The Talking birds

The birds who could recite scriptures

Our puranas and ithihaasas have many interesting stories. This one interesting story at the introduction of Markandeya Purana is interwoven with many small stories.

Once Sage Jamini approached Rishi Markandeya. He wanted to know why Lord Vishnu had to take a human form to destroy adharma. He also wanted to know why Draupadi became the wife of the Pandavas and why the children of the Pandavas died young.

Markandeya was about to start his evening prayers at that time. He asked Jamini to speak to the four sons of the Drona bird in the Vindhya mountains named Pingaksha, Vibodha, Suputra and Sumuk. He said that the birds could remove all of Jamini’s doubts. Surprised by this, Jamini asks Markandeya how birds could talk and more importantly how they could have such profound knowledge of the Mahabharata. Markandeya then narrated the story of the talking birds.

Once the sage Narada was visiting Indra in Indralok. Indra was in his garden with the apsaras enjoying their dance. Upon seeing Narada, Indra paid his respects. He asked Narada if he would like to hear his Gandharvas sing or watch his apsaras dance. Indra asked Narada to choose amongst his apsaras for doing a dance.

Before Narada could respond, the apsaras started fighting amongst themselves as to who was best suited to entertain Narada. They brought their arguments of superiority to Narada and asked him to decide. Narada, being a mischievous person, suggested that the one who disturbs Rishi Durvasa in the forest and was capable of tempting him will be the winner. Rishi Durvasa was well known for his short temper and his quick curses. All the apsaras except the one named Vapu declined.

Vapu was proud of her beauty and was confident of disturbing Durvasa. She reached the mountain where Durvasa was meditating and started dancing and singing in a loud, enticing manner. Durvasa ignored her for some time. Vapu was persistent and continued the singing and dancing in the vicinity of Durvasa. Angered by this disrespect, Durvasa cursed Vapu to be born as a bird for sixteen years, would not enjoy motherhood and would be killed in battle and return to her position as an apsara. So where was this apsara born?

In the lineage of Garuda, there was a son called Sampati who was the brother of Jatayu. Sampati was the one who informs Hanuman of the whereabouts of Sita during their search. Sampati had a son Suparshwara and a grand son called Pralolupa. Pralolupa had two sons Kanka and Kandara. Born of the dynasty of Garuda, all these birds were powerful.

Once Kanka spotted the asura Vidyudrupa and his wife Madanaika enjoying themselves in Mount Kailasha. Vidyudrupa was angry at Kanka for disturbing him and his wife. They had a fight and the asura killed Kanka. When Kandara heard of his brother’s death, he fought the asura, Vidyudrupa and killed him.

With her husband dead and scared of Kandara, Madanaika sought his help. Madanaika was the daughter of Menaka and could take any form. Kandara asked her to become a bird and his wife. And so, she did and went with him to his land. Eventually the bird Madanaika gave birth to a daughter named Tarkshi. Tarkshi was the apsara Vapu, born as a bird as per the curse of Durvasa.

Another bird of the same clan called Mandapala had four sons. The youngest of the sons was called Drona. Drona married Tarkshi, daughter of Kandara and Madanaika. Tarkshi became pregnant and was expecting her chicks.

Once while flying over Kurukshetra when the war was on, an arrow pierced Tarkshi and her eggs fell on the battle field. As fate would have it, another arrow at that moment cut off an elephant’s bell and the bell fell in such a way it shielded Tarkshi’s four eggs like a strong shell.

Once the Kurukshetra war got over, Yudhistira went to visit his grand father Bhisma who was on the bed of arrows. A Rishi, Shamika was following Yudhistira. Shamika suddenly heard chirping noises coming from some place. Looking around, he spotted the bell of the elephant. Lifting the bell, he found the abandoned eggs of Tarkshi.

Taking pity on the young chicks, Rishi Shamika instructed his disciples to take them safely to their ashram and to feed them and take care of them. With time, the birds became stronger and were able to fly. They flew around Shamika’s ashram and used to listen to the lessons that Shamika was giving his disciples

Once they were ready to fly out, they thanked him for saving them and asked his advice on how they should spend their life. Rishi Shamika was amazed that the birds could talk like human beings. He asked them who they were and how they were born as birds. They then narrate another story.

There was once a Sage by the name of Vipulaswan. Vipulaswan had two sons Srikrishna and Tamvaru. The birds were the sons of Srikrishna in their previous birth. They used to help Srikrishna collect fire wood from the forest for the yagna. Once Indra wanted to test the Srikrishna. He came in the guise of the bird and asked Srikrishna for human flesh.

Srikrishna offered his sons as food to Indra. The sons refused to be served as flesh. Angered at their disobedience, Srikrishna cursed them to be born as birds.

Indra then revealed his true form and blessed Srikrishna for his unconditional offering towards a guest. He also blessed Srikrishna’s sons. He told them that even if they were born as birds, they will have deep knowledge. Srikrishna too repented his curse and blessed his sons saying that they will have knowledge and wisdom. He also blessed them with power to understand human language and also gave the ability to talk like humans.

Rishi Shamika was amazed that the birds had such a rich background. He blessed them saying “Since you are able to talk and move around faster, use the knowledge that you gained in this ashram wisely. Spread the knowledge and wisdom to many places.”

Markandeya concluded saying these are the birds that are staying at the Vindhyas. Go to them and all your doubts will be cleared. Markandeya proceeded to do his evening prayers and Jamini went to the Vindhyas.

Look at the beauty of these inter-twined stories. There is a celestial maid who gets cursed and is born as a bird. There is another set of brahmins who get cursed to be born as birds. These are beautifully brought together to make this story.