From Godliness To Emptiness - Indian Roller

Pics : 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 : Indochinese Roller - Kaziranga National Park | Pics : 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 : Indian Roller - Tadoba National Park

Rollers Roll during flight and especially during courtship. It’s a pretty fantastical sight to see these bright blue birds doing that mid air. In fact they always catch the eye even if they’re flying between branches. Very hard to miss.

The Indian Roller is all legend here in India. It’s tied to folk lore and Gods. No wonder it’s the state bird of Odisha, Telengana and Karnataka. Lord Shiva is said to have had a drink of poison which turned his throat blue, giving him the name, “Neelkanth”. Our bird is also called “Neelkanth”. The bird is seen by many as His messenger. Add to that, that Lord Ram supposedly saw one of these guys on his way to kill Ravan and since he did succeed, it was auspiciousness brought by the symbol of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva supposedly even appeared in the form of our bird to absolve Lord Ram for killing a Brahmin after the battle. No wonder the Kol tribe and people from Bengal, consider seeing these guys good omen and for some others from South India, adding cut plumes to fodder for cows increases milk yield, giving them the name, “pala-pitta” or “milk bird”. A nomadic tribe from Vishakapatnam somehow believed they inherited the art of fortune telling from these guys and would use a plume made from their feathers to identify themselves. This bird’s perception of being auspicious is prevalent from North to South as you can see.

Oh but we’re yet not done. Seeing a Neelkanth on Dussehra is supposed to bring good luck to some, while to others if one makes a wish on seeing one of these birds, the wish will be granted by none other than Lord Shiva Himself. The people of Bengal till date, buy these guys before Durga Puja and release them during the immersion of the Durga idols and over in Nagpur, the king releases his own lot on Dussehra. Both festivals, incidentally always fall on the same date for worship of different Gods in different parts of the country, but the capture, sale and release of the same poor “auspicious” bird unites the East and West of the country on the same date.

So as the number of puja celebrations increased all over with time, every committee holding a puja needed birds and more than the next guy. It just wasn’t auspicious without them, you see. Since there was demand, supply channels obviously were opened up by poachers who’d start catching these guys a month before, keep them malnourished in little cages, tie and even weld their feet together. Yep ! Weld ! Right now, www.indiamart.com is selling Indian roller’s feathers at Rs.1000 per piece. Talk about the fall from Godliness to Emptiness via the Market.

Someone tell these people that even if seeing them naturally is auspicious and a sign, engineering the sighting won’t have the same effect by any logic. Enslaving Lord Shiva’s messengers will never buy you brownie points in his book you idiots and for heaven’s sake ordering a feather online won’t change your fortunes. It can’t be a sign if you strategized it, you fool.

I only see them in protected areas myself and there’s no doubt why. They need the reserves protection to stay alive. It’s sad when that’s the case for a bird that’s supposed to be auspicious. It’s not threatened so far thankfully but probably not as common as parakeets around towns and cities. I also think that a lot of these beliefs and practices are on the decline thankfully but then, the footfalls at Chambal wildlife sanctuary in Agra witnessed a huge spike during the opening of the Ram temple in Ayodhya (500 kms away) last January to see these guys for their attachment to Lord Ram. You just never know how which dots connect what for some people.