Hummingbirds hold a special place in Indian mythology and folklore. These tiny, delicate birds have captivated people’s imagination for centuries with their unique ability to hover mid-air and fly backwards. Their iridescent plumage shimmers like jewels in the sun, adding to their mystique. Across different Indian cultures, hummingbirds feature in stories, symbols and rituals.
Hummingbirds in Hindu mythology
In Hindu mythology, which has dominated Indian culture for millennia, hummingbirds are associated with joy and celebration. They are linked to festivities and important life events like weddings. This is because of their bright, cheerful appearance and energetic movements. The gods are believed to occasionally take the form of a hummingbird when they want to spread happiness on earth.
One popular story featuring the hummingbird is about the mischievous love god Kamadeva. Kamadeva took the form of a hummingbird to covertly help two lovers get married. Their families opposed the match, so Kamadeva intervened as a tiny bird to bring them together without anyone noticing his divine influence. This tale emphasizes the hummingbird’s connection with love and relationships in Hindu lore.
Goddess Lakshmi, representing prosperity, is sometimes depicted with a hummingbird sitting at her feet. Its presence signals sweetness, joy and energy. Lakshmi’s vahana (vehicle) is an owl, but artists also include a hummingbird near her as a secondary symbol. They may show her holding a hummingbird in the palm of her hand as a sign of tenderness.
Overall, the Hindu view associates hummingbirds with celebration, love, joy, relationships and new beginnings like marriages or springtime. Their bright hues and frenetic wings lend them an aura of positive energy.
Hummingbirds in Indian art and architecture
In line with their place in mythology, hummingbirds often appear as decorative motifs in Indian temples, palaces and artwork over the centuries. Mughal paintings famously incorporated exquisite botanical details where artists took care to portray hummingbirds sipping nectar from flowers. Rajput and Pahari miniatures also feature hummingbirds in nature scenes as symbols of vitality.
Architectural stone carvings at the Jaipur City Palace, Amber Fort and Hawa Mahal showcase hummingbirds. The artisans cleverly used the iridescent green and blue hues of semi-precious stones to recreate the bright plumage. Hummingbird motifs are also seen on textiles and jewelry across India.
Hummingbird symbolism in Indian tribes
Beyond Hindu culture, India’s indigenous tribal groups have their own beliefs about the hummingbird, which feature in their folk stories, designs and rituals.
For the Konyak Nagas of Nagaland, hummingbirds represent wisdom and good fortune. Konyak artwork and handicrafts often depict the birds. Similarly, in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, tribal artwork shows hummingbirds as a positive sign.
The Soliga tribe in Karnataka associates hummingbirds with medicinal powers because of their hunger for nectar. The Munda tribe in Jharkhand and Odisha tell children fables with animal characters including the hummingbird as a wise teacher.
These examples demonstrate the positive symbolism hummingbirds hold across Indian indigenous cultures. Their endurance on tiny amounts of nectar and energetic flight inspire respect.
Legends about the origin of hummingbirds
Indian folklore provides imaginative explanations for how hummingbirds came into existence through magical origins.
Legend from South India
A South Indian legend speaks of a princess confined in a tower by her father. A courageous prince risks his life to climb up and rescue her. As he climbs higher, the princess leans out of the window farther and farther to guide him up. But she loses her balance and falls to her death. Distraught, the gods transform her into a hummingbird so she can fly freely and drink nectar from flowers.
In this tale, the hummingbird represents the princess’ spirit gaining freedom in a new form. The hummingbird’s tireless wings and thirst for nectar symbolize the desire for liberation.
Native American legend
A Native American legend tells how hummingbirds came into being when the Creator was handing out wings to all the birds. The hummingbird was left for last. By the time its turn came, the Creator had run out of wings and could offer only small stubby ones. But hummingbirds were resourceful and learned to beat their tiny wings so fast they could hover and flit like other birds. Their tenacity turned disability into skill.
This story emphasizes the hummingbird’s spirit of resilience with a lesson that limitations can be overcome with grit. The hummingbird didn’t lament its small wings but focused on mastering them.
Mayan legend
Mayans in Central America told of a vain, wealthy lord named Tzekel who refused to worship the gods. As punishment, he was turned into a scaly monster. Repenting his arrogance, he went to a wise shaman for help. The shaman turned him into a beautiful hummingbird, saying only with a humble heart could he regain human form someday.
Here, the hummingbird morphs from vain monster to modest bird, signaling the transformation of arrogance into humility. The hummingbird’s delicate beauty emerges only after vanity is replaced by humility.
Interesting facts about hummingbirds in Indian culture
Various names and nicknames
Hummingbirds are called ‘chis’ or ‘chis ka pakshi’ (small bird) in Hindi. In Sanskrit, they are ‘madhukar’ meaning bee-like. In Malayalam, they are ‘then mozhi’ or honey tongues, for lapping up nectar.
Indian languages have evocative nicknames like ‘guldar’ (rose messenger) as they cross-pollinate flowers. Their nimble flight earns them names like ‘kunjal’ (darter) in Marathi and ‘phani’ (snake) in Telugu.
Appearance on postage stamps
Such is the appeal of hummingbirds that India Post has featured them on postage stamps. In 2004, a set of four stamps with pictures of the Crimson Sunbird, Purple Sunbird, Purple-rumped Sunbird and Loten’s Sunbird celebrated their biodiversity.
Role in pollination
While feeding on nectar, hummingbirds play a key ecological role as pollinators for flowers like canna, hibiscus, bottlebrush and silk cotton. Their habitat ranges from the Himalayas down to the Western Ghats.
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird migrates yearly through India between breeding grounds in Europe and Siberia down to South India for winter.
Hummingbirds in indigenous medicine and cuisine
Apart from mythology and art, hummingbirds find use in tribal traditions linked to medicine and food.
Medicinal value
Tribal practices leverage the high energy and immunity of hummingbirds for medical cures. Their bones and body parts are used as talismans or crushed into potions to transfer their vitality and resistance to humans. For instance, the Khasi tribe in Meghalaya use hummingbird meat to treat headaches, nausea and giddiness.
However, such practices raise ecological concerns today given the declining number of hummingbirds. Tribes are being sensitised about more sustainable approaches.
Culinary use
Hummingbird meat has sometimes served as food for certain tribes. But this is rare and their tiny size limits utility. More often, they are captured live and allowed to fly around houses to bring good luck.
However, consuming hummingbird meat is unlawful under India’s Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Indigenous groups are being educated to shift away from such practices to enable the birds to boost pollination.
Conservation of hummingbirds
Of around 330 hummingbird species worldwide, nearly 60 are found in India. But many are threatened by habitat loss and climate change today. Constructive steps for their conservation include:
- Planting more indigenous flowers and trees they prefer, like silk cottontrees, bottlebrush, hibiscus.
- Avoiding pesticides and going organic to provide them safe nectar.
- Putting up bird feeders with sugar-water in gardens, terraces.
- Installing bird baths where they can drink and bathe.
- Discouraging poaching and educating communities on their ecological role.
India’s tribes and citizens have a strong cultural bond with hummingbirds. Sustaining their populations will keep alive a mythological legacy intertwined with nature.
Conclusion
For centuries, hummingbirds have occupied a unique space in Indian culture and imagination. Mythology, folklore, art and indigenous traditions depict them as harbingers of joy, love, wisdom and good fortune. Their irrepressible spirit overcoming small size holds lessons on resilience. While tribal practices raise sustainability concerns today, sensitisation and education can lead communities to safeguard hummingbirds as part of India’s ecological heritage.
