> | > Swan: The Humsha (Air, Earth and Water Master), Eats Perl and Can drink only mink from water-milk mixture. Noble, Monogamous, Protector of smaller birds, Supporting to other animal ( like Fish Feeding Hamsa)

Swan: The Humsha (Air, Earth and Water Master), Eats Perl and Can drink only mink from water-milk mixture. Noble, Monogamous, Protector of smaller birds, Supporting to other animal ( like Fish Feeding Hamsa)

Posted on Sunday, March 1, 2015 | Comments Off

In culture[edit]

See also: Black Swan emblems and popular culture, Black swan (disambiguation), The Swan of Tuonela and Swan upping
Many of the cultural aspects refer to the mute swan of Europe. Perhaps the best known story about a swan is "The Ugly Duckling" fairytale. Swans are often a symbol of love or fidelity because of their long-lasting, apparently monogamous relationships. See the famous swan-related operas Lohengrin and Parsifal. Swan meat was regarded as a luxury food in England in the reign of Elizabeth I. A recipe for baked swan survives from that time: "To bake a Swan Scald it and take out the bones, and parboil it, then season it very well with Pepper, Salt and Ginger, then lard it, and put it in a deep Coffin of Rye Paste with store of Butter, close it and bake it very well, and when it is baked, fill up the Vent-hole with melted Butter, and so keep it; serve it in as you do the Beef-Pie."[13]
A swan depicted on an Irish commemorative coin in celebration of its EU presidency.
"Łabędź" (Polish for "Swan") is a Polish/Lithuanian coat of arms which was used by many Polish szlachta and Lithuanian Bajorai (noble) families under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The variant here given is the coat-of-arms of writer Henryk Sienkiewicz's family.
Swans feature strongly in mythology. In Greek mythology, the story of Leda and the Swan recounts that Helen of Troy was conceived in a union of Zeus disguised as a swan and Leda, Queen of Sparta. Other references in classical literature include the belief that upon death the otherwise-silent mute swan would sing beautifully—hence the phrase swan song; as well as Juvenal's sarcastic reference to a good woman being a "rare bird, as rare on earth as a black swan", from which we get the Latin phrase rara avis, rare bird. The mute swan is also one of the sacred birds of Apollo, whose associations stem both from the nature of the bird as a symbol of light as well as the notion of a "swan song". The god is often depicted riding a chariot pulled by or composed of swans in his ascension from Delos.
The Irish legend of the Children of Lir is about a stepmother transforming her children into swans for 900 years. In the legend The Wooing of Etain, the king of the Sidhe (subterranean-dwelling, supernatural beings) transforms himself and the most beautiful woman in Ireland, Etain, into swans to escape from the king of Ireland and Ireland's armies. The swan has recently been depicted on an Irish commemorative coin.
Swans are also present in Irish literature in the poetry of W.B. Yeats. "The Wild Swans at Coole" has a heavy focus on the mesmerising characteristics of the swan. Yeats also recounts the myth of Leda and the Swan in the poem of the same name.
In Norse mythology, there are two swans that drink from the sacred Well of Urd in the realm of Asgard, home of the gods. According to the Prose Edda, the water of this well is so pure and holy that all things that touch it turn white, including this original pair of swans and all others descended from them. The poem Volundarkvida, or the Lay of Volund, part of the Poetic Edda, also features swan maidens.
In the Finnish epic Kalevala, a swan lives in the Tuoni river located in Tuonela, the underworld realm of the dead. According to the story, whoever killed a swan would perish as well. Jean Sibelius composed the Lemminkäinen Suite based on Kalevala, with the second piece entitled Swan of Tuonela (Tuonelan joutsen). Today, five flying swans are the symbol of the Nordic Countries and the whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) is the national bird of Finland.
French satirist François Rabelais wrote in Gargantua and Pantagruel that a swan's neck was the best toilet paper he had encountered.
St Hugh of Lincolnwith swan
A swan is one of the attributes of St Hugh of Lincoln based on the story of a swan who was devoted to him.
In Latin American literature, the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío (1867–1916) consecrated the swan as a symbol of artistic inspiration by drawing attention to the constancy of swan imagery in Western culture, beginning with the rape of Leda and ending with Wagner's Lohengrin. Darío's most famous poem in this regard is Blasón – "Coat of Arms" (1896), and his use of the swan made it a symbol for the Modernismo poetic movement that dominated Spanish language poetry from the 1880s until the First World War. Such was the dominance of Modernismo in Spanish language poetry that the Mexican poetEnrique González Martínez attempted to announce the end of Modernismo with a sonnet provocatively entitled, Tuércele el cuello al cisne – "Wring the Swan's Neck" (1910).
Swans are revered in Hinduism, and are compared to saintly persons whose chief characteristic is to be in the world without getting attached to it, just as a swan's feather does not get wet although it is in water. The Sanskrit word for swan is hamsa or hansa, and the "Raja Hansa" or the Royal Swan is the vehicle of Goddess Saraswati, and symbolises the "Sattwa Guna" or purity par excellence. The swan if offered a mixture of milk and water, is said to be able to drink the milk alone. Therefore Goddess Saraswati the goddess of knowledge is seen riding the swan because the swan thus symbolizes "Viveka" i.e. prudence and discrimination between the good and the bad or between the eternal and the transient. This is taken as a great quality, as shown by thisSanskrit verse:
Hamsah shwetah, bakah shwetah, kah bhedah hamsa bakayo?
Neeraksheera viveketu, Hamsah hamsah, bakah bakah!
The swan is white, the crane is white, so how to differentiate between them?
With the milk-water test, the swan is proven swan, the crane is proven crane!
Swan from flowers. Baku,Azerbaijan
It is mentioned several times in the Vedic literature, and persons who have attained great spiritual capabilities are sometimes called Paramahamsa ("Supreme Swan") on account of their spiritual grace and ability to travel between various spiritual worlds. In the Vedas, swans are said to reside in the summer on Lake Manasarovar and migrate to Indian lakes for the winter. They're believed to possess some powers such as the ability to eat pearls.

