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peacock
Common name
for a kind of large, pheasant-like bird, of which males have bright and colourful feathers. In the Asian region there are only two known species, i.e. the
Green Peafowl and the Indian Blue Peafowl (fig.), which also exist in a white, leucistic form, similar to albino-like
animals. In
Hindu
mythology, where it typically refers to the Indian Blue Peafowl,
Krishna is
usually represented wearing a peacock feather tucked in his headband
(fig.),
and the peacock is the mount of
Skanda;
Karttikeya;
and
Sarasvati;
as well as a
dharani and its
personification in the form of the
goddess
Mahamayuri,
and ‒in addition‒ of the golden peacock
Suvarnavabhasa,
a former
chaht
of the
Buddha
as the Peacock King. In
Buddhism,
it is furthermore the mount of
Amitabha. It is
also the
National Bird of India, and though native to the Indian
subcontinent (fig.), it has also been introduced into many parts of the
world, leading to the origin of feral populations in many of these
regions. Its scientific
name is Argusianus argus, and in English it is also known as Great
Argus (fig.). Argus (Ἄργος) is Greek for ‘All
Eyes’ and was the name of Argus o Panoptes (Άργος ο Πανόπτης),
meaning ‘Argus the All-seeing’, a Greek mythological giant with a
hundred eyes, and refers
here to the multiple eye-like patterns on the male bird's elongated
upper tail coverts. These large, colourful feathers,
are often mistaken to be tail feathers, but the tail itself is actually brown
and short, as in the peahen. Whereas males (fig.)
have an
overall blue head and neck, females have a whitish head
with a dark brown crown and brown supercilium, and a scaled neck,
which is greenish-blue above, and gradually changes to brownish
grey-white towards the belly. Below, the female is white, whilst the
upperparts are brownish-grey with tiny black-and-white lines on the
wings (fig.).
In Thailand, the
peacock
is a decorative symbol
of Queen
Sirikit
(fig.),
which is hence referred to as the
Royal Peacock (fig.).
In Thai, the Indian
Blue Peafowl is called
nok yoong india.
Akin to some states of
Myanmar, the peacock
is a symbol of northern Thailand, where it is often found as a
decorative item on temple
gable boards
(fig.)
and in
Lan Na-style
architecture. In Myanmar, the peacock is the symbol of the Konbaung Dynasty, i.e. the last dynasty that ruled
Burma, while in the nation's
practice of
Theravada
Buddhism and its
relevant
iconography,
it is a symbol for the sun,
referring to
the fact that this bird was once known as Sun Turkey and associated with
the power of the solar deities,
that ‒in combination with the
rabbit,
which represents the moon (fig.)‒ signifies
Enlightenment
(fig.),
akin to the Chinese characters for sun and moon, i.e.
日 (ri) and
月 (yue), that when placed
together as
明 (ming),
become to mean ‘bright’, ‘clear’, or
‘to understand. The peacock is hence often used
decoratively, e.g.
as in the Peacock Throne. In
China,
its tail is said to be a part of the compound immortal bird
Fenghuang (fig.).
In
Sanskrit, the peacock is known by the generic name
mayura and in Thai
it is known as nok yoong (นกยูง) and by the generic term
kai fah,
while the Thai name for the
Flame Tree is
nok yoong farang, i.e.
‘foreign peacock’.
See also WILDLIFE PICTURES,
THEMATIC STREET LIGHT,
and
WATCH VIDEO (1) and
(2).
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