Haṃsa (Bird)
Haṃsa · haṃsa, “the swan”
Haṃsa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Haṃsa.
Grammar: masculine noun: the swan. The kalahaṃsa is the haṃsa of sweet call.
Meaning: the haṃsa, the white swan of the lakes and rivers.
In the scriptures: Brahmā, telling the munis of the wedding of Devī Pārvatī and Bhagavān Śiva, describes the six ṛtus that came in bodily form to adorn it, and the haṃsa is among the ornaments of three of them. Varsha, the rains, came with haṃsas as her anklets; and the haṃsas were frightened by the thunder of her dark blue clouds. Śarad, the autumn, came with haṃsas as her anklets and sweetly calling haṃsas as her girdle, lovely with the sound of anklets of kalahaṃsas. In Grīshma, the summer, the flocks of kalahaṃsas on the banks of the step-wells were charming with their pure lustre (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 36).
Vyāsa, teaching the munis how one may go in comfort on the road to Yama, says that those who gave milk, curd, ghee and jaggery purified with mantras, and fragrant flowers, go on haṃsa-vimānas, vimānas of swans (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 216). In his teaching on the fruits of karma, the thefts of particular things are each followed by a particular birth: one who steals cloth of nāra-paṭṭu (fibre-silk) is born a haṃsa (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 217).
In the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa: the haṃsa is the swan of the lakes and a sign in the fruits of karma. At the creation, a flock of rājahaṃsas (royal swans), females, males and young, came forth from Śrī Kṛshṇa‘s toenails, and Śrī Kṛshṇa gave one very strong rājahaṃsa to Brahmā (Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5). After the Taptapāshāṇakuṇḍa naraka, the text gives three births as a crane, three as a haṃsa, one as a tellagaḍḍa and one as another white bird, and then seven human births with stomach pain, short-lived (Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 30). An unmarried brāhmaṇa becomes a rājahaṃsa, the royal swan (Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 85). Rādhā‘s slow gait puts to shame the walk of the royal swan (Chapter 15). In the rāsa-maṇḍala of Bṛndāvana, around it are flowering gardens and lakes with haṃsas, young does and water-fowl, filled with crystal-clear water (Chapter 28). On the right a man sees as an omen blazing fire, a brāhmaṇa, a bull, an elephant, a cow with calf, a white horse, a rājahaṃsa, a veśyā, a garland, a staff, curd and pāyasa (Chapter 70). Seeing parrots, cuckoos, kāṭuka birds, haṃsas, peacocks, cāshas and śaṅkha birds gives puṇya (Chapter 76).
Related terms: Kalahaṃsa · Varsha · Śarad · Vimāna · Karma-vipāka
Sources
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 36, 216–217
- Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 5; Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 30; Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 15, 28, 70, 76, 85