Kinnaras
Kinnara · kim-nara, “what kind of man”
The Kinnaras are a race of celestial beings, named in the Vāmana Purāṇa again and again with the gandharvas, yakshas, apsarases, vidyādharas, siddhas and cāraṇas. They play music for the devas and for kings in svarga, march in the hosts of the devas, honour the great at their festivals, and are ever present at the holy tīrthas.
In the hosts of the devas
When Indra led the deva army out of Amarāvatī against the daitya Andhaka, each host came on its own vāhana: the Kinnaras rode serpents, the Aśvins horses and the Maruts deer. When Sūrya was struck by the fire of Bhagavān Śiva‘s eye and fell from the sky, he slid down through the sphere of the wind with the Kinnaras and cāraṇas around him, like a blazing kiṃśuka flower. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 9, 16)
When Skanda was born, the devas said he would be the leader of the armies of the devas, gandharvas and Kinnaras and would slay Mahishāsura and Tārakāsura. In the svastivācana spoken for him, the Kinnaras are named with the Viśvedevas, the Aśvins, the Rudras, the Sādhyas, the Maruts, the Agnis, the yakshas, the piśācas and the Vasus, all asked always to help his rise. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 31, 32)
The asuras knew them as foes. The dānava Mura, who held Brahmā‘s vara that whomever he touched would die, went to Meru and challenged the devas, yakshas and Kinnaras to battle, and none came out to fight him. Andhaka told Śukrācārya that, relying on him, the daityas had slain devas, Kinnaras and gandharvas. The great daitya Kālanemi, swelling by māyā, seized every devatā within his reach, yakshas and Kinnaras alike, and threw them into his mouth, which was like a mountain cave. When Śukrācārya wandered inside the belly of Bhagavān Śiva, he saw the hosts of the Kinnaras there among all the beings of the worlds. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 34, 43, 47)
Music at the great festivals
When the Saptarshis came to the city of Himavān to ask for Devī Pārvatī‘s hand for Bhagavān Śiva, they were honoured by the mountain-women, by the mountains led by Sunābha, and by the gandharvas, Kinnaras and yakshas. In the wedding procession of Śūlapāṇi Śiva, Tumburu and the gandharvas sang, the Kinnaras played their instruments, the apsarases danced and the munis recited stotras, and countless hosts of yakshas, Kinnaras and rākshasas went along with a great tumult. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 26, 27)
When Devī Gaurī released the hundred forms she had taken against Andhaka, sending them out as the Śatāvarīs to dwell in gardens and forests and receive pūjā, they went their ways while the Kinnaras praised them. When Viśvakarmā regained his own form, he remembered in his mind Indra, the suras and the Kinnaras, and Indra came at once to the Hāṭakeśvara kshetra with the Maruts, the suras and the Rudra-gaṇas. In King Bali‘s court in svarga, while the gandharvas led by Viśvāvasu sang and the apsarases led by Tilottamā danced, the yakshas, Kinnaras and vidyādharas played many instruments together to delight him. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 33, 39, 48)
At the holy places
Bhagavān Śiva blessed the Saptasārasvata tīrtha, where the muni Maṅkaṇa had danced, to be a puṇya tīrtha equal to Pṛthūdaka: in that Sārasvata tīrtha the suras, asuras, gandharvas, vidyādharas, Kinnaras and others are always present, and it destroys every impurity of pāpa. In the holy land around the Sthāṇuvaṭa at Kurukshetra, the liṅgas installed by the gandharvas, yakshas and Kinnaras to the south of Svāmi are beyond counting. Mount Trikūṭa, the son of Meru, which rose out of the ocean of milk, is served by gandharvas, Kinnaras, apsarases, siddhas, cāraṇas, pannagas and vidyādharas together with their wives. (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 36, 58; Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25)
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 9, 16, 26, 27, 31–34, 36, 39, 43, 47, 48, 58
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 25