Mythology[edit]

A large volume of corpus of folklore and literature has grown around it, and a distinct mythology has evolved around the Hamsa. During Vedic times it was considered to relationship with Surya. Then, it signified strength and virility. With the emergence and consolidation of the Hindu scriptures of Upanishads, hamsa acquired more attributes, including being treated as a symbol of purity, detachment, divine knowledge, cosmic breath (prana) and highest spiritual accomplishment. Such a high level of symbolism was attached to hamsh as it transcends the limitations of the creation around it: it can walk on the earth (prithvi), fly in the sky, and swim in the water.[citation needed] The Hamsa was also used extensively in the art of Gandhara, in conjunction with images of the Shakyamuni Buddha. It is also deemed sacred in the Buddhadharma.[citation needed]
Lake Manasarovar in Hindu mythology, is seen as the summer abode of the Hamsa. Poetical images are derived from the flight of the swans to that lake in the Himalayas.[4]
It is said to eat pearls and separate milk from water from a mixture of both. In many texts it is extolled as the king of birds. In one of the Upanishads, a hamsa is also said to possess the sacred knowledge of the Brahman.[citation needed] The hamsa is also the vahana of the goddess Saraswati.[citation needed]

Philosophy[edit]

A school of philosophy has endeavored to penetrate its name. Ham-sa when inverted reads as sa-ham, which in Sanskrit means the oneness of human and the divine. Duringpranayama, which is a yogic exercise of breath control, the inhalation is believed sound like ham, while the exhalation is believed to sound like sa. Thus, a hamsa came to epitomize the prana, the breath of life.[citation needed]

Paramhamsa[edit]

In view of the association of a hamsa with several attributes as indicated above, saints and other holy persons are given the title of paramhamsa, that is, the supreme hamsa. This title is affixed before the name and symbolizes that the particular person has reached a high level of spirituality and grace, though it may also be affixed as a postposition, for example, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

 
The swan is a symbol of purity and transcendence in Vedantic teaching.
Paramahamsa (परमहंस), also spelled paramahansa or paramhansa, is a Sanskrit religio-theological title of honor applied to Hindu spiritual teachers who are regarded as having attained enlightenment. The title literally means "supreme swan," and symbolizes spiritual discrimination. The swan is equally at home on land and on water; similarly, the true sage is equally at home in the realms of matter and of spirit. To be in divine ecstasy and simultaneously to be actively wakeful is the paramahansa state; the 'royal swan' of the soul floats in the cosmic ocean, beholding both its body and the ocean as manifestations of the same Spirit. The word 'Paramahamsa' signifies one who is Awakened in all realms. [1] Paramahansa is the highest level of spiritual development in which a union with ultimate reality has been attained by a sannyasi.[2]

Contents

Etymology[edit]

