Crows---the symbol of sin. There is a reference in Siva Purana to this. Long ago the King of Kasi had a daughter named Kalavati. Even in her youth, she received the "Saiva pancaksara mantra." After that, she was married by Dasarha, King of Mathura, who was a sinner. Whcn he touched Kalavati who was a holy woman, he experienced unbearable heat. Kalavati said that it was because of the King's sins. So she took Dasarha to the sage Garga, who purified Dasarha with his mantras (incantations) and made him stand in water. At once the King's sins came out of his body in the shape of crows. Some of them flew away. Many of them fell down with their wings burnt. Seeing this, the sage Garga said that all those crows were the volume of sins accumulated in the course of the innumerable births through which he had passed. (Siva Purana, Pancdksara Mahatmya).

The Crow and Rice-offerings. In Uttara Ramayana there is a. story about the crow's right to eat the offering of rice to Pitrs. Once a King named Marutta performed a Mahesvara sattra. Indra and other gods attended the sattra. Hearing about this, Ravana came that way. The frightened gods fled away assuming the forms of different birds. Yama escaped in the form of a crow. From that time, Yama was pleased with crows. He gave a blessing that in future, when human beings worship the pitrs by offering rice to them, the crows will have the right to eat that rice. Thus the right of the crows to eat offerings of rice, originated from that time. (Uttara Ramayana).