SIBI

King Shivi Chakravarti is a famous king in Hindu mythology. He was the son of Usinara a famous king of the Lunar dynasty. He was renowned for his liberality and unselfishness and is said to have saved Agni -transformed into a dove from Indra- transformed into a hawk by offering his own flesh.

Romasa showed Yudhisthira and his party the place on the banks of the river Yamuna where Mandhata performed the great sacrifice famed in legend and literature when he gave thousands of cows and gold coins to the Brahmins as gifts. Later, they visited Kurukshetra and saw the place on the banks of the Saraswathi where the king Somaka performed the sacrifice. Then they went to Mount Bhrigu Tunga were Sibi performed the renowned sacrifice. As the story goes, Indra took the form of a kite and the fire god, the form of a dove. The dove came to Sibi seeking protection and the kite came chasing it. The kite said, "O, great king the dove is my staple food as ordained by the scriptures; you have right to deny me my birth right."


Sibi accepted the contention of the kite and said, "I cannot sacrifice the dove which has sought my protection. I will cut my flesh equivalent to dove's weight and you can satisfy your hunger.” The kite agreed. A balance was brought. Sibi was cutting piece after piece out of his body, still the dove was out -weighing them. At last Sibi preferred to get into the other scale of the balance and offered his whole body as recompense. The kite and the dove exhibited their true personalities to Sibi and told him, "We came to defeat you but we go back vanquished; your story will be narrated by poets of all climes and times and your immortal fame lasts as long as the spoken word signifies human sensibility.