Four Cātaka Birds in Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa

The Four Dharma Pakṣas, or the “Birds of Righteousness,” are four avian heroes featured prominently in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. They are revered for their profound spiritual knowledge and wisdom gained through miraculous survival and devotion to Dharma.

Lineage and Miraculous Birth

The four birds share an extraordinary lineage and a miraculous birth:

Father: Droṇa, a virtuous and learned Brāhmaṇa son of Mandapāla, well-versed in the Vedas and Vedāṅgas. He is different from Droṇācārya of Mahābhārata.
Mother: Tārkṣī (Vapu), the daughter of the bird-king Kandharu (a descendant of Garuḍa) and the celestial nymph Madanikā. Tārkṣī was also an Apsaras previously known as Vapu, cursed by Durvāsā to be born in the bird form.

The four brothers’ birth occurred during the devastating Mahābhārata War at Kurukṣetra. Tārkṣī, three months and fifteen days pregnant, was struck by an arrow from Arjuna’s bow. Her pregnancy was aborted, and four eggs, shining like the moon and possessing life force, fell to the ground. In an instant, a great bell, severed from Bhagadatta’s elephant Supratīka, fell precisely over the eggs, acting as a divine, protective shield against the carnage.

Naming and Upbringing

The four sons are known collectively, but the text specifically names two of them: Jaritāri (the first) and Droṇa (the last, named after his father).

They were discovered on the battlefield, still protected by the bell, by the great sage Śamīka. The sage and his disciples were astounded that the eggs had survived the greatest war in the world. Śamīka recognized them as special, non-ordinary beings, stating that their survival proved the truth of the saying that death will not come until one’s predestined time.

The sage took the four chicks to his āśrama (hermitage) where he raised them with utmost care, providing them with food, shelter, and protection from predators.

The Attainment of Knowledge

Due to the grace of the sage Śamīka, the birds attained extraordinary jñāna (knowledge).

Early Development: Within just one month, the birds were capable of traversing the path of the Sun’s chariot and circling the entire world.
Divine Wisdom: The brothers grew up with the unique ability to speak sanskritized and distinct human words, possessing great knowledge despite their small, wingless forms when found. They recognized Śamīka as their true father, mother, and guru, as he saved them from certain death.
The Power of Truth: The birds were born from a father (Droṇa) who himself demonstrated the power of truth and satya (truthfulness). Although they were not named at birth, they were later protected and purified by the curse placed on their own father for refusing to sacrifice his body to a Garuḍa bird seeking food—a test orchestrated by Indra. Due to this chain of events, Śamīka affirmed that though they were born as birds, they would retain their innate jñāna.

Role as Spiritual Guides

The Dharma Pakṣas ultimately became renowned for their deep wisdom and their mastery of the Vedas even in their avian forms.

Residence: They were commanded by the sage Śamīka to reside on the Vindhya mountain, dedicating themselves to tapas (austerities), svādhyāya (self-study of the scriptures), and deep meditation.
Jaimini’s Quest: Their most significant role came when the sage Jaimini, a disciple of Vyāsa, was perplexed by doubts regarding the Mahābhārata epic. The great sage Mārkaṇḍeya directed Jaimini to seek answers from the wise Droṇa’s sons on the Vindhya mountain.
Vedic Recitation: When Jaimini arrived, he was astonished to hear the birds reciting the Vedas continuously, flawlessly, and with perfect pronunciation. This demonstrated that the Goddess of Speech, Sarasvatī, does not abandon those devoted to knowledge, even if they are born in the form of a bird.

The Dharma Pakṣas successfully dispelled Jaimini’s four great doubts about the epic, thereby establishing themselves as repositories of profound Vedic knowledge and living examples of how karma and dharma operate in the cycle of existence.

The Four Doubts of Jaimini and the Birds’ Clarifications

Jaimini presented four primary doubts concerning the great epic, and the four birds—referred to as the sons of Droṇa answered them systematically.

1. The Incarnation of the Supreme Being

Jaimini’s first question was:

Why did Lord Janārdana Vāsudeva (Viṣṇu), the support of everything and the cause of all causes, take on a human form, even though He is without attributes (guṇās)?

The birds clarified that the Supreme Being (Parabrahman), though formless and transcending all qualities, manifests in four specific forms for the sake of cosmic order:

The Unmanifest Form (Vāsudeva): This is the ultimate, inscrutable, quality-less form (Nirguṇa), which is beyond the comprehension of the ordinary mind.
The Manifest Forms (Chaturvyūha): Viṣṇu manifests in three additional forms (often identified as Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha) that embody the three qualities (Guṇās) of nature (Sattva, Rajas, Tamas). He takes these bodily forms whenever Dharma (righteousness) is in distress and Adharma (unrighteousness) prevails, ensuring the preservation of the universe.

2. Draupadī’s Marriage to Five Husbands

Jaimini’s second doubt concerned the central heroine of the Mahābhārata:

How was it that Draupadī became the joint wife of the five Pāṇḍavas?

The birds explained that Draupadī’s situation was predestined due to celestial causes. The five Pāṇḍavas were, in fact, emanations of Indra (the chief of the gods). Draupadī, in a previous birth, was ordained to marry them to fulfill a divine purpose, making her marriage to all five brothers a necessary and righteous act determined by destiny and celestial lineage.

3. Baladeva’s Sin of Brahmahatyā

Jaimini’s third question was about a puzzling event involving Kṛṣṇa’s elder brother:

Why did the mighty Baladeva (Balarāma), who wields the plough weapon, commit the sin of Brahmahatyā (killing a Brāhmaṇa) during his pilgrimage, and how did he expiate it?

The birds provided the context that Baladeva committed the act of killing the sage Sūta Lomaharṣaṇa (or a Brāhmaṇa) while under the influence of intoxication or in a moment of rashness. Consequently, he had to undertake an extensive pilgrimage to atone for the sin of Brahmahatyā, demonstrating that even the most illustrious figures must face the consequences of their actions under the universal law of Karma.

4. The Killing of Draupadī’s Sons

Jaimini’s final and most tragic doubt was concerning the fate of the young warriors:

How was it that the five unmarried, heroic sons of Draupadī, who had the powerful Pāṇḍavas and Lord Kṛṣṇa as their protectors, were slain as if they were orphans or defenseless?

The birds revealed that Draupadī’s sons—the Upapāṇḍavas—were, in a previous birth, five celestial beings called Viśvadevās. The circumstances of their helpless killing by Aśvatthāmā while they slept were a result of a curse they had previously incurred. The incident was a manifestation of an unspent Karma from a former life, emphasizing that even great warriors cannot escape the inexorable cycle of cause and effect (Karma).

The conversation between Jaimini and the birds, as detailed in the opening chapters of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, serves to illustrate the profound mysteries of Dharma and Karma that underpin the Mahābhārata.