The following story is current concerning the sacred vultures of
Tirukazhukunram. The Ashtavasus, or eight gods who guard the eight
points of the compass, did penance, and Siva appeared in person before
them. But, becoming angry with them, he cursed them, and turned them
into vultures. When they asked for forgiveness, Siva directed that
they should remain at the temple of Vedagiri Iswara. One pair of
these birds still survives, and come to the temple daily at noon for
food. Two balls of rice cooked with ghi (clarified butter) and sugar,
which have been previously offered to the deity, are placed at a
particular spot on the hill. The vultures, arriving simultaneously,
appropriate a ball apiece. The temple priests say that, every day,
one of the birds goes on a pilgrimage to Benares, and the other to
Ramesvaram. It is also said that the pair will never come together,
if sinners are present at the temple.
When a person is ill, his family sometimes make a vow that they will
ofter a few pounds of mutton to the Braahmani kite (Haliastur indus,
Garuda pakshi) on the patient's recovery. It is believed that, should
the offering be acceptable, the sick person will speedily get better,
and the bird will come to demand its meat, making its presence known
by sitting on a tree near the house, and crying plaintively. The
shadow of a Braahmani kite falling on a cobra is said to stupefy
the snake. The Kondhs do not consider it a sin to kill this bird,
which is held in veneration throughout Southern India. A Kondh will
kill it for so slight an offence as carrying off his chickens.
The crow is believed to possess only one eye, which moves from socket
to socket as occasion demands. The belief is founded on the legend
that an Asura, disguised as a crow, while Rama was sleeping with his
head on Sita's lap in the jungles of Dandaka, pecked at her breasts,
so that blood issued therefrom. On waking, Rama, observing the blood,
and learning the cause of it, clipped a bit of straw, and, after
infusing it with the Brahma astra (miraculous weapon), let it go
against the crow Asura, who appealed to Rama for mercy. Taking pity
on it, Rama told the Asura to offer one of its eyes to the weapon,
and saved it from death. Since that time, crows are supposed to have
only one eye. The Kondhs will not kill crows, as this would be a
sin amounting to the killing of a friend. According to their legend,
soon after the creation of the world, there was a family consisting
of an aged man and woman, and four children, who died one after the
other in quick succession. Their parents were too infirm to take the
necessary steps for their cremation, so they threw the bodies away on
the ground at some distance from their home. God appeared to them in
their dreams one night, and promised that he would create the crow,
so that it might devour the dead bodies. Some Koyis believe that hell
is the abode of an iron crow, which feeds on all who go there. There
is a legend in the Kavarathi Island of the Laccadives, that a Mappilla
tangal (Muhammadan priest) once cursed the crows for dropping their
excrement on his person, and now there is not a crow on the island.
It is believed that, if a young crow-pheasant is tied by an iron
chain to a tree, the mother, as soon as she discovers the captive,
will go and fetch a certain root, and by its aid break the chain,
which, when it snaps, is converted into gold.
In some Kapu (Telugu cultivator) houses, bundles of ears of rice may
be seen hung up as food for sparrows, which are held in esteem. The
hopping of sparrows is said to resemble the gait of a person
confined in fetters, and there is a legend that the Kapus were once
in chains, and the sparrows set them at liberty, and took the bondage
on themselves. Native physicians prescribe the flesh and bones of cock
sparrows for those who have lost their virility. The birds are cleaned,
and put in a mortar, together with other medicinal ingredients. They
are pounded together for several hours, so that the artificial heat
produced by the operation converts the mixture into a pulpy mass,
which is taken in small doses. The flesh of quails and partridges is
also believed to possess remedial properties.
A west coast housewife, when she buys a fowl, goes through a mystic
ritual to prevent it from getting lost. She takes it thrice round
the fireplace, saying to it: "Roam over the country and the forest,
and come home safe again." Some years ago, a rumour spread through the
Koyi villages that an iron cock was abroad very early in the morning,
and upon the first village in which it heard one or more cocks crow it
would send a pestilence, and decimate the village. In one instance,
at least, this led to the immediate extermination of all the cocks
in the village.
The Indian roller (Coracias indica), commonly called the blue jay,
is known as pala-pitta or milk bird, because it is supposed that, when
a cow gives little milk, the yield will be increased if a few of the
feathers of this bird are chopped up, and given to it along with grass.
The fat of the peacock, which moves gracefully and easily, is supposed
to cure stiff joints. Peacock's feathers are sold in the bazaar,
and the burnt ashes are used as a cure for vomiting.
The deposit of white magnesite in the "Chalk Hills" of the Salem
district is believed to consist of the bones of the mythical bird
Jatayu, which fought Ravana, to rescue Sita from his clutches.