Kāpota Tīrtha

Chapter 162 of the Uttara Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa tells of a pigeon who was a devoted bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He lived at a great fig tree on the bank of the Śābhramatī. A hungry hawk came to him as an atithi (a guest whom one must honour). The pigeon gave his own body as food for the guest. He went to the world of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and the place became Kāpota Tīrtha.

The pigeon’s devotion

A pigeon who was a great devotee of Bhagavān Vishṇu lived at a large fig tree on the bank of the Śābhramatī. His whole life was given to Vishṇu-bhakti (devotion to Bhagavān Vishṇu).

The hawk’s demand

One day, on Dvādaśī, the twelfth lunar day, which is sacred to Bhagavān Vishṇu, a hawk (a falcon) arrived. He called himself an atithi weak with hunger, and he asked for food. The pigeon could not give him suitable food. Then the hawk said plainly that he wanted the pigeon’s own flesh. If the pigeon refused, the hawk would lay a śāpa (a curse) on him.

The pigeon’s willing offering

The pigeon knew that atithi-sevā, service to the guest, is the highest dharma of a householder. He knew that a guest who leaves unsatisfied brings a heavy pāpa (sin). So he freely offered his own body as the hawk’s food. This was giving one’s own body to feed a guest. It was seen as the highest form of both atithi-dharma and Vishṇu-bhakti.

Liberation

The place where the pigeon made this offering became a holy place called Kapotaka, from kapota, a pigeon. By this act the pigeon reached the world of Bhagavān Vishṇu, Vaikuṇṭha.

Sources

• Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Uttara Khaṇḍa, Chapter 162