Date uploaded in London – – 19 FEBRUARY 2024
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Though Hindus consider all living beings as manifestations of God, some animals and birds are held closer to god. It has got more symbolic meaning than the actual animal or bird. Parrot is one of the birds like peacock that appears in many God’s pictures.
Goddess Madurai Meenakshi, Kanchi Kamakshi, Vaishnavite saint Andal are shown with parrots. They hold the parrots in their hands or the birds sit on their shoulders. Saivite saint Sambandar who lived 1400 years ago also sing that goddess Parvati has parrot in her hand.
Several other temples use them as God’s Vahanas/vehicles during festival times.
Hindu God and Goddess of Love Manmatha and Rathi are shown riding on parrot in many temple sculptures. In some books, Kubera, Lord of Wealth , also has this bird as his Vahana.
The parrots represent recitation of Vedas. They have the capacity to repeat exactly what they hear. In London newspapers news items appeared where they helped to catch the thieves, paramours, lost birds etc.
They recite Vedas is also corroborated by 1400 year old Tamil Saivite hymns called Thevaram. Great Saivite saint Sambandar who was contemporary of Mahendra Pallava and Pandya King Nedumaran sang in many hymns saying Brahmin houses keep parrots as pets and they recite Vedas. It is in many verses, not in one or two. Saints treat them as messengers to Gods in Messenger poems.
It also played a role in Adi Shankara’s life. Not only Tamil Brahmins but also North Indian Brahmins were raising parrots as pets, and they also recited Vedas. When Shankara was directed by Kumarila Bhatta to Mandana Mishra, Shankara went about to meet him. He saw women, nearer the town, bathing in the river Narmadha and asked them in Sanskrit the location of Mandana Mishra’s house. The women who were well versed in Sanskrit threw a puzzle at Shankara. They replied through a poem in which they said go to a house in which the parrots are reciting Vedas and there you will find the great scholar. This anecdote shows that parrots reciting Vedas is familiar thorough out India.
There is another interesting story where a saint became a parrot. Five hundred years ago Tamil Saint Arunagirinathar lived in Northern part of Tamil Nadu. He was challenged by a jealous Tantric named Sampanthandan. In all the contests held in the court of a local king, Arunagiri won. He was the author of great Tamil work called Thiruppugaz on Lord Skanda/ Kartiketya. In the last test, Sampanthandan told that if Arunagiri fetch a Parijata flower from Devaloka/ heaven he would accept his own defeat. Arunagiri took the challenge and entered the body of a dead parrot and went to heaven to get the divine flower. In the mean time, Sampanthandan, who was a master of Black Magic, burnt the body of Arunagiri ;when he returned he couldn’t enter his body again and remained a s a parrot till his end.
In Sanskrit Kavyas we see parrots’ beaks are compared to women’s red mouth, their voice to cuckoos, their hair to peacocks feathers and their gait to swans. Tamils follow the same description. In the 2000 year old Sangam Tamil books, poets have used parrot in more than 70 poems.
Though Brahmins and religious Hindus don’t consume meat, Ayurveda books mention parrot meat or flesh is good for curing certain diseases. It is more in folk (naïve) medicine.
The meat of the parrot (śuka) is astringent-sour, rūkṣa (kaṭu) in Vipāka, śītala, useful in phthisis, cough and wasting; constipating, light and appetiser.
From Persia to India, they figure in many folk tales where their intelligence is highlighted. In Hindu temple sculptures it is shown with beautiful heavenly women.
In Vedas and Kama sutra
Kamasutra was written by Vatsyayana 2000 years ago. He was the first one in the world to give a clear syllabus for women. He has listed 64 arts to be studied and mastered by clever women. One of the 64 arts is to teach and train the parrots and mynahs to repeat the words.
In Rig Veda, the oldest book in the world, we find Sanskrit word Suka for parrot. It is used in the poem of magical cure for jaundice. In the Yajur Veda, it is one of the 200++ living beings and objects that were sacrificed in Asvamedha Yaga. In Atharva Veda, it appeared in one of the verses.
Śuka (शुक, ‘parrot’) is mentioned in the Rigveda, where a desire is expressed to transfer to the Śuka and the Ropaṇākā the yellowness of jaundice. The bird is included in the list of sacrificial victims at the Aśvamedha (‘horse sacrifice’) in the Yajurveda-saṃhitās. It is described as yellow and as ‘of human speech’ (puruṣa-vāc). According to Bloomfield, this word is the correct reading for the second half of the obscure Śāriśākā of the Atharvaveda.
Vyasa’s Son named Parrot!
Greatest writer of the Hindu world was Veda Vyasa. He authored Mahabharata, compiled the Four Vedas and arranged 18 Puranas and taught them to his son Suka (meaning is parrot). But of the 18 Puranas, Bhagavata Purana is the most famous one. It gives the life history of Lord Krishna. And it repeats in umpteen places SuKa said this…….. so, all the Vaishnavites know his name very well. There is a custom followed by orthodox Hindus to recite the whole Bhgavata Purana in Seven Days through a Pundit/scholar. It is called Bhagavata Saptaham (Seven Day Bhagavata). When Parikshit was waiting for his death Suka recited it to him in Seven Days.
Thus parrot appears in the stories of Vyasa’s son Sukar, Adi Shankara, Sambandar, Andal, Arunagiri and later poets who used it in their Messenger Poems (அழகர் கிள்ளை விடு தூது என்ற நூலின் ஆசிரியர் பலபட்டடைச் சொக்கநாதப்பிள்ளை).
—subham—
Tags- Parrot, Suka, in Hinduism, Tamil literature, Vahanas, Thevaram, Arunagirinathar, Andal, Adi Shankara, Meenakshi
Tamil and Vedas 