(A story narrated by Sage Bhargava to king Muchukunda from Mahabharata‘s Shanti Parva, Chapter 141-145)
A long time ago, there lived a cruel bird hunter. He lived happily with his wife by poaching, hunting, and selling birds. Once he went to a forest to hunt. Suddenly heavy rains lashed the forest flooding the area and causing much destruction to the flora and fauna. Having trapped amidst the flooded forest, the hunter saw a big tree under the clearing sky. The hungry hunter, shivering wet, decided to spend the night under the tree.
A pigeon couple lived in the same tree for years. They had many children and lived now with each other. The wife pigeon, on the same morning, had gone out into the forest but had not returned by the nightfall. The hunter had indeed captured the wife pigeon and locked her up in a cage with him. The worried husband deeply missed his wife. As he was anxiously grunting, the wife pigeon heard him and started to talk.
Consoling her mate, the wife pigeon reminded him of his duty. She said that the highest duty of a family-man (gRhastha) is treating his guest well. Since the hunter was their guest, she advised her companion to immediately attend to him. Thereafter, praising his wife for thinking right, the husband pigeon asked the hunter, how he could help. To ward off his guest’s cold, the husband piled some dry leaves up, brought some half-burnt coal pieces, and lit a fire. Soon, hunter felt better but remained hungry.
The pigeon told him that birds do not store any food for days to come in the same manner as hermits do. Hence, he had no food to offer. Wanting to genuinely help his guest, the husband pigeon pondered for a while. He then piled up some dry leaves and prepared a pyre. Praying the almighty, he circled the fire thrice and offered himself as food to his guest. The hunter was moved at this sight. He had never felt bad about his living anytime before. But, the sacrifice of the pigeon made him think. He decided to give up hunting and live like a hermit. He set all the birds in his cage free.
The husband’s sacrifice bereaved the wife. She could not withstand the separation and fell into the same pyre that consumed her husband. Soon, as the hunter kept seeing, a divine chariot appeared taking the pigeon couple on board. The pigeon couple reached the heavens.
The hunter realized that life without lofty moral values (like ahimsa, shaucha, tapas) is worthless. He decided to observe a tough penance and give his body up. While carrying out the penance deep in the jungle, once a wildfire raged. The hunter-turned-hermit happily submitted his body to the fire and attained the heavens.
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