Reasons for choosing peacock as national bird | Fusion - WeRIndia

Peacock is the national bird of India. It was declared as the national bird in 1963. But, do you know why the peacock is chosen as the national bird of India?

There are many reasons for it:

• Peacock is a wonderful bird. This magical creature is adorned with beautiful colours.
• The bird has religious involvement in Indian traditions. As per Hindu mythology, a peacock is considered the sacred bird. Its Sanskrit name is Mayura. As per legends, Mayura was created from Garuda, the vehicle of Lord Vishnu, one of the Trinity Gods.
• Several Hindu scriptures believe peacock as a symbol for the cycle of time. In some scriptures, the peacock was mentioned as the enemy of a snake.
• Moreover, the peacock is the vehicle of Lord Kartikeya or Subramanya, the brother of Lord Ganesh. It is also the vehicle of Goddess Mahamayuri and Goddess Saraswati.
• In addition to that, the peacock is not restricted to a certain location or region but can be found in many parts of the country. These include Jammu and Kashmir, south Assam, east Mizoram etc. Apart from that, peacocks are found in groups in many other warm places.
• Another reason for choosing peacock as the national bird is, it is easily recognizable by all people. Almost all Indians can recognize it without any confusion.
• It can be portrayed in Government publications easily. Since it is found in many parts of the country, there would not be any confusion with the national bird of other countries.
• As per some historical sources, king Chandra Gupta Maurya was believed to be one of the peacock tamers. It might be another reason for choosing peacock as the national bird of India.

Image Credit: Gautam Wadhwa / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peacock_in_all_its_glory.jpg