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A story about Jaimini appears in Maarkandeya Puraan. Jaimini was the disciple of Maharshi Ved Vyaas Jee. He heard The Mahaabhaarat from his teacher. Although he heard it very attentively and paid special attention to its meaning but still he was confused about certain points in the story. Since Ved Vyaas was not available to remove those confusions so Jaimini approached another learned Rishi, Rishi Maarkandeya Jee. Unfortunately Rishi Maarkandeya was also leaving for a pilgrimage, so was unable to help Jaimini. So he guided Jaimini to go to the Vindhya Mountains where four birds used to live. Their names were Pingaaksh, Vivodh, Suputra and Sumukh.

Now these four birds were very well versed in the scriptures and would clarify Jaimini's all doubts. Jaimini was astounded to see that the birds that could not only speak the human language were learned in religious scriptures. Before Jaimini's leaving for Vindhya Mountains, Maarkandeya told Jaimini the story of those birds.

There were two birds named Kank and Kandhaar. They were the descendants of Garud bird. They were brothers and loved each other very much. One day Kank had a fight with a demon named Vidyut and unfortunately was killed by him. Kandhaar vowed to take revenge, fought with the demon and killed him. He then married the demon's widow, Madanikaa. Madanikaa permanently changed her form to a bird and soon gave birth to a beautiful baby bird named Taarkshee.

Taarkshee was an extraordinary bird. In fact Madanikaa was Vapu, an Apsaraa. Once all the Apsaraa asked Devarshi Naarad, to decide who was best among them. At that time Naarad Jee said to them, "Whoever could distract the Sage Durvaasaa from his Tap, she should be the best." Now as everybody knows, Durvaasaa is known for his anger and ill-temper, so none of the Apsaraa was willing to take up this challenge of Naarad, but Vapu took up this challenge and set off to distract Durvaasaa Muni. While Durvaasaa was meditating, Vapu started singing like a Koyal (cuckoo) from a far distance. Durvaasaa got up to find out who the singer was and was surprised to see Vapu singing. As it was clear, he immediately gave Shaap to her that she would be born as a bird.

In due course Taarkshee got married and became pregnant. One day she was wandering in the Kurukshetra field when the Mahaabhaarat was going on. On that day Arjun and Bhagdatt were fighting together. Arjun was shooting arrows at Bhagdatt. By chance, Arjun's one arrow pierced her stomach and she died. Durvaasaa's Shaap was over and she again became Vapu Apsaraa and went to her Lok. But as Arjun's arrow hit Taarkshee's stomach, four eggs dropped to the ground. At the same time, another arrow of Arjun cut the rope from which the bell of Bhagdatta's elephant was attached to. Fortunately the bell fell over the eggs covering them and thus they were protected during the rest of the war.

After the war, a sage named Shameek came to Kurukshetra to pay his respects to those who had died there. He heard the chirping sound coming from somewhere. He found that the sound was coming from under the bell. As he lifted the bell, he discovered four new-born chicks of a bird. He took them to his Aashram and took care of them. Every day those birds used to hear the recitation of the scriptures, the discourses of the sages and the discussions between the disciples. Soon they memorized the Ved and the other scriptures which they heard there.

One day they went to Shameek Muni and said, "You have saved our lives for which we are very grateful to you. We have also learnt a lot of knowledge in your Aashram, now we pray you, tell us how we can use this knowledge." Shameek Muni was surprised to hear the birds speaking in the human tongue. There were many birds in his Aashram but he never heard any other bird talking like this. He wondered why only these four were able to learn the scriptures. He understood that they were not an ordinary birds, but then what was their specialty, so he asked them as who were they.

Then the birds told him their story - "We are the sons of Sukrishaa. One day a huge bird came to our father and asked some human meat to satisfy its hunger. Our father ordered us to offer ourselves as food for the bird, but we refused, so our father gave us Shaap that we would be born as birds. He then requested that huge bird to eat him. At this that huge bird assumed the form of Indra. Indra told him that he was just testing Sukrishaa. But the Shaap our father gave to us was unavoidable." The sons explained to their father that the reason they had refused was that they were attached to their bodies. They did not have the true Gyaan, that is why they requested him to obtain that Gyaan when they are born as birds. Their father granted them this request.

When Shameek Muni heard this story, he asked those birds to go to the Vindhya Mountains. There they preach to those who come to them from time to time to seek the knowledge. So Jaimini went to Vindhya Mountains, met those four birds and clarified his all doubts. The wisdom he obtained from them he wrote in the Maarkandeya Puraan.

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