Kinnara in Bangkok Palace in Thailand (my picture)
Written by London Swaminathan
Post No. 16,231
Date uploaded in London – 24 September 2026
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
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Purananuru wonders-70, Tamil Encyclopaedia 110, One Thousand Interesting Facts -Part 110
Pathitrup Paththu (Ten Times Ten) book continued…………………..
Item 944- Kinnara music- lines 43-21/22
Poet Paranar mentioned musical Kinnaram birds with wings in this line 43-21 .
Ancient Tamils believed that the bird like Kinnaram with wings sings beautifully ; but the dancers with lute in their hands sings better than those Kinnaram birds.
I , London swaminathan, visited Bangkok palace in Thailand in January this year and saw golden coloured kinnara statue with wings along with other statues.
It is interesting to note the difference between the Kinnara with horse face in India and Kinnara with bird face in South East Asian countries. Here are the two different descriptions:
In Buddhist mythology and Hindu mythology, a kinnara is a paradigmatic lover, a celestial musician, half-human and half-horse (India) or half-bird (south-east Asia). Their character is clarified in the Adi parva of the Mahabharata, where they say:
We are everlasting lover and beloved. We never separate. We are eternally husband and wife; never do we become mother and father. No offspring is seen in our lap. We are lover and beloved ever-embracing. In between us we do not permit any third creature demanding affection. Our life is a life of perpetual pleasure.
They are also featured in a number of Buddhist texts, including the Lotus Sutra. An ancient Indian string instrument is known as the Kinnari Veena.
2) In Southeast Asian mythology, Kinnaris, the female counterpart of Kinnaras, are depicted as half-bird, half-woman creatures
Kinnara (किन्नर), like Yakṣas, are the attendants of Kubera. They are represented as mythical beings with a human figure and the head of a horse or with a horse’s body and the head of a man. They are described as celestial choristers and musicians who dwell in the paradise of Kuvera on Kailāsa. They are called Aśvamukhas, Turaṅgavaktras, “horse-faced” and Mayus.
Kinnara from Wikipedia.
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Item 945- Discovery about Sea (lines 45-18/22)
மழைகொளக் குறையாது புனல்புக நிறையாது-45/19
Tamils are great oceanographers. They studied oceans 2000 years ago.
This is evident from two descriptions about sea: 1.Tamils called it MUN NEER, meaning Three waters. One of the explanations is the sea has river water, rain water and spring water. I commented it as the ‘springs under the sea’. Oceanographers have discovered hot water springs under the sea in the past 100 years only. But Tamils knew it 2000 years ago. The reason for my comment is spring water is already part of river water and so the spring water referred to by the ancient commentator is the sub marine springs.
2.The second discovery sung by Paranar here is already in the Vedas. Hindus knew that thousands and thousands of rivers on earth pouring down millions of gallons of water into the seas every second, but yet the sea never becomes full and crosses its shores. The line also mentioned that rains/clouds take water and yet the sea dries not. Hindus knew the main source of rain is the sea. To make this comment they must have watched the three seas around India for thousands of years.
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Sixth decad
Poet: Kākkai Pādiniyār Nachellaiyār, King: Chēran Ādukōt Pāttu Chēralāthan.
காக்கை பாடினியார் நச்செள்ளையார்;பாடப்பட்டவர்: சேர மன்னன் ஆடுகோட் பாட்டுச் சேரலாதன்
This Chera king ruled for 38 years. One of his adventures was that he marched to Dandakaranya forest and brought back mountain goats; he donated reddish brown coloured cows to brahmins. He gave the poetess one hundred thousand gold Kaanam ( gold coin or gold particles) and nine gold coins
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Item 946- mountain goats or Nilgri Tahr-cobra dance of Tamil women
It is interesting to note that Nilgri Tahr found in Nilgris in Tamil Nadu now,confirms what the poetess said. Why he did is the question that crops up in our mind. Perhaps Chera king was a man interested in nature. And the poetess also has an epithet- woman who sang about crows. Her famous poem about crows is in Kuruntokai.
Lines 51-24 in about the Himalaya where great god is, where snakes with cobra jewel/ nagaratna dances like possessed women.
We get three details here
Great God in the Great Mountain (Himalaya is Lord Siva in Kailash; Hindus were very familiar with Kailash in the Himalaya. In the previous part also, we saw Kalidasa’s Devatatma Himalaya used by Paranar.
