Jarita (Sanskrit: जरित) was a certain female bird of the species called Sarngika, whose story is told in the Mahabharata. The saint Mandapala, who returned from the shades because he had no son, assumed the form of a male bird, and by her had four sons. He then abandoned her. In the conflagration of the Khandava Forest she showed great devotion in the protection of her children, and they were eventually saved through the influence of Mandapala over the god of fire. Their names were Jaritari, Sarisrikta, Stambamitra, and Drona. They were "interpreters of the Vedas;" and there are hymns of the Rigveda bearing the names of the second and the third.