An Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, with Short Explanations and a Concordance to the Bombay and Calcutta Editions and P. C. Roy's Translation c5.s2.1379

c5.s2.1379

Çyenakapotīya(m) ("the episode relating to the hawk and the pigeon"). § 11 (Parvaśaṅr.): I, 2, 448 (°m upākhyānam). — § 411 (Plakṣāv.): Indra in the shape of a hawk and Agni in that of a pigeon in fear of the hawk came to test king Uçīnara's merit (III, 130). Uçīnara in vain offered the hawk another beast, and thereafter his kingdom, in order that he might spare the pigeon ("he who slays a brahman, he who slaughters a cow, the common mother of all the worlds, and he who forsakes one asking for protection, are equally sinful"); at last the hawk agreed upon receiving the pigeon's weight of Uçīnara's flesh; Uçīnara cut portion after portion of his flesh and placed it in the balance, and as it did not outweigh the pigeon he mounted the scale himself, utterly devoid of flesh. Then Indra said: "As long as man shall speak of thee, so long . . . thou shalt inhabit the holy regions." Saying this Indra ascended to heaven, and so did king Uçīnara in a radiant shape, after having filled heaven and earth with his merits (III, 131).