swan as messenger in Nala- Damayanti Story
Date uploaded in London – – 20 FEBRUARY 2024
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Hamsa means swan and a few other water birds in English . Pure in white, Hamsa is the vehicle of Goddess Sarasvati and also Brahma (wife and husband) in Hindu mythology. Sarasvati is the goddess of knowledge and education and always shown with peacock or Hamsa and with Veena , a musical instrument in her hand.
Sarasvati as river and goddess is found throughout the Rig Veda, the oldest book in the world. So do Hamsa. We find it in at least eight places in the Rigveda, spreading over old and new Mandalas.
Brahma took the guise of a Hamsa in the contest where Vishnu and Brahma tried in vain to find the head and foot of Lord Shiva. When Shiva appeared as a pillar of flame, Vishnu took the form of a boar/Varaha and went downwards . Brahma took the form of a swan and went upwards.
Messenger Poems are popular in Sanskrit and Tamil. We find the oldest messenger in the Rig Veda where the dog is sent as a messenger. Later swan acts like a messenger to take love letters between Nala and Damayanti in Mahabharata and later Puranas. Nala- Damayanti story is one of the most loved , filmed, staged and acted story in all Indian languages.
Of the Messenger poems, the most famous one is Meghaduta, where the most famous poet of India Kalidas use the Cloud as a messenger to send love message.
Rare Quality of Swan
Throughout Tamil and earlier Sanskrit literature swan’s ability to separate milk from water is used to inculcate the virtue of discrimination between good and not good. It all started with Yajur Veda where swan’s capacity to separate Soma juice from water is mentioned. Later Soma rasa is changed to Milk by Kalidasa in his dramas and Kavyas. We find it in almost all his seven books.
What Rig Veda says about Swan or Hamsa is also repeated by all the Indian poets. They make big noise while flying in formations. Tamil poets and Sanskrit poets compare it to the sound of the anklets.
Hamsa is a migratory bird. They fly in V shaped formation using aerodynamics rule. Kalidasa compared it to Pearl necklace and Tamil poet Nakkirar (Akam.120) copied it and said it looked like the pearl necklace of Lord Skanda/ Kartikeya (in Tamil Muruga).
Swan’s rare quality of separating milk from water is used in many later Tamil works such as Naladiyar, Viveka Chintamani etc.
Vedanta Desika used Hamsa as a messenger in his work Hamsa Sandesa, in which Rama’s message is sent to Sita using Swan as a messenger.
Hamsa is used by philosophers to denote soul and we come across great saints Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Paramahamsa Yogananda. But it is not swan. Chandogya Upanishad mentioned it.
Hamsa’s meat was also used by the hunters and others and later Ayur Veda works give the details.
Rig Vedic References
Hamsa in the Rig Veda and later denotes the gander/ a male goose according to Vedic Index by Keith and Macdonell.
“These birds are described as dark in colour on the back; they fly in troops, swim in the water, make loud noise and wakeful at night. The Hamsa is credited with the power of separating soma from water- (as later milk from water-) in the Yajur Veda. It is also one of the victims at the Asvamedha/ horse sacrifice
Hamsa saaci is the name of unknown bird mentioned in the Tattiriya Samhita as one of the victims at Asvamedha/ horse sacrifice.
My comments
Soma is separated from water by Hamsa shows that Soma is not a drug as told by half -baked foreign scholars.
200 sacrificial objects, insects, animals, birds, plants are placed in the fire at Asvamedha. That list includes Man, elephant Mahout etc. Many objects are not identifiable. That shows it is only symbolic list to say all in the world are sacrificed. Because we have not come across any human sacrifice in the Asvamedha that is described in detail elsewhere.
Since Hamsa occurs in three Vedas, we don’t need to say it is only male goose/gander.
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Bird Migration
Raja Hamsa is found in the largest lake in the Himalayas known as Manasa sarovar. It is the source of all holy rivers.
Bird migration is well studied now with electronic gadgets. But Vedic seers mentioned that the swans were wakeful night. Now scientists say that they they fly non stop for thousands of miles day and night. Vedic seers knew that fact thousands of years ago!
Tamil Sangam Literature
2000 year old Sangam literature repeated all the points found in Kalidasa, who was the first one to track Indian Monsoon in his great work Maghaduta.
Bird migration is mentioned by popular Tamil poets Paranar, Nakkirar, Pisiranthaiyar and Velli Veethiyar. They also sang that the swans catch fish in southern ocean and travel towards Northern Himalayas. Kanyakumari to Kashmir is a modern phrase. But 2000 years ago Tamils used Kanyakumari to Himalayas. That shows the entire continent was considered one Nation by Sanskrit and Tamil poets.
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Sanskrit references from Kalidasa of First Century BCE:
Sakuntala 6-33 (milk- water separation) Prakrit poets of GSS also copied it like Tamil Poets.
Kumara sambhava 1-30(milk- water separation)
Other references : Sakuntala 6-1, 28, 33
Vikrama Urvasiyam- 4-2,3,4,6, 20; 31-4; 32, 33, 34, 41, 54
Raguvamsam – 4-19; 8-59; 16-33, 56; 17-25; 19-40.
Malavika agnimitram – 2-12
Ragu 13-33 (sound of Hamsas)
Ragu 17-25 Swan picture in White Silk cloth.
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Tamil Literature
The gait of swan is compared to the gait of women by Hindu poets.
Purananuru 67 – Bird migration to North India/ Pisiranthaiyar ; also Narrinai 356 by Paranar
Akananuru273, Narrinai 70, 54; Kaliittokai 92 by
Maruthan ilanagan.
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Pillows with Swan Feather
Nakkirar, author of Nedunalvaadai speaks about bed looking like swan feather
Tiruvalluvar , author of Tirukkural also sang about the softest feather ; Kural 1120
Kalittokai has got many more references. Post Sangam Tamil epics have innumerable references to illustrate all the above traits of Hamsa and related water birds.
Akananurau 120 by Nakkirar- V formation of Hamsas looked like pearl necklace of Murugan/Skanda
For Tamil references please go to my Tamil articles on Bird Migration, Pearl necklace, Swan etc)
Wisdom Library website has got Sixty references to Swan/Hamsa. Please go to it for FREE information; please support the great site with donations.
—subham—
Tags- Hamsa, Swan, Hinduism, Gander, Rig Veda, Kalidasa, Sangam Tamil, Milk Water separation, Nala Damayanthi, Messenger,
Tamil and Vedas 