Date uploaded in London – – 23 FEBRUARY 2024
Contact – swami_48@yahoo.com
Pictures are taken from various sources for spreading knowledge.
this is a non- commercial blog. Thanks for your great pictures.
tamilandvedas.com, swamiindology.blogspot.com
https://www.pustaka.co.in/home/author/london-swaminathan
xxxx
Hindus look at owls in three angles:
Owl portends bad things;
Owl predicts good things;
Owl is a sweet singing bird.
Owl is the Vahana/vehicle of Goddess Lakshmi, who is the Minister of Finance in Hinduism and Chamundi
Owl is the name of great Rishi Visvamitra and Indra, Head of Devaloka (Heaven). Kausika means owl and Visvamitra. Uluka means owl and Indra.
Tamils also follow this. Very intelligent poets have Owl name as suffix. Without any basis people wrote probably they belonged to a town named after owl. That is not correct. Pisir Anthaiyaar (Ow ler)Otha Anthaiyaar (Owl er) are considered very intelligent poets. Several poets have Kausikan as prefix or suffix; there we have reasonable explanation that they all belong to Kasusika Gotra (Brahmins Clan). Kausika alias Vsvamitra is the most celebrated Rishi/ seer because the most famous Gayatri Mantra is attributed to him. Born a Kshatria he became a Brahmin through his penance after three failed attempts. His name is Owl=Kausika.
My research shows like western educational institutions he also had owl as his logo. Many Rishis/seers names are from animal kingdom or plant kingdom. That shows they all used totem symbols during Vedic times.(I have given the list of saints and their totem symbols elsewhere)
xxxx
Tamil Sangam Literature
Sangam Tamil Literature has 18 books where we see owl in bad light. The poets link it with crematorium or burial ground. A heroine says don’t scare my lover and I will give you good meat for dinner.
Akam.122;Puram.240;Puram.261; Narrinai 83
xxxxx
Music and Owls
At the same time the same poets link the bird with sweet music. They praise it like skylark Post Sangam epic Jeevaka Chintamani also confirm its musical talent. One poet compares it with the music of lyre (Yaaz in Tamil).
Tamil References: Narrinai 394; Akam 19;
Also Linga Puranam in Sanskrit also mentions the musical talent of owls. (Brown Wood Owl is said to consist of four deep musical syllables, who—hoo—hoo—hoo)
xxxx
Pancha Tantra and Asvattaman Massacre
Asvattaman was the hero who escaped alive after the great Mahabharata war. He wanted to avenge the death of his father Drona who was killed by evil means. So he also took to the wrong route and setfire to Pandava tents in the midnight. But Krishna saved Pandava brothers by giving them a clue. Asvattama got this bad idea by looking at owls and crows figt. Owls et fire to nests of crows at the dead of night. The most famous Hindu fables which teach five great tricks to Royal family has this as the last trick. Pancha Tantra fables mean Five great tricks or principes a King should follow. The Last trick is called Kakouluukeeyam (Kaka and Uluka- ism).
The same trick is also mentioned in by Valluvar in his Tirukkural (Kural 481) , Crows are powerful in daytime and they win over owls. So a king should act at his favourable time.
Athena , Greek goddess, has owl as her companion. So Westerners who follow Greeks blindly, use it in all logos of Educational Institutions. They consider owl as a symbol of wisdom.
xxxx
Goddess Athena with owl
West also links owls with Death
Shakespeare,1595, says in Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Whilst the screitch owle, sctritching loud,
Puts the wretch that lies in woe,
In remembrance of a shrowd
In 1599, Shakespeare adds in Julius Caesar, adds
Yesterday the Bird of Night did sit,
Even at Noone day, upon the Market place,
Howting and shreeking
……..
I beleeve, they are portentous things Unto the Clymate
That they point upon (an omen of Caesar’s death)
xxxx
Theophrastus,319 BCE, says
If an owl is startled by him in his walk, he will exclaim Glory be to Athene!before he proceeds.
Ovid, 15 CE, says
The owl of the night sat on an opposite house top and uttered his ill boding funeral voice.
4.Pliny The Elder, 77 CE, in Natural History, says
Owl seen in day time
The it is looked upon as a direful omen to see it in the city or in the day time.
It is similar to Hindu views. Sanskrit and Tamil literature link owls to crematorium and evil omens.
xxxx
In the Vedas
“Uluka is the ordinary word for owl from the Rig Veda (10-165-4) onwards. The bird was noted for its cry and was deemed the harbinger of (nairrta) ill fortune (AV 6-19-2;Taittiriya samhita 5-5-18-1;Vajasaneyi samhita 24-38). Owls were offered at the horse sacrifice to the forest trees (Vajasaneyi Samhita 24-23; Maitrayani Samhita 3-14-4)”.
(page 102, Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, A A Macdonell & AB Keith)
xxxx
Tamils use five birds in bad and good omens. It is in Tamil almanacs (Panchangam). It is called Pancha Pakshi Sastram.
–subham—
Tags- Owl, Omens, Music, Death, Vedas, Tamil literature, Lakshmi, Vahana
Tamil and Vedas 