{"id":1790,"date":"2019-04-30T22:58:10","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T22:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/?p=1790"},"modified":"2019-04-30T22:58:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T22:58:11","slug":"kalaha%e1%b9%83sa-the-soft-spoken-goose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/kalaha%e1%b9%83sa-the-soft-spoken-goose\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalaha\u1e43sa: the Soft-spoken Goose"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

            The kalaha\u1e43sa, written more\nphonetically as kalahansa, is a particular kind of ha\u1e43sa (or hansa). A ha\u1e43sa is\na goose, although it has often been translated as a swan, because this is more\npoetic for Western readers.1<\/sup> The term is not k\u0101laha\u1e43sa, where the first word would\nbe k\u0101la,\nmeaning both \u201ctime\u201d and \u201cblack.\u201d Thus, the term does not mean the goose\/swan of\ntime, or the black goose\/swan. The term is kalaha\u1e43sa, where the first word is\nkala, meaning soft or low (as a tone). Thus, the term means the goose whose\ncall is soft or low in relation to the sound made by other geese. Specifically,\nit is the name of the gray lag goose, a more soft-spoken goose, in\ncontradistinction to the louder bar-headed goose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A HA\u1e42SA IS A GOOSE, NOT A SWAN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was\nshown in a 1962 monograph by Jean Philippe Vogel that has become the standard\nwork on the subject, The Goose in Indian\nLiterature and Art<\/em>. He writes in his Introduction, pp. 1-2:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cIn Sanskrit and Pali literature we\nfrequently meet an aquatic bird called ha\u1e43sa<\/em> and this word according to European dictionaries of those languages\nmeans not only a goose but also a swan and flamingo. In translations by western\nscholars ha\u1e43sa<\/em> is usually not rendered by ‘goose’, but either by ‘swan’ or ‘flamingo’.\nThis preference we can well understand. In this part of the world the goose, known\nchiefly in its degrading domesticated state, is looked upon as a homely animal\nunfit to enter the exalted realm of poetry. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cIf we turn to ancient India we find the goose associated\nwith conceptions and sentiments entirely different from those of the West. For\nthe Indians the ha\u1e43sa<\/em> is the noble\nbird par excellence<\/em> worthy of being\nsung by poets like K\u0101lid\u0101sa and figured on religious monuments. The goose is\nthe vehicle of Brahm\u0101 the Creator. In ancient fables he is the embodiment of\nthe highest virtues and in Buddhist j\u0101takas<\/em>\nwe meet him reborn as the Bodhisattva, the exalted being predestined to become\nthe Buddha \u015a\u0101kyamuni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cBut are we justified in identifying the ha\u1e43sa<\/em> of Indian literature with the goose?\nShould we not follow our predecessors, including great scholars like B\u00f6htlingk and Kern, and rather choose\nthe swan or the flamingo, more graceful to the western eye than a plump goose?\nThe question is: are we really allowed to make a choice? Or does Sanskrit ha\u1e43sa<\/em> mean a goose and nothing else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vogel concludes his book,\np. 74:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThe conclusion of our enquiry is perfectly clear. The\ngoose is a favourite decorative device in Indian art from the time of A\u015boka to\nthe Mogul period. From Kashmir to Ceylon it is employed to adorn religious\nbuildings both Buddhist and Brahmanical. The swan and the flamingo, on the\ncontrary, do not occur. The evidence of Indian art is in perfect agreement with\nthe observations of naturalists. We may therefore be certain that the Sanskrit\nword ha\u1e43sa<\/em> always designates the goose\nand nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WAS A HA\u1e42SA EVER A SWAN?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 According to naturalists, swans are not now found in India, except occasionally as visitors at the northern fringes of the country. The two common species of geese found in India, the very numerous bar-headed goose and the much less numerous gray lag goose, are both largely gray in color. But based on a number of references in classical Sanskrit texts to the ha\u1e43sa as being white (\u015bveta<\/em>) in color, K. N. Dave in his detailed 1985 study, Birds in Sanskrit Literature<\/em> (pp. 422-447), concluded that the ha\u1e43sa was originally a swan, which must have once been found in India. This is of course plausible, going back in time farther than all the sculptures surveyed by Vogel. This would take us close to Vedic times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The word ha\u1e43sa is found in the most ancient Vedic text, the \u1e5ag-veda, several times. None of these references describe it as being white in color. On the contrary, it is described there as \u201cdark in colour on the back (n\u012bla-p\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e6dha<\/em>)\u201d (Vedic Index of Names and Subjects<\/em>, vol. 2, p. 497). The verse is 7.59.7.2<\/sup> So this would not be a swan, which is all white. In fact, this would well describe the gray lag goose, which is darker gray in color on the back than is the bar-headed goose. The gray lag goose, we recall, is the kalaha\u1e43sa, whose call is more mellow than that of the bar-headed goose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTES<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The\npractice of translating ha<\/em>\u1e43<\/em>sa<\/em> as \u201cswan\u201d rather than \u201cgoose\u201d\nstarted as early as 1813, and has been widely followed ever since. See, for\nexample: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Megha Duta; or, Cloud Messenger: A Poem, in\nthe Sanscrit Language<\/em>, translated\nby Horace Hayman Wilson, 1813, annotation on verse 71: \u201cThe R\u00e1jahansa<\/em>, is described as a white Gander<\/em> with red legs and bill, and together\nwith the common Goose<\/em> is a favorite bird\nin Hindu<\/em> poetry: not to shock European<\/em> prejudice, I have in all cases\nsubstituted for these birds, one to which we are rather more accustomed in\nverse, the Swan<\/em>; . . .\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nala and Damayanti, and Other Poems<\/em>, translated by Henry Hart Milman\n1835, p. 121: \u201cThere the\nswans he saw disporting<\/em>.] In the original this is a far less poetic\nbird, and the author must crave forgiveness for having turned his geese into swans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.\n\u1e5ag-veda 7.59.7, in various translations: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the Maruts yet\nunrevealed, decorating their persons, descend like black-backed swans: . . .\n(H. H. Wilson, 1866)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decking the beauty of their\nforms in secret the swans with purple backs have flown down hither. (Ralph T.\nH. Griffith, 1891)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretly adorning their\nbodies, the blue-backed swans have flown hereward. (H. D. Velankar, 1963)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surely even in secret they [the Maruts] keep preening their bodies. The dark-backed geese have flown here. (Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, 2014) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The kalaha\u1e43sa, written more phonetically as kalahansa, is a particular kind of ha\u1e43sa (or hansa). A ha\u1e43sa is a goose, although it has often been translated as a swan, because this is more poetic for Western readers.1 The term is not k\u0101laha\u1e43sa, where the first word would be k\u0101la, meaning both \u201ctime\u201d and \u201cblack.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1793,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1790\/revisions\/1793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/prajnaquest.fr\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}