446 Birds in Sanskrit Literature A necklace of large white pearls with a deep blue sapphire in the centre, lying on the breast in a V-shape: कण्ठिका हंसमालेव व्योम्नि दात्यूह मध्यगा - जैन आदिपुराण, 5.6. Comparing Geese, returning in autumn to a hazardous life in their old haunts, with ascetics, half-way through their spiritual evolution and, therefore, beset with difficulties, the following verse strikes a sympathetic but melancholy note as the dear birds would now often have to face heartless bow-men or the secretly laid trap-nets of prowling fowlers: पूर्व व्यक्तः सरोम्भोभिः हंसा योगं पुनर्ययुः । क्लेशैः कुयोगिनोऽशेषैरन्तरायहता इव ॥ विष्णु पुराण, 5.10.9. All arts and sciences, acquired in her previous births, return to Parvati like Geese descending in quick succession on the old familiar sands of the Ganges: तां हंसमालाः शरदीव गङ्गा महौषधि नक्तमिवात्मभासः । स्थिरोपदेशामुपदेशकाले प्रपेदिरे प्राक्तनजन्मविद्याः ॥ -- कु.सं. 1.30. (iv) Kalidása compares the clear (supposed to be of a dark colour according to poetic convention) and the slightly turbid (poetically white) waters of the Jamna and the Ganges at their confluence with lines of the Bar-head (कादम्ब ) and Swans swimming as it were side by side: क्वचित्खगानां प्रियमानसानां कादम्बसंसर्गवतीव पंक्तिः । - रघुवंश, 13.55. Again, neck-laces of large ga gems (the cat's eye variety of beryl) resting on the breasts of the tipsy ladies of the harem of Rāvana have been compared with a row of कादम्ब Geese: अपरासां च वैडूर्या: कादम्बा इव पक्षिण:- रामायण, 5.9.49. It is suggested that the original basis of comparison for the dignified gait of a shapely young lady of noble birth was the gentle gliding move- ment of the beautiful Mute Swan, the मनोरम राजहंस of धन्वन्तरि carrying its long neck in a graceful curve on the water, but with the shifting of the centre of Indo-Aryan culture from the Punjab to the मध्यदेश the Geese replaced the Swan in this as in other respects. The quotation from the रघुवंश given below would seem to support the idea. The Grey Lag, being a larger and heavier bird than the slimmer and more beautiful Bar-head, 1. दात्यूह, Black Ibis. 2. बैहूर्य is विडा लेक्षण in शिशुपालवध 3.45. It is defined as a gem resembling the eye of a cat or civat and having a moveable white line in it. Swans, Geese, Ducks and Mergansers 447 has naturally a less graceful gait on land than the latter, and the expressions कलहंसगामिनी and मरालगमना should properly describe the rather heavy though dignified step of the "श्रोणीभारमरातसा" or "श्रोणीभारादलसगमना" type of beauty cast in an ampler mould: घनजघनस्तनभारभरे दरमन्चरचरणविहारम् । मुखरितमणिमञ्जीरमुपैहि विधेहि मरालविकारम् । गीतगोविंद, 11.20.2 अलसपदमनोरमं प्रकृत्या जितकलहंसवधूगतिप्रयातम् । स्थितमुरुजघनस्थलातिभाराद् उदितपरिश्रमजिह्मितेक्ष्णं वा ।। - किरातार्जुनीय, 10.60. गतैः सहावः कलहंसविक्रमं कलवभार: पुलिनं नितम्बिभिः । - Ibid. 8.29. Comparisons with the राजहंस (Bar-head on the ground or Swan on the water) on the other hand suggest a slim and elegant figure of the 'सकलतनुसुवेशा'-तन्वी type of womanhood. In the first quotation below Kālidāsa compares the graceful movement of the young इन्दुमती at the स्वयंबर, from one royal suitor to another, with a Swan's on the water and in the second her heavier gait, when she had grown into a stately looking queen with that of a Grey Lag : समीरणोत्थेव तरङ्गलेखा पद्मान्तरं मानसराजहंसीम्। रघु. 6.26. कलमन्यभृतासु भाषितं कलहंसीषु मदालसं गतम् | Ibid. 8.29. Finally, Swans and Geese had an important place in the arts of ancient India, for we find the Goose motif in the printing industry, wood- carving, and metal work. Their soft feathers were used to stuff quilts and cushions for the rich, and their quills for making royal umbrellas or canopies for thrones. C. DUCKS Ducks, as a rule, are smaller and much more aquatic than the Geese, and with legs placed less forward they cannot walk as well. Altogether about thirty different species of Duck including four members of the Subfamily, Merginae (characterised by a tapering, narrow and sub-cylindrical bill quite unlike the broad, flat bill of the Ducks proper) 1. Cf. वधूदुकूलं कलहंसलक्षणम् कु० सं० 5.67. शालकाष्ठेन घटितो हंसमालोपशोभितः । चरणाप्रे हंसरूपं पुत्रिकास्त्वेकविंशतिः । हंससिहासनं नाम सर्वानिष्टविनाशनम् ॥ युक्तिकल्पतरु, p. 52. हंसतूलमयी शय्या स्कन्द पु० अरुणाचल मा० उ. बं. 19.9. छवं राशः प्रशस्यते। हंसपक्षैविरचित-अग्नि पु०, 245, 1-2. Swan-shaped receptacle of gold in नैषधचरित, 6.72.
