INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

I have had a myriad of technical problems this week, so I have got this out later than I would usually and I can only apologise! It’s been a horrendous heatwave week in the UK and it has truly taken a toll on my poor computer as well as myself sitting in a study with it fanning hot air everywhere all day.

DESCRIPTION:

But we’re heading over to a religion rather than a place today and are focusing on a monster from Hindu and Buddhist beliefs - a musical one at that, we are looking at the Kinnara this week!

The Kinnara is generally described as a hybrid monster of a bird and human with the lower half of the bird, upper half of a person. They stand at average human height between 5-7 feet tall and are known mostly for their association with music and love. They are also known for their immense beauty and kindness, and they come in both male and female variants, with females being referred to as Kinnari. The females did generally look different too, they would have the lower half of a swan, whilst the male variants were usually eagles or ravens in appearance in their lower halves. They would usually wear dresses formed out of flowers, or sashes for the male variants and depending on the gender, they would play different instruments, with the females playing drums or flutes, and the males with lutes or lyres. 

They were celebrated in traditionally Buddhist and Hindu countries, such as India, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. They lived within the Himalayan mountains within a magical forest called Himavanta, where all the mythical creatures of the world lived, but would look over humans in times of trouble, offering guidance and assistance where they could. They were considered the bards of the mythological world within these areas, and would sing or write poems about great deeds of humans that they had witnessed.

They are usually paired and mated for life with the respective gender opposite and they have immensely long lives to spend with each other. However, they would not usually procreate, which begs the question of how they emerge into the world - and we don’t know the answer I’m afraid. However, they were known to adopt human children who were orphaned or abandoned, which is sweet. In terms of their eating, they would feed on flower pollen like hummingbirds and often would be found holding trays of flowers.

They were beautifully described in the Mahabharata, a major Sanskrit text from the 4th century in India as;

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 pleasures.

However, what is interesting is that within specifically, Hindu folklore, the Kinnara are described very differently, as being half man, half horse and half bird. They are considered fairies, and are still always found in mated pairs. They were usually captured and presented as gifts to kings or sultans to be their bards, and are still found in Hindu architecture to this day to represent their royal history.

ORIGIN:

For etymology - Kinnara is a Sanskrit word and it exists as a full entity on its own for this monster. There are no roots that we can find within history, and the word means celestial lover or musician. 

However, it also shares its name with an incredibly historic instrument, the Kinnari Vina, which comes from the mythological monster itself as a tribute to their musical abilities. This instrument is a tube like a flute, with gourds attached to create different sounds, and is always carved with a bird on the end to represent its namesake inspiration. This instrument goes all the way back to 500 AD and is considered medieval, you can still get them - but they are much rarer nowadays.

Speaking of history, this monster goes back to at least the 3rd century which is 200 AD, making it one of the oldest monsters we have ever covered on the podcast. It was first mentioned within the Buddhist text, the Jataka tales - which tell the stories of the birth of Buddha in both their human and animal forms. Generally these are tales about Buddha's adventures and how they would solve problems with mythical creatures and humans alike - one of these being the Kinnara. 

Whilst I don’t have the specific story on where they come in, this story is just one of a few. With them also being mentioned in the Buddhist text, the Lotus Sutra, where many of the Buddhist mantras and schools are defined and established. Scholars believe that this text has been in existence since around 500 AD, which lines up with the Kinnari-vina’s creation. 

However, there are different stories about the Kinnara in different countries and cultures too, such as in Burma, they believe that the Kinnara were 4 out of Buddha’s 136 animal forms in their life and they are one of the 108 symbols on the footprint of Buddha. In Indonesia, they are usually depicted as guarding the sacred tree of life, the Kalpataru, and are more frequently linked to angels than any kind of mythological animal. Speaking of being linked to other monsters, in Thailand, they are often linked to the Greek Chimera, a monster with multiple animal heads that breathes fire - whilst they are usually a goat, lion and snake - here the arms and lower body are represented with bird wings and legs. They are also more often known as shang-shang which means celestial musician and is a cymbal or gong in ritual Himalayan music.

