BIRAJ KALYAN

The Andean Condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world. I witnessed its majestic flight on a visit to the Colca Canyon and the Mirador Cruz del Condor during a vacation in Peru. In Inca culture the condor, symbolizing righteousness, was considered the most sacred bird and thought to be the messenger between the earth and the heavens. It was in charge of taking the spirits or souls of dead people to heaven on its wings. In the Inca cosmovision the condor, the puma and the serpent were believed to represent the superior world of the gods, the world of the living and the world of the dead respectively.

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PS: El Condor Pasa (The Condor Passes) is an orchestral music piece based on traditional Andean Peruvian folk music from the zarzuela (musical) of the same name, written in 1913 by the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomia Robles. In 2004 Peru declared this song a part of their cultural heritage and it is now virtually the second national anthem of Peru.  It is the best known Peruvian song in the English speaking world due to a 1970 cover by Simon and Garfunkel on their Bridge over Troubled Waters album.