A heavenly musician， who body is part god， part human， and part animal （Skt. kim!nara; Pali kinnara）. Possibly equivalent to English chimera. The kim!naras are said to sing and dance to the wonderfully sublime music that they make. They are one of the eight kinds of spiritual beings 八部众 who usually appear in the audience of Maha^ya^na sutras. This term is also transcribed into Chinese as 紧捺洛， 紧拏罗， 紧担路， 甄陀罗， 真陀罗， and translated as 歌神， 歌乐神， and 音乐天. The meaning of kim! is that of an expression of doubt， while nara means "human." Thus the meaning is that of "dubious human" 疑人， or "human yet not human" 人非人.