பஞ்சபட்சி சாஸ்திரத்தில் ஆந்தையின் இடமும் தமிழர் இரவுசார் நம்பிக்கைகளும் — ஓர் ஒப்பீட்டுப் பண்பாட்டு ஆய்வு: The Place of the Owl in Pancha Pakshi Shastra and Tamil Beliefs about the Night — A Comparative Cultural Study

Abstract

Pancha Pakshi Shastra sees the owl as one of five birds of equal power, a symbol whose strength rises and falls with the cycle of time; Tamil folk traditions, however, mostly treat the same owl as a sign of ill omen, of impending death and of darkness. This contradiction is the central question of the article. The shastra links the owl’s nature to time and judges it neutrally; oral tradition links it to the night and speaks of it in the language of fear.

The study explains the birth stars assigned to the owl in Pancha Pakshi texts, its five activity states (eating, walking, ruling, sleeping and dying: oon, nadai, arasu, thuyil, saavu) and its day and night yama tables. It compares these with literary evidence such as the Thirukkural, with proverbs and omen beliefs, and with customs found widely in the Kongu region, southern Tamil Nadu, the Kaveri delta and northern Tamil Nadu.

Both traditions agree on the basic idea that “the owl is strong at night”, but differ in the value they give to that strength. In the shastra the night is a unit of time; in folk tradition it is a space of fear. The article also shows that urbanisation, print and online astrology media, and environmental awareness are reshaping these interpretations today.

Keywords

• Pancha Pakshi Shastra
• owl
• koogai (eagle-owl)
• concept of night
• omens
• folkloristics
• comparative cultural study
• Tamil belief tradition