SIREENNUGGUR, or SERINAGUR, a town of India, in the district of British Gurwhal, North-West Provinces, 1007 miles N.W. of Calcutta. It stands on the left bank of the Aluknunda, an affluent of the Ganges, in a valley about four miles long and two broad, enclosed by barren mountains. The form of the town is somewhat semicircular; the houses are generally of two storeys, built of stones cemented with mud; and the streets are all exceedingly narrow, with the exception of one which contains the bazaar. Altogether the place has a monotonous and gloomy appearance. The palace of the rajah of Gurwhal must have been at one time a very fine building, with three fronts adorned with porticoes; but it has been so much injured by earthquakes, that only the porticoes now remain. The numerous Hindu temples in the town are deserving of no special notice. Sireennuggur was at one time the capital and residence of the rajah of Gurwhal, and carried on a very active trade between the highlands of Tartary and the plains of India, but it has suffered very much from earthquakes, and has now no more than 3000 inhabitants.
SIRENS (Σειρήνες), certain female mythical beings, who were supposed to partake of the character of divinity, and who were fabled to have the power of charming all who heard them sing. Some make them two in number, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia; while others allude to three of them, Peisinoi, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia; and others make their names, Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia. They are referred to as daughters of Phorcus, of Achelous and Sterope, of Terpsichore, of Melpomene, of Calliope, and of Gaea. Their residence was alike mythical and varied as their origin. According to Homer, their island-home was situated on the south-western coast of Italy, between Æaea and the rock of Scylla. Other writers allude to them as having their proper home on Cape Pelorum, on the Island of Anthemusa, in the Sirenian Islands, near Paestum, and in Capreae. Some writers connect the self-destruction of the Sirens with the expedition of the Argonauts and the story of Orpheus; others again join their suicide with the wanderings of Ulysses. According to the former legend, as the Argonauts sailed by them, the Sirens struck their lyres, and drew forth from them music of exquisite sweetness; while Orpheus sent back to them a flood of song so deep, and strong, and ravishing, that the Sirens, feeling their divine art had left them, flung themselves into the
sea, and were metamorphosed into rocks. The Homeric fable runs differently. When Ulysses steered his course close by the shore on which the Sirens sat, these fair creatures struck up the most melodious sounds, to lure him and his companions within their grasp; but the good old captain, counselled by Circe, stopped the ears of his mariners with wax, and tied himself firm to the root of the mast, until the ship had so far sped on her way that her crew could no longer hear the notes of their bewitching song. Thus balked of their prey, these singing maidens dashed down the lyre, and leaped headlong into the sea.
The upper half of their body is always represented as a lovely woman, while the lower part sometimes terminates in a fish, and sometimes in a bird. They are occasionally provided with wings, which they are represented as losing on occasion of a contest with the Muses, into which they had been injudiciously led by the advice of Juno. There was a temple dedicated to the Sirens near Surrentum, and the tomb of Parthenope was shown near the town of Neapolis.