19. THE SARANGA BIRDS :

IN the stories narrated in the Puranas,
birds and beasts speak like men, and
sometimes they give sound advice and
even teach spiritual wisdom. But the
natural qualities of those creatures are
adroitly made to peep through this human
veil.


One of the characteristic beauties of the
Puranic literature is this happy fusion of
nature and imagination. In a delightful
passage in the Ramayana, Hanuman, who
is described as very wise and learned, is
made to frolic with apish joy, when he
imagined that the beautiful damsel he saw
at Ravana's inner courtyard was Sita.
It is usual to entertain children with stories
in which birds and beasts are made to
speak. But the stories of the Puranas are
meant for elderly people, and in them
usually some background is given in
explanation of animals having the gift of
human speech.


The usual expedient employed is a
previous birth when those creatures were
human beings. For instance, a deer was a
rishi in a previous birth, or a fox a king.
The subsequent degradation being due to
a curse.


In such cases the deer will act as a deer
and yet speak as a rishi, and in the fox the
clever nature is shot through with the
characteristics of a wise and experienced
king. The stories are thereby made
interesting vehicles of the great truths they
sometimes convey.


Khandavaprastha, that forest full of
uneven places and thorns and prickles and
cumbered with the crumbling vestiges of a
long dead city, was indeed a frightful
place when it came into the possession of
the Pandavas.


Birds and beasts had made it their abode,
and it was infested with thieves and
wicked men. Krishna and Arjuna resolved
to set fire to the forest and construct a new
city in its place.


A saranga bird was living there with its
four fledgelings. The male bird was
pleasantly roaming about in the forest
with another female bird neglecting wife
and children. The mother bird looked after
its young ones.


As the forest was set on fire as
commanded by Krishna and Arjuna and
the fire spread in all directions, doing its
destructive work, the worried mother bird
began to lament:


'The fire is coming nearer and nearer
burning everything, and soon it will be
here and destroy us. All forest creatures
are in despair and the air is full of the
agonising crash of falling trees. Poor
wingless babies! You will become a prey
to the fire. What shall I do? Your father
has deserted us, and I am not strong
enough to fly away carrying you with
me."


To the mother who was wailing thus, the
children said:
"Mother, do not torment yourself on our
account. Leave us to our fate. If we die
here, we shall attain a good birth in some
future life. If you give up your life for our
sake, our family will become extinct. Fly
to a place of safety, take another mate and
be happy. You will soon have other
children and be able to forget us. Mother,
reflect and do what is best for our race."
Despite this earnest entreaty, the mother
had no mind to leave her children. She
said: "I shall remain here and perish in the
flames with you."


This is the background of the story of the
birds. A rishi named Mandapala long
lived faithful to his vow of perfect
brahmacharya but when he sought entry to
the higher regions, the gatekeeper said:
"There is no place here for a childless
man" and turned him back. He was then
born as a saranga bird and lived with a
female companion named Jarita. She laid
four eggs. Then he left Jarita and
wandered in the woods with another
female companion, Lapita.


The four eggs of Jarita hatched in time
and they were the four birds mentioned
above. As they were the children of a rishi
they could cheer and encourage their
mother in the way they did.


The mother bird told her children: "There
is a rat-hole by the side of this tree. I shall
put you there. You can get into the hole
and escape the fire. I shall close the mouth
of the hole with earth and the fire will not
touch you. When the fire dies down I shall
let you out."


The children would not agree. They said:
"The rat in the hole will devour us. It is
better to perish in the flames than to die
ignobly by being eaten up by rats."
The mother bird tried to relieve the fears
of the children and said: "I saw an eagle
devour the rat. There is now no danger for
you inside the hole."


But the children said: "There are sure to
be other rats in the hole. Our danger is not
ended by the killing of one rat by the
eagle. Kindly save your life by flying
before the fire reaches us and this tree
catches fire. We cannot get into the rathole.
Why should you sacrifice your life
for our sake? How have we merited it,
who have done nothing for you? We have
only brought you unhappiness since we
came into the world. Take another mate
and live happily."


The fire which destroyed the whole forest,
mercifully left the baby birds unscathed.
When the fire had subsided, the mother
bird came back and saw with wonder that
her children were safe and chirping
merrily. She embraced them and was
intensely happy.


While the fire was raging, the male bird,
anxious for the safety of his young ones,
had expressed his fears to his new lovebird
Lapita. She had petulantly upbraided
him. Hearing his repeated laments "Is it
so?" she said: "I know your mind, I know
that you desire to go back to Jarita, having
had enough of me. Why falsely bring in
the fire and the children? You have
yourself told me that the children of Jarita
would never perish in fire since the Fire
god has given you that boon. You may as
well tell the truth and go away, if you like,
to your beloved Jarita. I shall only be
another of the many trusting females
betrayed by unworthy males and cast out
wandering in the forest. You may go."
The bird Mandapala said: "Your
assumption is untrue. I took birth as a bird
for obtaining children and I am naturally
anxious about them.


I shall just go and see them and then come
back to you " Having thus consoled his
new mate, be went to the tree where Jarita
was seated.
Jarita paid no attention to her consort but
remained absorbed in joy at finding her
children alive.


Then she turned to her husband and asked
in an indifferent tone why he had come.
He replied with affection:
"Are my children happy? Who is the
eldest among them?"
Then Jarita cut in icily: "Do you greatly
care? Go back to her for whom you
abandoned me. Be happy with her."


Mandapala philosophised: "A woman will
not care for her husband after she has
become a mother. Such is the way of the
world. Even the blameless Vasishtha was
thus ignored by Arundhati."