Kinnara
In Southeast Asian Buddhist mythology, kinnaris, the female counterpart of kinnaras, are depicted as half-bird, half-woman creatures.
One of the many creatures that inhabit the mythical Himavanta, kinnaris have the head, torso, and arms of a woman and the wings, tail and feet of a swan.
They are renowned for their dance, song and poetry, and are a traditional symbol of feminine beauty, grace and accomplishment.
Edward H. Schafer notes that in East Asian religious art, the kinnara is often confused with the Kalaviṅka, which is also a half-human, half-bird hybrid creature, but that the two are actually distinct and unrelated.
[6] The Kenorei is a character archetype in the repertoire of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, appearing as mischievous groups that have a strong allurement.
A classical dance titled Robam Kenorei depicts kinnaris playing in a lotus pond.
The jinnalaluo (also called kimnaras, feiren, and yeishen) were divine creatures with human bodies and animal's heads that were featured in Buddhist mythology.
[9] The Jatakas describe the kinnaras as innocent and harmless, hop like birds, are fond of music and song, and with the female beating a drum and male playing on lute.
Such harmless creatures are described in Jataka No.481 as being caught, put into cages, and thus presented to kings for their delight.
The ancient sculptures of Sanchi, Barhut, Amaravati, Nagarjunakonda, Mathura, and the paintings of Ajanta depict kinnaras invariably.
[9] The images of coupled kinnara and kinnari can be found in Borobudur, Mendut, Pawon, Sewu, Sari, and Prambanan temples.
[10] A pair of Kinnara-Kinnari bas-reliefs of Sari temple is unique, depicting Kinnara as celestial humans with birds' wings attached to their backs, very similar to popular image of angels.
It is a gold artefact that symbolises the feminine beauty for it is a half-woman, half- bird, and a religious significance for it encapsulates grace and accomplishment.
[14] The most famous kinnari in Thailand is the figure known as Manora (Thai: มโนรา, derived from Manohara),[15] a heroine in one of the stories collected in "Pannas Jataka" a Pali tome written by a Chiang Mai Buddhist monk and sage around AD 1450–1470.
In Nyingma Mantrayana traditions of Mahayoga Buddhadharma, the shang-shang symbolises 'enlightened activity' (Wylie: phrin las).
A homonymic play on words is evident which is a marker of oral lore: the 'shang' (Tibetan: གཆང, Wylie: gchang) is a cymbal or gong like ritual instrument in the indigenous traditions of the Himalaya.
