மயில் — சமயக் குறியீடும் சாஸ்திரப் பொருளும்: The Symbolic Meaning of the Peacock in Pancha Pakshi Shastra and Its Place in Tamil Religious Culture — A Comparative Study

Abstract

This study concludes that the same peacock takes on three different meanings in three traditions, and that although there is no direct textual link between the three, there is an indirect harmony that grows out of a shared cultural ground.

In Pancha Pakshi Shastra the peacock is a unit of time reckoning. It serves as the name of a group of stars and as a state of energy that moves through the cycle of the five activities: ruling, eating, walking, sleeping and dying. In Sangam literature the peacock is a characteristic element of the Kurinji landscape and a simile for a woman’s grace and the joy of the rainy season. In the tradition of Murugan worship, especially in the Kandapuranam and the songs of Arunagirinathar, it becomes a symbol of the soul whose ego has been subdued and the mount of the god. The study uses comparative, historical and semiotic approaches, reading together the structure of the Pancha Pakshi texts, evidence from Sangam and Bhakti literature, and mythological narratives. The Kandapuranam story in which Surapadman is split in two and becomes the peacock and the cock shows that two of the five Pancha Pakshi birds are linked with Murugan; this is the main point where the two traditions meet. The link, however, exists only at the level of narrative: Murugan has no place in the shastra’s method of calculation. The study also makes clear that although the term “aindhozhil” (five activities) is used in both Pancha Pakshi and Saiva Siddhanta, the two are different conceptual systems.

Keywords

• peacock
• Pancha Pakshi Shastra
• five activities (aindhozhil)
• Murugan worship
• Kurinji landscape
• Kandapuranam
• semiotics
• Siddhar tradition
• comparative study