History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.42.2

v7.c89.42.2

‘It¹¹⁵⁹ (the bird) frequently cries and proclaims what is to come and it propels his speech as an oarsman propels a boat; O bird! May you be auspicious to us; may no overpowering (or unfavourable) phenomenon reach you from any side’. The three verses of Ṛg. II. 43 refer to the cries of birds. ‘The birds, chirping, utter cries towards the south (of the house) like composers of songs that speak for food at various seasons; O bird! when you chirp, speak what would be to our welfare, when you are silent think of good thoughts about us; when flying up (from our house) you utter (cries) like a lute; may we be endowed with valiant sons and speak much in assemblies’. Ṛg. X. 165 contains several verses about a kapota bird and one about an owl. Ṛg. X. 165. 1 and 4 are:¹¹⁶⁰ ‘a kapota bird, messenger of ill-luck, has come to this our house, with whatever (evil) intent, we worship you, we shall perform atonement, O God! May it fare well with our men and quadrupeds. May what the owl expresses (by its hooting) turn out to be fruitless or (untrue). What the kapota bird (expresses) by placing its feet near our Agni (be untrue); here is salutation to Yama, the god of Death, whose messenger is this (bird) sent (by the god)'. The Āśvalāyana-gṛhya provides 'if a kapota (pigeon) strikes against a house (enters it) or flies along its length, the house-holder should offer into fire oblations (of ghee) with each verse of the hymn ('devāḥ kapota', Ṛg. X. 165) or he should recite it inaudibly'.