swams

[Dominik Wujastyk]

I'm sure Julia Leslie will comment herself, but she has done research in
the last year which satisfies me that Vogel was wrong, mainly because he
based his judgement too exclusively on S. Indian architectural images of
birds.

The standard view we Indologists have all held for decades, that hamsa is
the grey goose, is no longer tenable.  Sometimes it's indeed a goose,
sometimes (quite often) it's really a swan.

I sincerely hope Julia will complete and publish her work soon, since the
issue comes up often.  However, she is on a research fellowship at present
for other work, so I fear we'll have to wait.

Dominik

On Thu, 10 Oct 2002, Alex Passi wrote:

> Here's a delightful classic title - the author had an "omen-nomen":
> Vogel, Jean Philippe, (1871-1951). The goose in Indian literature and
> art. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1962. vi, 74 p. 12 plates. 28 cm.
> Vogel points out that the swan as such is not native to India. The
> haMsa is - of course - a goose.
> Cheers,
> Alex
>

--
Dominik Wujastyk