rAjahaMsa in the ha?sasa?des ´a

[J L Brockington]

   Dear Colleagues,

Christophe's remarks about the ha?sa are very much to the point but  
this discussion seems to have lost sight of the original query, which  
was about the r?jaha?sa.  A priori, we might expect some  
differentiation to be involved.  In discussing specifically the  
identities of the fauna of the R?m?ya?a, I long ago noted about the  
r?jaha?sa: "either synonymous with /ha?sa /or more probably  
Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas, flamingo" with a footnote "The latter  
identification makes much more appropriate Kaikey?'s comparison of the  
hunchbacked Manthar? with a /r?jaha?s?/ (2.9.33). On the other hand, a  
fourth stage passage (3.1074* pairs a /r?jaha?sa/ and a /ha?s?./"  
(/Righteous R?ma/ p.95).

   Yours

   John Brockington

Professor J. L. Brockington
Secretary General, International Association of Sanskrit Studies
Asian Studies
7-8 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9LW

----- Message from christophe.vielle at UCLOUVAIN.BE ---------
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:13:10 +0200
From: Christophe Vielle <christophe.vielle at UCLOUVAIN.BE>
Subject: Re: rAjahaMsa in the ha?sasa?des´a
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk

> Without being a specialist, the ha.msa seems rather to be connected
> with yoga in this case : the ha.msa as migrant bird being in some yoga
> texts a metaphor of the the Soul escaping from the sa.msaara (see
> Ha.msa-Up 1.5, K.surikaa-Up 1.22), with also puns on the repetition of
> the word "ha.msa" (breathing in making "ham" and out "sa",
> Dhyaanabindu-Up 1.62, or ha.msa as the reverse of so'ham). The
> para-ha.msa would be the one who has attained perpetual mukti from the
> nets of living. I rely here on the writings of the late Jean Varenne,
> Aux sources du yoga, Paris, 1989, pp. 68-70, and Upanishads du yoga,
> Paris, 1971, pp. 24-25, 110-11, 163.
> There probably exist more complete studies on the subject.
> Best wishes,
> Christophe Vielle
>
>
>> I am aware of the fact that the hamsa is the Anser Indicus, a kind of goose.
>> Could anyone explain why the hamsa has been used as a metaphor of a special
>> type of world-renouncer, the socalled paramahamsa? Is there anything in the
>> behaviour of the bird that could have led to calling certain renouncers
>> paramahamsa's? I know this is sidetracking, but it seems relevant in
>> connection with the discussion of the bird hamsa.
>>
>> Victor
>
> http://belgianindology.lalibreblogs.be

----- End message from christophe.vielle at UCLOUVAIN.BE -----



-- 
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.