440 Birds in Sanskrit Literature कलहंसस्तु पीतः (पदाननः) कादम्ब उच्यते This statement goes to show that, applying probably a too literal and narrow interpretation to the genealogy of the Grey Geese from get quoted in the opening paragraph in Section A of this Article, both the Geese have been regarded as ge. Nevertheless it is clear that the Grey- Lag with fleshy-pink bill and feet is just a g but not a in which these parts are yellow. The age of a whitish colour and with yellow bill and legs in the following verse is no other than the as defined in मदनविनोदनिघण्टु :- सर्वाङ्गपाण्डुरै चिच्याच कनकत्विषा । हरिद्रापिञ्जरैः पादै राजहंसो विराजते ॥ मानसोल्लास, 2.175. There is thus hardly any doubt that is the Bar-head and the Grey Lag Goose and, it may be noted, that these names are so used in the 4, महाभारत, हरिवंश, etc. But as the centre of Sanskrit culture moved eastwards people and poets rarely saw a Swan, and since the Bar-head with its grey and white plumage, orange-yellow bill and legs and slimmer and smarter body-lines stood out prominently amongst the Grey Geese including the Grey Lag they readily transferred the name g it. It also became the conventional White Goose, the fear or of the classical poets in comparison with the darker and heavier Grey Lag exactly as the light-grey Ring Dove is the amongst the Doves. None of the two is pure white but each is the lightest coloured member within its own group; cf:- पूर्वेण स्पर्द्धमानोऽयं उत्तरो लभते सितः–पतञ्जलि महाभाष्य, 5.3.57. काकस्य कार्य्यात् धवल: प्रासाद:- Proverb i.e., 'even a grey building looks white as compared with the Crow perched upon it'. And once the Bar-head came to be known as , the name
- lost its specific character with some of the poets and became synony-
mous with for the Grey Lag Goose. This change must naturally have come about before a was written. At the same time the increasing artificiality of classical poetry aided by a freer exercise of poetic license and the stress of metre led to a further confusion resulting in the oblitera- tion of the originally sharp distinctions. This is reflected in the not always true equations like the following and its permutations elsewhere:- राजहंसस्तु कादम्बे कलहंसे नृपोत्तमे–हेमचन्द्र हेमचन्द्र follows अमर in his definitions of राजहंस and कलहंस in अभि. चिन्तामणि but falls into line with far in the artering, and afrit follows suit. In the same way the names and are for a young Swan came to be applied 1. राजहसो नृपश्रेष्ठे कादम्बकलहंसयोः– विश्वप्रकाश implies a difference between the two. Nevertheless other synonymies for and in the same lexicon obliterate the difference. The type of King, us is described in o o. 68.24-26. Swans, Geese, Ducks and Mergansers 441 to the Grey Lag Goose and this is recognized by the fin the following:- कलहंसस्तु कादम्बः कलनादो मरालकः । and शब्दकल्पद्रुम rendering मरालक as कलहंस gives the following derivation : मराल इव प्रतिकृतिरिति, मराल + कन् i.e., the Grey Lag is a because it resembles a (in the colour of its body-plumage). This agrees with the statement, "gay gere: in the अभि चिन्तामणि which shows that more than one bird went by the name of मराल. We have already seen in Section A that a young Swan in grey-brown plumage is the proper and now we see that the name has been applied to the Grey Lag as well. 7. It is perhaps clear by now that if one wants to know with a fair degree of certainty the particular kind of Swan or Goose meant na given context one cannot always go by the dictionary meanings of the names used or the published commentaries and translations but must try to examine. the overall context in each case roughly with reference to the period of the composition (Vedic, epic or classical), the geographical setting, the picture an author wants to present and the object he has in view. This is however. easier said than done, for many an instance in the Puranas and classics would be found to be extremely vague and it is perhaps true say that poets, with of course some exceptions, have striven in their compostions more after general effect and word symphony than faithful- ness to Nature. At the same time it cannot be denied that there is a considerable volume of high class poetry which is quite as close to Nature as poetry can be, and the above considerations should help if the alter- native meanings illustrated below are borne in mind :- (i) ge and ge, both used for Swans in the older sense, the latter for the more graceful Mute Swan for preference: सुप्तकहंस कुमुदैरुपेतं महाह्रदस्थं सलिलं विभाति । धनविमुक्त निशिपूर्णचन्द्रं तारागणाकीर्णमिवान्तरिक्षम् ॥– रामा. 4.30,48. गाङ्गमम्बु सितमम्बुयामुनं कज्जलाभमुभयव मज्जतः । राजहंस तव सैव शुभ्रता चीयते न च न चापचीयते" ॥–काव्यप्रकाश, 10.174. राजहंसमिथुन described later as हंसमिथुन in कुन्दमाला, Act 4 are a pair of tame (wing-clipped?) Mute Swans on an artificial lake in the palace grounds. (ii) ge for (a) any of the common Geese in the Epics, and (b) all members of the Goose family (Anatidae) in far and a literature: (a) महानदीनां पुलिनोपयातः क्रीडन्ति हंसाः सहचक्रवाकैः । - रामायण, 4.30.31. क्रौञ्चहससमाकीर्णा शरत्प्रमुदिताऽभवत्-म. भा. 3.183.10.
