Post No. 13,779
Date uploaded in London – 14 October 2024
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If one looks at what Shakespeare says about omens, in particular about owls, one would know that Hindu beliefs only were prevalent in the whole of Europe.
The very word OWL is derived from ULUKA in Sanskrit. it is in Atharva Veda, Sangam Tamil Literature and Sanskrit books on Omens.
All knew that Sakunam is the Sanskrit word for Bird as well as good and Bad predictions and forecasts.
But owls have some good connotations as well. Throughout Europe, we see it in the emblems ofmany educational institutions. And in Hinduism, owl is the Vahana of Goddess Lakshmi.
Let us first look at what Shakespeare says about this bad bird.
In Julius Caesar, the owl is a symbol of death and impending calamity. It appears in Act I, Scene iii, when an owl is seen sitting in the marketplace during the day. This is similar to how ravens and crows appear before important characters die in the final battle.
In early Rome a dead Owl nailed to the door of a house averted all evil that it supposedly had earlier caused. To hear the hoot of an Owl presaged imminent death. The deaths of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Commodus Aurelius, and Agrippa were apparently all predicted by an Owl.
And yesterday the bird of night did sit
Even at noon-day, upon the market-place,
Hooting and shrieking. When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say,
These are their reasons; they are natural;
For, I believe they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon.
–Julius Caesar
A soothsayer warned Julius Caesar seven times about the impending danger in the play. But he ignored all the warnings. He was killed by seventy senators in the Senate and Caesar was surprised to see his friend Brutus leading the murderers .
He said
“Et tu, Brute?” is a Latin phrase that translates to “You too, Brutus?” or “Even you, Brutus?”.
****
Macbeth
The owl is a symbol of death and is used in many instances to portray evil and darkness. Here, the sound of the owl marks the death of Duncan, alarming Lady Macbeth that the Macbeth has already committed the deed.
No surprise, therefore, that Lady Macbeth hears an owl while Duncan is being murdered in Macbeth (ii.2)
Hark! Peace!
It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the sternest good night.
At the moment of Duncan’s death, Lady Macbeth hears an owl shrieking. Macbeth himself is most often associated with an owl – a bird of prey. On Tuesday last, / A falcon tow’ring in her pride of place / Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.
Owls very often come with negative descriptions – “the vile owl” in Troilus and Cressida (ii.1) or “the obscure bird” in Macbeth (ii.3).
In Macbeth (iv.2), Lady Macduff likens herself to a wren:
The poor wren,
The most diminutive of birds, will fight,
Her young ones in the nest, agaist the owl.
Earlier in the play (ii.4), owls show behaviour that is unnatural even for them:
On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed.
****
In Shakespeare’s poem Venus and Adonis,
The owl, night’s herald, shrieks “tis very late!”
The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest,
And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven’s light
Do summon us to part and bid goodnight.
****
In Shakespeare’s poem The Rape of Lucrece,
Now stole upon the time the dead of night,
When heavy sleep had closed up mortal eyes:
No comfortable star did lend his light,
No noise but owls’ and wolves’ death-boding cries:
Now serves the season that they may surprise
The silly lambs: pure thoughts are dead and still,
While lust and murder wake to stain and kill.
And later in the poem;
The dove sleeps fast that this night-owl will catch:
Thus treason works ere traitors be espied.
Who sees the lurking serpent steps aside,
But she, sound sleeping, fearing no such thing,
Lies at the mercy of his mortal sting.
The myth was that owls hooted when someone lost their virginity.
****
In King Lear
When King Lear (ii.4) decides to avoid his inhospitable daughters and make his own way, he says he’d rather be outdoors than near them:
No, rather I abjure all roofs, and choose
To wage against the enmity o’ the air,
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl –
Necessity’s sharp pinch!
****
Titus Andronicus
In Titus Andronicus (ii.3), Tamora and her savage sons attack Lavinia in a desolate, dark corner of the forest.
Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds,
Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven.
****
The Comedy of Errors
Likewise in The Comedy of Errors, when Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio find themselves exploring Ephesus, Dromio is nervous;
This is the fairy land: o spite of spites!
We talk with goblins, owls and sprites:
If we obey them not, this will ensue,
They’ll suck our breath, or pinch us black and blue.
Dromio associates owls with goblins and sprites – supernatural creatures that mean trouble.
In The Tempest (v.1), Ariel describes where he sleeps while the owls are out hunting;
Where the bee sucks, there suck I,
In a cowslip’s bell I lie,
There I couch when owls do cry.
