Visiting a Buddhist temple, you may have seen the Kinnara.

The kinnara are hybrid creatures with a human upper body and legs and wings of a bird.  These mythical creatures are celestial in nature and closely associated with music.  They were thought to play music for the gods in the heavenly realms.

These creatures appear in many Buddhist texts, including the Jataka Tales and the Divyavadana (divine stories).  Both the Jataka Tales and the Divyadana relate tales of a particular individual (many times the Buddha) in his/her previous lives and the results of his/her actions in those previous lives.

Many stories from both the Jataka Tales and the Divyavadana can be found inside the 2,670 panels of Borobudur.

The kinnara also appears stylistically different in many different cultures, as can be seen in Thailand as well.

The kinnara is still a popular creature and is commonly depicted in traditional folk dances.

Visit Chiang Mai and Borobudur with us now!

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Image Credit:

Gryffindor [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Hans-Jürgen Neubert [CC BY 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Video Copyright (c) Blutey 2018.