Huma bird

Lore & Background

The Huma bird is said to never come to rest, living its entire life flying invisibly high above the earth, and never alighting on the ground (in some legends it is said to have no legs). In several variations, the bird is phoenix-like, consuming itself in fire every few hundred years, only to rise anew from the ashes. It is said to have both male and female natures in one body, each nature having one wing and one leg, reminiscent of the Chinese Fenghuang. The Huma is considered compassionate and a 'bird of fortune' since its shadow or touch is said to be auspicious.

In Sufi tradition, catching the Huma is beyond even the wildest imagination, but catching a glimpse of it or even a shadow of it is sure to make one happy for the rest of one's life. It is also believed that Huma cannot be caught alive, and the person killing a Huma will die in forty days. In Ottoman poetry, the creature is often referred to as a 'bird of paradise'; early European descriptions of the Paradisaeidae species portrayed the birds as having no wings or legs, and the birds were assumed to stay aloft their entire lives.

In Attar of Nishapur's allegorical masterpiece The Conference of the Birds, the Huma bird is portrayed as a pupil that refuses to undertake a journey because such an undertaking would compromise the privilege of bestowing kingship on those whom it flew over. In Iranian literature, this kingship-bestowing function is identified with pre-Islamic monarchs and stands vis-à-vis ravens, which is a metaphor for Arabs. The legend reappears in Indian stories of the Mughal Empire era, in which the shadow or alighting of the Huma bird on a person's head or shoulder were said to bestow or foretell kingship. Accordingly, the feathers decorating the turbans of kings were said to be plumage of the Huma bird.

Reader's Guide

The Huma bird holds significance as a symbol of unreachable highness in Turkish folk literature and appears in Sindhi literature as a bringer of great fortune. In the Zafarnama of Guru Gobind Singh, a letter addressed to Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb refers to the Huma bird as a 'mighty and auspicious bird.' Sufi teacher Inayat Khan gave the bestowed-kingship legend a spiritual dimension, stating that its true meaning is that when a person's thoughts evolve to break all limitation, he becomes as a king.

In modern legacy, Iran Air's logo depicts the homa bird. A British Museum catalog captions a photograph of the griffin-like capitals at Persepolis with 'Column capital in the form of griffins (locally known as "homa birds").' The emblems of Uzbekistan and its autonomous republic Karakalpakstan both feature the Huma bird. Tashkent-Humo International Airport is named after the Humo bird. Herman Melville briefly alludes to the bird in Moby-Dick, and it provides the title of Bird's Shadow, a collection of short stories by Ivan Bunin. It is also referred to in the movie Days of Being Wild by Wong Kar-wai and the play Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams. The literature series Dragonlance named Krynn's greatest hero, Huma Dragonbane, after the Huma bird. The asteroid 3988 Huma discovered by Eleanor F. Helin was named after the Huma bird. It is said that those named Huma possess the most beautiful voice. The 2025 song Homay by Ay Yola is dedicated to the Bashkir rendition of the Huma bird. Although the Huma is a mythical bird, it is attributed to an existing bird of prey, the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus).

Did You Know?

• The Huma bird is said never to alight on the ground, living its entire life flying invisibly high above the earth.
• In some legends, the Huma is phoenix-like, consuming itself in fire every few hundred years and rising anew from the ashes.
• The Huma bird is attributed to an existing bird of prey, the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus).
• The emblems of Uzbekistan and its autonomous republic Karakalpakstan both feature the Huma bird.