These aren’t the only mythical beasts they have been referred to though - the most common is that of the Kalavinka, which is going to be covered in its own episode at some point! The Kalavinka is another Buddhist bird beast, but is a human head with the rest of the body of a bird. It also sings beautifully, but recites the Dharma whilst it flies overhead, which is the Buddhist moral law. It is of course, also linked to Harpies from Greek mythology, these half-bird, half-woman monsters are truly that - they are usually depicted as malevolent within myth, but you can see the resemblance.

In terms of real life comparisons, I’m not sure there are any for this - of course, we can see the relation to music and birds due to their beautiful morning songs, but to have a full bodied person with bird legs, I’m not too sure I can relate this to anything we know of.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, there’s not much for these monsters specifically I’m afraid, even though they have been around for nearly 2000 years, so I’ve popped in some hybrid bird content here for you this week!

For art, have a look at the statues all around these countries I mentioned, especially in Thailand, where they have many of these and they are spectacular to look at. Otherwise, I would recommend independent, but there doesn’t seem to be much for these either!

In movies, we have; The Dark Crystal, Howard the Duck, Batman Returns, Blood Freak, Flash Gordon, Doraemon: Nobita and the Winged Braves & The Guardians of the Lost Code.

For TV, we have; Digimon, Ranma (half), Shinzo, Thundercats, Star Trek, Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle, Rick and Morty, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, Galtar and the Golden Lance, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Chaotic, Legends of Chima, Jumanji: The Animated Series, Star vs The Forces of Evil, Tuca & Bertie & The Real Ghostbusters.

In video games, we have ones such as; Suikoden 3, Alien Shooter, Bloody Roar, Team Fortress 2, Dungeon Crawl, Final Fantasy 14, Legend of Zelda, The Longest Journey, Arrogation: Unlight of Day, Digimon World, Guild Wars 1 and 2, Mass Effect, Megaman X, EVO: Search for Eden, Pokemon, Metroid, Okami, Rainbow Bill: The Curse of the Leviathan, Runescape, Shin Megami Tensei, Shining Series, Elder Scrolls, Starbound, Star Wars: Empire at War, Krut: The Mythic Wings, Shadowbane, Sonic Riders, Master of Orion, World of Warcraft, Dark Souls, Battleborn, Cube Escape, Dwarf Fortress, Xenoblade Chronicles, Hyper Light Drifter, Endless Space, VGA Planets, Evolution: The Game of Intelligent Life, Inazuma Eleven & Maz Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creates of Venus.

My book recommendation this week is to have a look at Before Buddha Was Buddha: Learning from the Jataka Tales by Rafe Martin for a great summary of Buddha’s adventures from the Jataka tales - it’s a great book and I really enjoyed learning about Buddha honestly.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

Do I live in the Himalayas? No - and so I cannot tell you if there is a secret hidden world of mythical monsters there. I really want there to be - because in the real world, I do not think this monster could exist without us knowing, unless David Bowie had bird legs that we couldn’t see. I miss him every day to be honest.

I think this monster is fascinating though, and I love the idea of them being almost jesters and court musicians to ancient kings, maybe that experience just scared them off and they did once exist amongst us? Who knows.

I found this monster really fascinating to research, as I just don’t know very much about the Hindu or Buddhist faith - and it’s been really nice to delve into this a little more this week and look at the comparisons I’ve seen within other mythologies from other cultures too - it’s one of my favourite parts of doing this podcast.

But what do you think? Did the Kinnara roam the Earth? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

A super interesting monster this week, and one that’s so old - I’m shocked at how ancient this one is! We really don’t get many that are this old, so I’m always thrilled to research as much as I can about them to pass on.

Next week, we’re heading over to Europe, but mostly England for a legendary monster that we have mentioned in passing before. Dart your eyes away from the petrifying Cockatrice next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.