Second point is snakes dancing with cobra jewels= nagaratna;
Third interesting detail- snakes dance like possessed women or possessed women dance like snakes.
The snake dance in Bharatanatyam is a traditional classical performance piece, most famously set to the Tamil composition “Naadhar Mudi Mel Irukkum” (or “Aadu Pambe”), meaning “dance, oh snake”
The song is composed by the 17th-century Tamil Siddha poet Pambatti Siddhar and is traditionally set to the Punnagavarali (Mishra Bilaskhani Todi) raga. The snake is a metaphor for Kundalini energy. Pannaga is the Sanskrit word for snake.
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Item 947- Mechanical devices/weapons on Forts
Poetess sung about mechanical devices in the forts which shoots arrows in line 53-7.
In other part of the poem also we come across Yantra, a Sanskrit word, used for mechanical instruments. Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita (18-61) also spoke about Yantra Aarudaani.
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Item 948-Peri yaaz- big lute – lines 57-7/15
Peri yaaz பேரியாழ் is a big lute; commentators say any lute with 21 to 1000 strings come under this category. 1000 is used for a lot in Hindu literature, not necessarily 1000.
Paalai pann- tune or raga for Arid/paalai landscape
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Item 949-Maasi Month
In line 59-2, month Maasi is referred to. All the names of Tamil months are derived from Sanskrit words.
In lines 57-5/6, king is compared to sun which is common in Tamil and Sanskrit literature.
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Item 950- Seventh Decad sung by Brahmin poet Kapilar.
பாடியவர்: கபிலர், பாடப்பட்டவர்: செல்வக்கடுங்கோ வாழியாதன்
Pathitruppathu 61, Poet: Kapilar, King: Selvakkadunkō Vāzhiyāthan,
Kapilar is praised by many poets and he was the one who had contributed highest number of poems in Sangam Tamil Corpus.
This chera king Selvakkadunkō Vāzhiyāthan ruled for 25 years. He donated hundred thousand gold (coins or particles= Kaanam in Tamil) to poet Kapilar. He took Kapilar to the top of the Nandraa hill and said to him whatever you see belongs to you; such a generous king! He was a great Vishnu devotee who performed many Yagas.
I HAVE ALREADY POSTED THE PICTURES OF THE SIEVE IN MADRAS MUSEUM FOR SIFTING GOLDEN PARTICLES/COINS. IN ONE SIFT , IT GIVES APPROXIMATELY 400 DUST PARTICLES. it wont even take one minute to do it.
Kapilar adds one more line- The king impressed even priests with his knowledge.
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Item 951- Paari praised again-
Here we get some historic detail. Poet Kapilar visited this king after great philanthropist Paari’s death. First, he praised his dearest friend Paari and then made it very clear that he did not come there to beg money because Pari was dead. immediately he praises the Chera king saying that he never regretted after giving nor he became ecstatic after giving/donating.
Now we know he came to Chera country after Paari’s death. Earlier we saw tha he visited many kings for marrying Paari’s daughters Sangavai and Anagavai.
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Seven Suns appeared in China in 2024; Four suns appeared in Karaikal (see my blog for full information; these are rare optical illusions)
Item 952- Bhagavad Gita Echoed! Lines 62-1/9
Kapilar must have mastered Bhagavad Gita. In one of the poems in Purananuru, he said God never rejects Bhakta’s offering even if it is water , grass or leaves. Hindus offer Tulsi leaves, Vilvam leaves and Arukam grass to Gods. This is in Bhagavad Gita sloka Patram Pushpam phalam toyam…. ( I have already given the details in this Purananuru Wonder series)
Here again he talks about mysterious Vata Muka Agni (Badavaagni) = Submarine Fire = Vadavaith Thee in Tamil and many suns appearing at the same time. This is from the Viswarupa Darsana of Bhagavad Gita (11-12)
“If thousands of suns were to rise simultaneously in the sky, their radiance would still barely resemble the light of that great Supreme Lord” (This was quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of nuclear bomb, when atom bomb was tested in an American desert) here Kapilar used many suns and Vatamukhagni to compare the arson attacks of Chera king in enemy territories. The fire set by the army of the Chera king set fire in enemy territories resembled many suns blazing at the same time!
To be continued……………………
Tags- Kinnara, Kapilar, Paranar, Kakkai Paatini, Kinnara Bird, Purananuru wonders-70, Tamil Encyclopaedia 110 , item 952
