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kinnara

किन्नर kinnara

A half-human, half-animal celestial being (part horse, or in later traditions part bird), a musician like the apsara and an emblem of devoted, faithful love. Paired with the kimpurushas.

Where this term appears

  • The Artists of the Sky Treatise

    The kinnaras (with their partners the kimpuruṣas , "is-it-a-man?" beings) are the half-and-half creatures of the sky — in the Indian tradition typically part human and part horse, in the later and Buddhist imag…

  • The Classes of the Gods Treatise

    …dyādharas, the apsarases, the yakṣas and rakṣases, the gandharvas and kinnaras, the piśācas, the guhyakas, the siddhas, and the bhūtas — these are the deva-yonis.

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