कपिञ्जर

{ kapiñjara }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

KAPIÑJARA   (KAPIÑJALA). A bird. There is a story about the origin of this bird in the Mahābhārata. Once Tvaṣṭā created Triśiras to kill Indra. Triśiras had three heads. When by one head he recited the Vedas by another head he drank wine and by the third he looked at the world wickedly. Indra envious of the growing strength of Triśiras felled him down by his Vajrāyudha. A person called Takṣaka carrying an axe came that way then and by orders from Indra he cut off the heads of Triśiras. When the heads fell down there emerged from them birds called Kapiñjala, Tittiri and Kalapiṅgala. From the head which recited the Vedas came the birds Kapiñjalas; from the head that drank the wine came the birds Kalapiṅgalas; and from the head that looked at the world with wickedness came the birds Tittiris. [Chapter 9, Udyoga Parva] .