****
In A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ii.2), Titania instructs her fairies to keep the owls away while she sleeps:
Then, for the third part of a minute, hence
Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds,
Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings,
To make my small elves coats, and some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits.
****
If an owl was heard while a child was being born, it was a very ill omen. In Henry IV part III (v.6), King Henry mentions how such a sign appeared when Gloucester was born. And of course Gloucester grew up to become the clearly cursed Richard III.
The owl shriek’d at thy birth, an evil sign.
****
At the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (v. 1), Puck is describing just how late at night it is, as everything is winding up. It’s a grim note in the otherwise jolly conclusion of the play:
The screech-owl, screeching loud,
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud.
The three parts of Henry VI feature a great many owls. Most shocking is the scene Part II (i.4) when Gloucester’s wife summons a spirit from the dead to get information about her husband’s prospects. Her fellow necromancer tells her:
Patience, good lady; wizards know their times:
Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night,
The time of night when Troy was set on fire;
The time when screech-owls cry and ban-dogs howl,
And spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves,
Later on, the screech-owls resurface in Part II (iii.2). The Earl of Suffolk is having a particularly angry moment when he spits out a rather spectacular stream of curses:
Their chiefest prospect murdering basilisks!
Their softest touch as smart as lizards’ sting!
Their music frightful as the serpent’s hiss,
And boding screech-owls make the concert full!
In Part III (ii.1), things aren’t going well for Warwick as he describes the action:
Our soldiers’, like the night-owl’s lazy flight,
Or like an idle thresher with a flail,
Fell gently down, as if they struck their friends.
****
King Edward IV has his say in (ii.6), scoffing at those who might have prophesied his failure:
Bring forth that fatal screech-owl to our house,
That nothing sung but death to us and ours…
Earlier, in Henry VI part I (iv. 2), the General rails that Talbot/Shrewsbury is an “ominous and fearful owl of death!” Later, in Richard III (iv. 4), the final play that covers this period in history, the king is exasperated as he receives nothing but bad news, interrupting his messenger:
Out on you, owls! nothing but songs of death?
****
Boding, ominous, fearful owls, with nothing but songs of death indeed. In Troilus and Cressida (v.10), Troilus wonders who would want to be like an owl and bring the bad news of Hector’s death to Priam and Hecuba:
Let him that will a screech-owl aye be called
Go in to Troy, and say there, Hector’s dead.
*****
In Troilus and Cressida (v.1), Thersites crows that he would rather be any number of unpleasant creatures rather than trade places with Menelaus:
To be a dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard,
an owl, a puttock, or a herring without a roe,
I would not carel but to be Menelaus,
I would conspire against destiny.
****
Owl with Positive Connotations
There are very few positive references to owls at all. In Cymbeline (iii.6), Innogen is welcomed by Belarius and his sons:
The night to the owl and morn to the lark less welcome.
Likewise, Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (ii.3) is determined to party, regardless of the time of day or night:
Shall we rouse the night-owl in a catch that will draw three souls out of one weaver?
****
Hindu Beliefs
Goddess Lakshmi and Chamunda have owls as their Vahanas. In Judaism, the female night demon Lilith is described in the company of the owl; Mayan death God Hunahau is often depicted with a head like an owl’s.
In the pre –Aztec civilization of ancient Mexico (Teotihuacan), the owl was the sacred animal of the rain god. But Aztecs considered it an evil omen.
In Greece owls are associated with Goddess Pallas Athena/Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom.
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)
Narada and owl
Scriptures refer to calls of owls as having the character of songs i.e. one note or or a simple combination of notes repeated at various intervals. Thus the call of the Brown Wood Owl is said to consist of four deep musical syllables, who—hoo—hoo–hoo. There is a story that narrates how sage Narada was advised to learn music from an owl residing near the Manasarovar lake on the Himalayas (Lingapuranam). This shows that the ancient Indians also appreciated the musical calls of the hated bird. (Tamils also had the same belief; see below for more details).
The long eared owl is distinguished by long tufts, usually borne erected and is most probably the ‘sasoluka’ which has served as a model for the face of a particular attendant of Lord Skanda (M.Bh. 9-45-79). One of the Matris of the same deity is said to have a face like that of the sasoluka (ch 30)
(Mayans also had the same description; see above)
Crow killing owls
A particular species of owl has the habit of killing crows. ‘Kakolukiya’ section of the Panchatantra describes it in detail. They live in the Himalayan region. They are the species of Dusky Horned Owls. Mahabharata describes them as Pravarakarna and long lived (3-199-4). There is also a reference in the Ramayana. When after a break with Ravana, Vibhishana goes to Rama, the latter’s ally Sugriva warns him against the owl like tactic of the enemy (96-17-19).
