Balāka (Bird)
Balāka · balāka, “the crane”
Grammar: masculine noun (also balākā, feminine): the name of a bird.
Meaning: the crane, a white water bird that flies in rows in the rainy season. The Telugu of the Brahma Purāṇa glosses it “great kokkera”, a large crane.
In the scriptures: Brahmā, telling the munis of the wedding of Devī Pārvatī and Bhagavān Śiva, describes the six ṛtus that came to adorn it. Varsha, the rains, brought the sound of mantras as her thunder, dark blue clouds, dancing peacocks, streaks of lightning and rows of cranes, white like a crown of kumuda flowers. From the lakes, with water birds of many-coloured wings, the ṭiṭṭibha, the kalaviṅka and the balāka, cool fragrant breezes shook the trees, and the grounds around the wedding maṇḍapa shone with the signs of all the seasons together (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 36).
In Vyāsa‘s teaching to the munis on the fruits of karma, the thefts of particular things are each followed by a particular birth: one who steals milk is born a balāka bird (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 217).
Related terms: Varsha · Ṛtu · Haṃsa · Karma-vipāka
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 36, 217