From our stacks: "Krishna with the Garudas, the ritualistic human birds of the Javanese. Birds occupy an important place in Hindu mythology and are credited with great wisdom. in the Ramayana they figure as the Garudas, Lords of the Air, who come to the aid of Rama when Ravana the demon king abducts his bride Sita. In Java as the Ritualistic Fowl they are regarded with reverential awe, and they appear in one of the most striking scenes in the Wajang Wong, where Krishna holds mystical communion with them, addressing them much as S. Francis of Assisi is reputed to have addressed the birds. Special care is devoted to the construction of their costumes, which are adorned with feathers of the barnyard fowl imposed in life-like fashion on vestments so exquisitely woven and dyed as to be indistinguishable from real feathers of the birds. One dress alone took the plumage of four hundred hens." From Manners and Customs of Mankind. An Entirely New Pictorial Work of Great Educational Value Describing the Most Fascinating Side of Human Life. Edited by J. A. Hammerton. Over Fifteen Hundred Photographic Illustrations from All over the World - and twenty-Seven Plates in Color. Volume One. London: The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., n.d. (c193-?)