Paramahamsa is a Sanskrit word translated as 'supreme swan'. The word is compounded of Sanskrit परम parama meaning 'supreme' or 'transcendent' (from PIE per meaning 'through', 'across', or 'beyond', cognate with English far) and Sanskrit हंस hamsa meaning 'swan or wild goose'.[citation needed] The prefix parama is the same element seen inParameshwara, a title for God. Early English scholars[weasel words] of Indian language and religion may have mockingly translated hamsa as 'goose' in particular, because in English folklore a goose (the domesticated type) traditionally denotes foolishness and irresponsibility.[citation needed] But in Hindic tradition, wild geese, including swans, are noted for characteristics of discipline, stamina, grace, and beauty.[citation needed] This is especially said of[citation needed] the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus), whose migratory route from Central Asia to India and back forces it to fly over the Himalayas twice a year, a feat which makes it one of the highest flying birds in the world.[3] This association with loftiness is why God is also denoted as the Paramahamsa.[citation needed]
Hamsa may be a religious pun or allegory with a philosophical meaning. One such etymology suggests that the words 'aham' and 'sa' are joined to become 'hamsa'; aham is 'I' or 'me' and sa is 'he', together meaning 'I am he'. Here, 'I' refers to the jivatma or jivatama, the living soul, and 'he' the paramatma or paramatama or supreme soul (the alternative spellings are due to differing Romanisations of the Sanskrit words).[citation needed] This relationship reflects of Advaita philosophy, which advocates the oneness of jivatma andparamatma.[citation needed] The word aham is common to many Eastern religions. From aham is derived ahamkara or ego.[clarification needed]

Mythology[edit]

The hamsa (swan) is the vahana, the mount or vehicle, of the god Brahma. In the Vedas and the Purânas it is a symbol for the soul/Soul. The hamsa is said to be is the only creature that is capable of separating milk from water once they have been mixed; symbolically this is the display of great spiritual discrimination. It is symbolic for a spiritually advanced being who is capable of controlling the breath energy in such a way that he only absorbs pure vibrations from all the different energies the world contains. To the Paramahamsa (the supreme celestial Swan) on the other hand, the whole of creation is God himself, there is nothing else but God alone. This person is a fully realized soul, completely liberated from all bonds with the world, who knows no obligations, no likes or dislikes. He is without any needs because he is completely immersed in God.

Theology[edit]

Swami GuruJanardan Paramahamsa
Paramahamsa, as a religio/theological title, is applied to an adept class of Hindu renunciates, liberated, realized masters who, having attained the supreme yogic state, or nirvikalpa samādhi, can always distinguish between the Real (sa) from the unreal (ham).
The hamsa mantra indicates the sound made by the exhalation ("ha") and inhalation ("sa") of the breath.

Privileged use[edit]

The title cannot be assumed by oneself, but must be conferred by a recognized authority, either another individual swami who is himself esteemed as enlightened, or by a committee of spiritual leaders.[citation needed]

Other meaning[edit]

Paramahaṃsa is also the title of one of the Upanishads.[4]

Paramahamsa title personalities[edit]

See also[edit]

The hamsa (Arabic: خمسة‎ khamsah, Hebrew: חַמְסָה, also romanized khamsa, meaning lit. "five") is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout theMiddle East and North Africa, and commonly used in jewellery and wall hangings.[1][2] Depicting the open right hand, an image recognized and used as a sign of protection in many societies throughout history, the hamsa is believed to provide defense against the evil eye.

Etymology[edit]

Khamsa is an Arabic word that literally means "five", but also "the five fingers of the hand".[3][4][5] It may also be taken as a reference to the primary number itself.

History[edit]

