholar and an extremely strong person, who enjoyed eternal youth till one stage in his life. Jambavan was a curious or nosy person and he loved to run around places very fast and see things happening all over the universe. When Vishnu took the Thrivikrama form ( with one step he measured the entire earth, with the second step he measured all that was other than earth and there was no space for placing his third step.. tad vishnoH paramam padam) and was standing in his huge form Jambavaan with great speed perambulated the feet three times, and as luck would have it, on his third round he happened to touch one of the top ranges of Meru mountain with the tip of his big toe and on the impact the mountain was shaken and the peak came down in pieces. The angry mountain, the abode of many divine beings, cursed Jambavan so that he became suddenly old, and his mobility was completely gone. In this shape he was living in the southern region of India and gained the friendship of Sugriva and Hanuman. The boar is a living encyclopaedia and he knew all that had happened to Hanuman in his youth that made the latter to sit quiet and forgetful of his own valour. So when it was time to arouse the valour in Hanuman so as to prepare the monkey for his mission to Lanka in search of Sita, Jambavan reveals the whole story of Hanuman.. And reminded of his valour Hanuman becomes an instant strongman and steers the course of Ramayanam from that moment. During the war between Rama and Ravana, even during moments of crisis on Rama's side, two persons who were not killed or affected in any way by weapons were Hanuman and Jambavan and Hanuman did many things repairing the damage only under the sage advise of Jambavan. Till this date any wizened old man who appear to have a lot of experience and history in his kitty is termed as a Jambavan.