Turquoise Reflections

How do birds engage with mirrors? Do they see in their own reflection, a rival, an encroacher who needs to be driven out, or a playmate?

Last week, in the little town of Dewathang in south-eastern Bhutan, I found myself in a small roadside lodge. As soon as I entered my room I saw something moving behind the curtains - it was this small bird with its brilliant blue plumage glinting in the evening sun. 

The last time I had seen such a bird was through a pair of binoculars. This time I was just a couple of inches away, looking through a glass-pane with a reflective film on it. The bird kept fluttering against the pane, stopping every now and then, to look intently at itself until darkness set in after sunset.

Do these birds get excited / agitated only when they are looking at reflections on the vertical plane? Are they tuned to ignore reflections on a horizontal surface such as a puddle or pool or water?

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* Old World Flycathers - https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/chats/

* Verditer Flycatcher - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verditer_flycatcher

* Verditer - from old French verd de terre - 'green of the earth'! - https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/verditer

Choeten Kora, Trashi Yangtse

 The road to Trashi Yangste is not an easy one. Unlike most roads we saw in Eastern Bhutan, the one that branched-off north from Trashigang was particularly bad. 

As we drove on a mud-path cut into steep slopes and dense forests, past recent landslides and rock-falls,  I imagined our final destination to be some sort of one-horse town; one in which there would be a few houses along the roadside; a town where we would have to wake up somebody to cook dinner and find a bed for the night..

It was late evening by the time our Pajero stopped and the driver announced, "We've reached!".  What stood below us was not a tiny settlement but a lovely little town built alongside a river. There were broad roads, numerous buildings, shops, lodges, snooker parlours, and, the biggest surprise of all - a beautifully lit up Choeten sitting like a jewel at the head of the valley.

This was the Chorten Kora, a shrine modelled on the Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu, and revered by  people across the eastern Himalayas, from Nepal to Arunachal Pradesh, and maybe beyond.

I visited this shrine early next morning. What struck me the most was the deep sense of order, symmetry and rhythm within the complex. 

Each side was divided into two parts with four sections each. Niches within each of these four sections had exactly six prayer wheels. So as you walked along each side of the Chorten you could swing with your fingers 48 prayer-wheels or 192 prayers with each circumambulation! 

As if to keep time for each step and each breath you took, there were also two large water-driven prayer wheels by the river-side, gently tinkling their bells.

What is the significance of these numbers? Why are prayer-wheels and stupas by the roadside always built in units of 1, 2, 6 or 8?

There is no doubt deep symbolism in each of these elements. 

Is there a book that explains all this?

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* A brief history of Choeten Kora - https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jbs/pdf/JBS_06_01.pdf

* Symbolism of the Stupa / Chorten - https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/buddhist-art/stupas.htm