A Bird That Inspires

A Bird That Inspires

A bird that has pride of place in Indian art and thought is the hamsa. It is an aquatic bird related to the goose and swan. Folk literature is full of references to it and its image is used in popular decorative articles such as lamps. However, early in the tradition, it came to be associated with Saraswati, as her asana, seat. And from then on, it assumed considerable philosophical importance. It began to be considered as a symbol of purity, detachment, and divine knowledge.

Hamsa is also associated with the Shakyamuni Buddha. During pranayama, while the in-breath sounds like ham, the out-breath sounds like sa and, therefore, hamsa gets associated with prana — soham or the breath of life. Hence, the hamsa is associated with saints and divine beings and they are, therefore, called paramhamsa.

The rajhamsa is a special hamsa which mythically resides in Kailash. It is believed that the rajhamsa can separate milk when it is mixed with water and it flies northward in the sky with a lotus stalk in its mouth. The lotus stalk is the symbol of earth and matter, and the northward flight stands for the sky and spirituality. The rajhamsa, thus, is the paradigm of perfect balance between prakriti and purusha and emphasises that one cannot be had without the other.

The hamsa appears in another situation as well and that is in the play Karpuramanjari, written by Rajashekhara in the early 10th century. The play’s pivotal moment involves the magical transport of a Deccani princess, Karpuramanjari, to the court of King Candapala. A tantric conjurer, Bhairavananda, causes the princess to appear before the king at the moment when she emerges from her bath with a hamsa at the bottom of her tresses drinking drops of water, thinking them to be pearls.

One of the sculpted images of a beautiful woman wringing out her wet hair can be found as early as the Kushana period in a railing pillar from the Mathura area. In that relief and in many others, the droplets from the woman’s hair fall into the mouth of a hamsa. Versions of the ‘woman-and-drinking-bird’ motif which appear on several temples at Khajuraho and on the Kirttistambha at Chittorgarh are that of the Karpuramanjari Hamsa.

The presence of the drinking bird clearly associates the bathing woman with ancient fertility beliefs in which water and voluptuous femininity are connected by their life-giving properties.

Om Namah Shivay