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Ancestors Come in the Form of Crows

TAccording to the Hindu religion, there is a belief that the ancestors come in the form of crows. Apart from the crow there are other birds like Garuda, owl, swan, etc which play a great role in the Indian mythology.

Crows are supposed to be the most intelligent birds in the world for a deep study of them shows how they bring up their young ones in an orderly manner and live in unity.

Crows are known for their unity for when food is offered for a crow it is not a single crow which comes to feed on it but a number of crows come together and take the food.

Crow's link the dead and the alive

The Hindus strongly believe that crows play major role in linking the dead and the living people. Thus by feeding the crows they in turn take or carry the food to our dead ancestors or relatives. This practice of feeding our ancestors through the crow is known as Shradh. There is a belief among the Hindus that when a crow makes sound in a house then the people living in that house are likely to get guests. There are other theories which say that the crows are not the representatives of our ancestors but instead the Apes are referred to our dead forefathers. According to the latest belief the crows are the only birds which can communicate and act as a messenger to the pitru loka.When food is offered to our pithrus or the ancestors the way a crow acts at that part of the time plays a major role in knowing the lakshana shastram.

Crows eating defines nature of ancestors -

-Once the crow pecks the food and if it flies from right to left then according to the Indian beliefs and customs the pitrus are believed to have accepted our offering and are in happy terms with us. But unfortunately if no crow is spotted then it just means the reverse which says that our ancestors are not happy with us. The people also believe that the food offered at the time of shradh should be first pecked by the balikaaga or raven (a large heavily built crow). Only after the raven finishes his share then the rest of the crows who were wandering around and waiting come for their prey. This is again considered to be a good lakshna. But when other crows prey on the food even before the raven could eat then it is believed to be a bad lakshana meaning that the pithru is troubled even in pithru loka.

Worship of the Crows on the First Day of Diwali

-In Hinduism birds and animals takes a prominent place for most of the legends and myths say that the former acts as vehicles of many gods and goddesses, as divinities and also as embodiment or aspects of Vishnu or Siva. The people of Nepal celebrate and worship the crows on the first day of Diwali or Tihar festival. The whole days is dedicated by the people to worship the crows. The rituals done on this day is popularly known among the Nepalese as Kag Puja or Kag Parv.