पूजनी

{ pūjanī }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

PŪJANĪ   A bird of superior intellect. The story of Pūjanī was told by Bhīṣma to illustrate that Kṣatriyas can never be believed. There was once a king called Brahmadatta in the country of Kāmpilya. The King had a bird named Pūjanī. Pūjanī was very intelligent and all-knowing and the king treated her as his friend. Days went by and one day the queen delivered a son. At the same time Pūjanī also got a child. The prince and the little bird grew up as great friends. The little bird used to bring to the prince whatever eatable it could take in its little beak. They lived as such thick chums. One day while Pūjanī was away from the cage, the prince caught hold of the little bird and strangled it to death. When Pūjanī came back she found her child missing and went about crying loudly. She then knew what had happened and got very angry. She flew and pricked blind the eyes of the prince and bade farewell to the King. The parting scene was very pathetic. Pūjanī declared that Kṣatriyas were not to be believed and flew away. [Chapter 139, Śānti Parva] .

प्राचीन चरित्रकोश

पूजनी n.  कांपिल्य नगर के ब्रह्मदत्त राजा के भवन में निवास करनेवाली एक चिडिया [म.शां.१३७.५] । यह समस्त प्राणियों की बोली समझती थी, तथा सर्वज्ञ और सम्पूर्ण तत्त्वों को जाननेवाली थी । राजकुमार सर्वसेन ने इसके बच्चे मार डाल थे, अतएव इसेन भी उसकी ऑंख फोड दी थी [म.शां.१३७.१७] । पश्चात्, इसने राजभवन छोडना चाहा । राजा ब्रह्मदत्त ने इससे रहने के लिए आग्रह किया, किन्तु इसने राजा की प्रार्थना अस्वीकार कर दी । राजभवन छोडते समय इसकी एवं ब्रह्मदत्त का तत्त्वज्ञान सम्बन्धी संवाद हुआ था [म.शां.१३७.२१-१०९] ; ब्रह्मदत्त देखिये ।

A Sanskrit English Dictionary

पूजनी  f.  f. = °जनीया f., [MBh.]; [Hariv.]
a hen-sparrow, [L.]