The story of King Shibi and the two birds is found in the Mahabharata. The story was narrated to the Pandavas by Sage Markandeya. The Pandavas listened to the story during their exile period. King Shibi belonged to the lunar race and was a royal sage famous for his spirit of sacrifice. The fame of King Shibi reached the heaven and as usual Indra, the king of Devas, was jealous. Agni, the fire god, and Indra wanted to test the genuineness of his self sacrifice. Agni took the form of a dove and Indra took the form of a hawk. The dove, chased by the hawk, fell on the lap of King Shibi and the king immediately took it under his care. The hawk insisted on the dove being passed on to it, as doves were the natural food of hawks. After much discussion, the hawk agreed to accept Shibi’s flesh, equal in weight to the dove’s. Shibi cut his body, limb by limb, and placed the pieces on one pan of the scale against the dove, which was placed on the other pan. But