Tale of Two Kinnara

Kinnara-Kinnari from Borobudur temple

 "We are everlasting lover and beloved. We never separate. We are eternally husband and wife; never do we become mother and father. No offspring is seen in our lap. We are lover and beloved ever-embracing. In between us we do not permit any third creature demanding affection".(Mahabharata)

 The word Kinnara literally means "what human?" in Sanskrit. It is a paradigmatic lover, a celestial musician, half-human and half-bird. This is a tale about Kinnara couple.

There was once a hunter who caught a pair of kinnara alive in the Himavanta forest. The hunter took them to the king, who asked why he had brought them. Were they offerings? Could they be roasted and eaten?
The hunter answered that kinnara have two interesting qualities: they have sublime voices, so if you can get them to sing they are able to do so more beautifully than people. The second interesting point is that kinnara dance wonderfully, much more beautifully than people.
The king commanded the kinnara to sing and dance, but even after being ordered two or three times, they just stood there looking at the king. The king, seeing that the kinnara would neither sing nor dance, then ordered his minister to have them roasted for dinner. Confronted by this dreadful situation, the female kinnara sat last spoke up:
That we do not dance is not because we can’t; that we do not sing is not because we are afraid of losing our voices. In fact, we would really like to sing and dance because we are sure that we do so more beautifully than any human being. The reason why we do not sing is because nearly all the songs known to man are just idle chatter. If we were to sing such songs, then we would not be following the tenet of Right Speech.

Because we are afraid of doing any evil is the reason why we do not sing for you. The reason why we do not dance is that such dancing will only cause Your Majesty to be sensually aroused which again is a source of evil. That’s why we won’t sing or dance – it’s not that we are lazy or don’t want to show our skill or are too stupid to understand you. To sing and dance would be harmful to ourselves and harmful to Your Majesty, and we would both fall into hell as a result.
The king was pleased by what he heard. He said, “This is indeed an artful thing that has been said. Release the kinnari, but have the male which has remained silent roasted for tomorrow’s breakfast.”
The male kinnara said, “All grass-eating animals have the rain as their support. Farm labourers have beasts of burden as their support. As for my life, at this moment my life has Your Majesty as my support, as this kinnari has me as her support. If Your Majesty wishes to release this kinnari, do as you wish, but she will be without refuge. And I will be faulty in the performance of my duty to her as her refuge.
If you are going to release her alone, please slay me here and now so that the kinnari will have no doubt that I am unable to help her anymore.”  Thus the king released the both of them, and had the hunter take them back to where they had been caught, together with a golden ornament fitting for a couple able to speak artful speech.