Again after seeing this owl work havoc among the crows at night, Aswaththamam decided to kill Pandavas while asleep during the night time ( M.Bh 1-2-296) and the epic gives an interesting description of the bird:
Ulukam ghora darsanam
Mahasvanam mahakayam haryaksham bhabrupidangalam
Sudhirgagonanakaram suparnamiva veginam
Suptanjagana subahun vayasan dayasantaka: (M.Bh.10-1-36)
****
Owl on Roman coin
Tamil Proverbs
Screeching owls portend bad things
ஆந்தை அலறல் கெட்ட சகுனம்
The owl is small but the screeching is loud
ஆந்தை சிறிது கீச்சுப் பெரிது
Owl may look weak but the omen (that it portends) is not weak
ஆந்தை பஞ்சையாய் இருந்தாலும் சகுனத்தில் பஞ்சை இல்லை
We can also conclude that Hindus are very good observers of nature. There are lot of references to owls in the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.
*****
Tamil References in Sangam Literature:
The shriek of the owl in the Nemai tree in the desert tract is like the sound of the smithy (Natrinai 394)
A stanza in Natrinai (verse 83) is an apostrophe to the owl that has its abode in the deep recess of a tree on the bank of the village tank. Its shriek at night is said to be alarming and the lady-companion promises it a fine pleasant dish of meat boiled in ghee and fried flesh of rats if only it kept silent at nights when the hero comes on visit.
One description is of a night bright with the moon light and full of disturbances with the barking of dogs and the hooting of owls (Aka.122)
****
Owl saved Genghis Khan
The arms of the Tartar rulers contain a black night owl in a golden shield, because the first of them, Genghis Khan was saved his life with the help of such a bird. They believed that the barn owl saved his life. When his horse was shot in one of the battles he ran for his life and hid under a bush. His enemies were looking for him. At that time a white owl came and sat on the tree under which he was hiding. They did not even come near that tree thinking that he would definitely not be there. His enemies thought the owl would not have sat there if any man had been hiding under the tree. So owl earned a permanent place in their emblems!
****
From Mahabharata
Owl and Crow fight
(8).Uluka (owl) was the name of emissary sent by Duryodhana to tell the Pandavas that their peace proposal is rejected. Seer Kausika (Visvamitra) also means owl. In Tamil also we have many poets with owl name (Pisir Anthai, Othal Anthai). People thought that they are the names of their towns. My view is that they actually mean the bird of wisdom owl, which is the vehicle of Lakshmi and Greek Goddess Athena. In western countries it is a very common logo in the educational institutions.
This confirms my view that most of the tribal names are totem symbols I have already given the names of Tamil poets with frog names like their counterparts in Sanskrit. Tortoise is also the name of several rishis/seers.
Tamil almanac called Panchangam is sold every year like hot cakes around Tamil New Year. It has Panca Pakshi Predictions, meaning Five Bird Predictions and the five birds are Falcon, Owl, Crow, Cock/hen, and Peacock.
It is a complicated way of predicting.
****
Only strange and unique feature from Hindu sources is that owl is associated with music!
My Comments:
1.It is interesting to note that the Jews and Hindus believed that owls are messengers of death. Sanskrit literature and Sangam Tamil literature associate owls with death (See Tamil Purananuru verses 240, 261,364)
2.It is equally interesting that owl like face of Lord Skanda’s attendant and one of the Matri’s is like Mayan Death God Hunahau, who has owl like face.
3.It is also interesting God Indra is called Uluka and several Rishis have the name Uluka and Kausika ,another name of owl. It is same in Tamil literature, as many of the Sangam age poets have Andhai (owl) attached to their names. Previously it was thought they were from the towns with the name of owl (Andhai). So we can conclude that both the positive and negative notions existed side by side. Otherwise we cannot have many Rishis with the name Uluka, Kausika and many Tamil names like Kukai Koziyaar, Pisiranthaiyaar, Othal andhaiyaar etc.
It is amazing to read that Tamils and their counterparts in the North has the same belief the owls have musical skills.
All these debunk the racist Aryan – Dravidian divisive theories created by foreigners with a motive to stabilise their rule and spread their religion.
We also have various types of demons named after large birds like Uluka (owl), Suparna (Eagle) and Grudhya (RV: 7-104-17)
—subham—
Owl , Shakespeare, poems, plays, Tamil literature, Vedas, Sanskrit literature, Panchatantra, Panca Pakshi, Hindu epics,
Tamil and Vedas 