rAjahaMsa in the ha?sasa?des ´a

[victor van Bijlert]

In the logo of the Ramakrishna Mission a real swan also figures, not a
goose. Apparently in the nineteenth century one regarded the hansa as a
swan. The latter perhaps as an allusion to the image of the swan that will
sing its most beautiful song when it feels it is going to die; a famous
image found in Plato's Phaedo, 84e-85b? The idea in Phaedo is that Socrates
as a philosopher knows he is going to die and expects to be united with the
God Apollo.
Victor van Bijlert


-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] Namens Christophe Vielle
Verzonden: donderdag 16 april 2009 11:21
Aan: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
Onderwerp: Re: rAjahaMsa in the ha?sasa?des´a

It is a real "swan"  messenger that Raja Ravi 
Varma painted in his famous "Ha.msa-Damayantii" 
(1899) now displayed in the Sri Chitra Art 
Gallery, Tiruvanantapuram. See at:
http://www.temple-trees.com/ravivarma/urrvprints.asp?printtype=2&pg=2
Best wishes,
Christophe Vielle

>I expect you are familiar with this book:
>
>Vogel, J. P., 1962,  The Goose in Indian 
>Literature and Art.  Memoirs of the Kern 
>Institute No. II. E. J. Brill, Leiden.
>
>According to my notes, Vogel (good name?) 
>identified haMsa and rAjahaMsa with a mainly 
>white form of the Indian goose (Anser indicus), 
>and kalahaMsa with the greylag goose (Anser 
>anser).
>
>Valerie J Roebuck
>
>At 7:12 am -0700 15/4/09, Oliver Fallon wrote:
>>I would like some help on the identity of the 
>>ra¯jaha?sa which is the subject of 
>>Veda¯ntades´ika's Ha?sasa?des´a. He tells us 
>>little of the bird except that he repeatedly 
>>stresses that it is a pure white water bird and 
>>that it has a beautiful call as it flies to 
>>which that of the peacock is unfavourably 
>>compared. I was first provoked into considering 
>>that this is not a goose by a comment in 
>>Shastriar's 1902 Madras edition of the poem, 
>>where he says: "ra¯jaha?sa is a species of swan 
>>with red legs and bills (sic). Compare 
>>'ra¯jaha?sa¯s tu te cañcucaranair lohitais 
>>si¯ta¯?'"


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