Examples in Israel
Early use of the hamsa has been traced to ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). A universal sign of protection, the image of the open right hand is seen in Mesopotamian artifacts in the amulets of the Qāt Ištar/Inana.[2] Other symbols of divine protection based around the hand include the Hand-of-Venus (or Aphrodite), the Hand-of-Mary, that was used to protect women from the evil eye, boost fertility and lactation, promote healthy pregnancies and strengthen the weak, and in the Buddha's gesture (mudrā) of teaching and protection.[2] In that time, women were under immense pressure and expectation to become mothers.[6] The women’s upbringing was centered on becoming a mother as an exclusive role, and it indicated child bearing as necessary.[7] In addition, it was also thought marriage was a sense of protection for both the man and woman.[8]
One theory postulates a connection between the khamsa and the Mano Pantea (or Hand-of-the-All-Goddess), an amulet known to ancient Egyptians as the Two Fingers. In this amulet, the Two Fingers represent Isis and Osiris and the thumb, their child Horus and it was used to invoke the protective spirits of parents over their child.[2] Another theory traces the origins of the hamsa to Carthage (Phoenicia) where the hand (or in some cases vulva) of the supreme deity Tanit was used to ward off the evil eye.[9]
This relates to the belief that God exists in everything. Another meaning of this symbol relates to the sky god, Horus. It refers to the eye of Horus, which means man cannot escape from the eye of conscience. It says that the sun and moon are the eyes of Horus. The Hand of Fatima also represents femininity, and is referred as the woman's holy hand. It is believed to have extraordinary characteristics that can protect people from evil and other dangers.[10]
The hamsa's path into Jewish culture, and its popularity particularly in Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish communities, can be traced through its use in Islam.[2][9] Many Jews believe that the five fingers of the hamsa hand remind its wearer to use their five senses to praise God.[11] This "favorite Muslim talisman" became a part of Jewish tradition in North African and Middle Eastern Muslim countries.[12] The symbol of the hand appears in Kabbalistic manuscripts and amulets, doubling as the Hebrew letter "Shin", the first letter of "Shaddai", one of the names referring to God.[13]
The khamsa holds recognition as a bearer of good fortune among Christians in the region as well. Levantine Christians call it the hand of Mary (Arabic: Kef Miryam, or the "Virgin Mary's Hand").[14][15] Well after the end of Islamic rule in Spain, its use was significant enough to prompt an episcopal committee convened by Emperor Charles V to decree a ban on the Hand of Fatima and all open right hand amulets in 1526.[2]

Symbolism and usage[edit]

Door knocker in Morocco
The Hand (Khamsa), particularly the open right hand, is a sign of protection that also represents blessings, power and strength, and is seen as potent in deflecting the evil eye.[2][16] One of the most common components of gold and silver jewellery in the region,[17] historically and traditionally, it was most commonly carved in jet or formed from silver, a metal believed to represent purity and hold magical properties.[2][18] It is also painted in red (sometimes using the blood of a sacrificed animal) on the walls of houses for protection,[19][20] or painted or hung on the doorways of rooms, such as those of an expectant mother or new baby.[2] The hand can be depicted with the fingers spread apart to ward off evil, or as closed together to bring good luck.[21] Highly stylized versions may be difficult to recognize as hands, and can consist of five circles representing the fingers, situated around a central circle representing the palm.[21]
Used to protect against evil eye, a malicious stare believed to be able to cause illness, death or just general unluckiness, hamsas often contain an eye symbol.[18][22] Depictions of the hand, the eye or the number five in Arabic (and Berber) tradition are related to warding off the evil eye, as exemplified in the saying khamsa fi ainek ("five [fingers] in your eye").[22] Raising one's right hand with the palm showing and the fingers slightly apart is part of this curse meant "to blind the aggressor".[19] Another formula uttered against the evil eye in Arabic, but without hand gestures, iskhamsa wa-khamis ("five and Thursday").[23][24] As the fifth day of the week, Thursday is considered a good day for magic rites and pilgrimages to the tombs of revered saints to counteract the effects of the evil eye.[25]
Due to its significance in both Arabic and Berber culture, the hamsa is one of the national symbols of Algeria and appears in its emblem. It is also the most popular among the different amulets (such as the Eye and the Hirz — a silver box containing verses of the Quran) for warding off the evil eye in Egypt.[17] Egyptian women who live in baladi("traditional") urban quarters often make khamaysa, which are amulets made up of five (khamsa) objects to attach to their children's hair or black aprons. The five objects can be made of peppers, hands, circles or stars hanging from hooks.[20]
After the establishment of the State of Israel, the widespread use of the talisman by Jews from Islamic countries was considered a sign of "Easternness", looked down upon in the Eurocentric Ashkenazi cultural milieu that dominated.[26]
In the wake of the renewed interest in Mizrahi folklore and customs in Israel, use of the hamsa has become trendy. It has been described as "an icon of Israeliness and secularity", although its symbolism is by no means all pervading or universal.[26] As a "good luck" charm, it appears on necklaces, keychains, postcards, telephone and lottery cards, and in advertisements.[26] It is also incorporated into high-end jewellery, decorative tilework and wall decorations.[27]
Similar to the Western use of the phrase "knock on wood" or "touch wood", a common expression in Israel is "Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, tfu, tfu, tfu", the sound for spitting, supposedly to spit out bad luck.[28]
At the Mimouna, a North African Jewish celebration held after Passover, tables are laid with various symbols of luck and fertility, with an emphasis on the number "5", such as five pieces of gold jewelry or five beans arranged on a leaf of pastry. The repetition of the number five is associated with the hamsa amulet.[29]

Gallery[edit]

See also[edit]

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