Parrot god worship in Tamil Nadu

In India , a lot of animals and birds  are worshipped in connection with the Vedas and the mythology , be it Lord Ganesh, Garuda ,the peacock , the bull nandi, the Kamadhenu cow, etc . Etc. But I was surprised & amused to see a parrot being worshipped in Kanyakumari by the Tamilians . 

        I was getting out of the sea view  hotel post mouth watering sea food dinner  on 29th  may , 2017 and suddenly I heard some traditional Tamil music being played in a procession outside the gate . The spectators were dresssed in traditional white wrap arounds called as “lungi”. Few women were carrying flowers to offer the deity who’s processsion was being carried out . The aroma of the incense sticks and the awesome Tamilian live  music with drums pulled me towards the procession lit up by the mashalls (handheld fire sticks) away from my motorcycle riding group . What attracted my instant attention was the God being worshipped … it was a huge  green “parrot” , decorated with flowers. 

I was curious to know why was the parrot being worshipped . I took a video of the procession and since I had to sleep early and ride next morning ,after getting back to my hotel room , after observing the procession keenly ,I jumped with full enthusiasm  on the motorcycle to do my research back home . 

Here is the video of  the procession that I witnessed : ​

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And here are the images of the parrot god being worshipped that I found in the internet  . I found out that The parrot was the transport mode (Vaahan ) for  Kaama Dev , the god of love, pleasure , romance  and lust . 
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Also I understood that ,

1. Meenakshi, Goddess of Madurai, carries a parrot on her right shoulder, so do Andal of Srivilliputur near Madurai and Kamakshi of Kanheepuram (tamilnadu ). 

2.’Kili viDu Thuthu’ is a genre in Tamil. The meaning is sending parrot as a messenger to a lover / beloved. Andal is said to have sent the parrot to Lord Vishnu to give the message of her love. 

3.other birds used as a mode of transport in mythology : Kartikeya the cock was a subdued demon. It symbolises that our demonic thoughts would be subdued ‘in the hands of God. Hindu goddess Lakshmi and Sarawati have owl and swan as their respective vehicles (vahanas). Crow is the vahana of planet Saturn and Garuda/eagle of God Vishnu .

4. Parrot Upanishad= Taitriya Upanishad.
Upanishads are the highest philosophical treatise in Hinduism. One of the 18 main Upanishads is Taitriya Upanishad. Thiththi and Thaththai are words for parrot in Sanskrit and Tamil. The story of Taitriya Upanishad is interesting. Yagnavalkya’s teacher was offended and asked him to return the Veda. He “vomited it and the parrots ate it”. Even a child can understand the symbolic story. When Yagnavalkya’s Guru asked him not to repeat it, he gave it to his disciples (What he threw out was taken/eaten by others).

Now I could relate to what the phrase literally means :” Talking like a parrot ” 🙂

5. Vyasa’s son Sukha Brahmam was the one who recited all the Puranas (Hindu Mythologies). Hindu mythologies are voluminous running to millions of lines. This monumental work was done by Sukha (literally parrot). Needless to explain the symbolism behind it. Sukha’s dad Vyasa did another great task of compiling and dividing Vedas into four sections and entrusting them to four of his disciples. Nowhere in the world we see such immense task carried out by any human being. Till this day no one on earth has beaten Vyasa or his parrot son in compiling lost works. Humanly impossible task was done by both. When we talk about Vyasa and Sukha we can use only superlatives!

Here is Sukha muni : 

(All the above Vedic /mythology references are taken from tamilandvedas.com)

This is how the parrot god led me to understand the lost mythology that we new age millenials don’t even know about . 

But one question still arises …. in no Indian mythology , any of the animals were caged or tormented , then why do we cage them for our enjoyment and pleasure ? On one hand we worship them along with the Gods and in reality treat them inhumanely restricting their freedom in today’s world . Anyways I hope the mythology teaches us to care, respect ,protect and worship these wonderful creatures/ children of Mother Nature . Protecting them would be the greatest worship of all time .

Thanks to my travel which helped me gain more interesting knowledge about my own motherland which is rich in various cultures & ethnicities ! I am waiting for lot more to experience and cherish 🙏🏽