Pancha Pakshi Shastra (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ''Pañca-pakṣi-śāstra'', "science of the five birds") is a system of

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

historically popular among Hindu astrologers of southern India. Pancha pakshi means five birds in Tamil language. In this system, the ''

nakshatra Nakshatra () is the term for Lunar mansion in Hindu astrology and Buddhist astrology. A nakshatra is one of 27 (sometimes also 28) sectors along the ecliptic. Their names are related to a prominent star or asterisms in or near the respective s ...

s'' (lunar mansions) are organized in groups named after five birds:

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly, a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not linked scientifically to any certain trait but is rathe ...

, cock, and

peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

. These birds are said to be in one of the following five states depending on the time, the day of the week, and the

paksha Paksha () refers to a fortnight or a lunar phase in a month of the Hindu lunar calendar. Literally meaning "side", a paksha is the period either side of the '' purnima'' ( full moon day). A lunar month in the Hindu calendar has two fortnight ...

(fortnight): ruling, eating, walking, sleeping, and dying (in order of most

auspicious Auspicious is a word derived from Latin originally pertaining to the taking of 'Augury, auspices' by an augur of ancient Rome. It may refer to: * Luck, the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable positive or negative events ...

to least auspicious). Based on these states and the birth ''nakshatra'' of a person, the Pancha Pakshi Shastra determines the auspicious and inauspicious times for various activities. A

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

-language work on Pancha Pakshi Shastra is ascribed to the legendary sage

Agastya Agastya was a revered Indian sage of Hinduism. In the Indian tradition, he is a noted recluse and an influential scholar in diverse languages of the Indian subcontinent. He is regarded in some traditions to be a Chiranjivi. He and his wife ...

. Its manuscripts, in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

and Grantha scripts, are available at the Thanjavur Palace library. A critical edition of the text, by Shivarama Pati, was published in 1906 under the title ''Pañca-pakṣi-praśna''. Sanksrit language versions of this text also exist. For example, the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library (GOML) in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

has a manuscript titled ''Ahattiyar-pañca-pakṣi-sūttira''. Other historical texts on the topic include ''Pañca-pakṣi'' or ''Pakṣi-jyotiṣa'' of Krishna (Kṛṣṇa), ''Pañca-pakṣi-prakaśa'' of Gangadhara, and ''Pañca-pakṣi-śakunāvalī'' of Narayana Bhatta.

References

Hindu astrology Birds in mythology {{Hinduism-stub