TÈBJA NÂKM: THE BIRD WHO RECITES MORNING PRAYERS

 

Garden stalwarts, well-known songsters and familiar friends to people are the Blue Whistling Thrush, scientifically known by the name Myophonus caeruleus. These sun-worshipping birds are regular visitors to our backyards and gardens but the younger generations know little about this precious species. In dzongkha, we call it Tèbja Nâkm (ཏེབ་བྱ་གནགམོ)

How is the Tèbja Nâkm special? 

Our old parents believe that, at day-break, these birds sing not mere songs but recite early morning jamchoe (tea offering prayer) and other prayers especially རྒྱ་གར་པཎ་ཆེན་བོད་ལ་བཀྲིན་ཆེ། །པདྨ་ལས་འཁྲུངས་སྐུ་ལ་འདས་གྲོངས་མེད། ། But one should be a bird communicator (བྱ་སྐད་བྱི་སྐད་གོ་མི) to hear the wordings properly says Aum Zam from Punakha. 

Owing to these beliefs, senior Bhutanese citizens dearly talk about the blackbirds and pay a considerable amount of respect. Some believe they are the reincarnations of Gomchen or lay-monks. 

Photo courtesy and scientific information: Mr. Tshering Tobgay.