Sibi Chakravarthy's Immortal Story Of His Life For Animals & Birds

 

Hindu scriptures mention a monarch named Shibi who ruled over Ayodhya. He is identified as Ushinara's son from the Chandravamsha (Lunar dynasty). 

The devas once decided to examine Shibi's repute. Agni took on the shape of a dove and hid on the king's lap to escape a kite that was chasing her. He was informed by the king's priest that it was his sworn responsibility to save the life of the dove, which revealed that it was a sage. Flying into the scene, Indra took on the shape of a kite and asked Shibi to give him the dove it had been pursuing. Shibi said that he would be happy to sacrifice some other flesh in exchange for the dove, refusing to give up the one that had come to him for help. 

The mythology goes that King Shibi was told by the kite (Indra) that the flesh he would have to sacrifice to preserve Agni—who had changed into a dove—was to come from his right thigh and have the same weight as the dove. When Shibi began to contribute bits of his flesh and weighed them against the dove on a scale, he discovered that the bird weighed more than all the flesh he had offered. At last, the monarch took a seat on the scale.

The gods reverted to their natural forms and greeted him, wishing him luck in having a baby boy titled Kapotaroma and said that they intended to verify the veracity of his love towards birds and animals. At this point, they are happy and his physique will still be as attractive and powerful as it was and he will reign contentedly and live to a ripe old age. In addition, they said that his praises will be spoken eternally, and his name will be passed down from generation to generation.

Source image: Google, Wikipedia