Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c5.742

c5.742

The Brahmin was born a hunter in the country of Mithilā. He took to looking after his parents as a vow and soon became a top-ranking righteous man. He did his duty to which he was born. He sold meat and earned a living. He never killed or butchered an animal. One day a Brahmin named Kauśika was doing penance sitting under a tree when a crane perched on the top of its branches defiled the Brahmin’s head with its droppings. The Brahmin in rage looked up and his powerful stare burnt the crane and it fell down dead. Leaving that place some time later he went to a house to beg. The house-wife informed him that he would be given alms only after attending to her husband. The Brahmin was not pleased with her reply. Seeing that she added “Please do not look at me like that. I am no crane. To me my husband is supreme.”