hamsa

[John Brockington]

Dear Colleagues,

Just a small contribution to this discussion in the form of a quote from my
_Righteous Rama_ (OUP, Delhi, 1985), p.95 + fn., discussing terms for fauna
in the Valmiki Ramayana:

...  All these names, ..., also appear occasionally in the second stage, in
which mention is also found of ... _raajahaMsa_ (either synonymous with
haMsa or more probably Phoenicopterus roseu Pallas, flamingo[15]) ... .

15  The latter identification makes much more appropriate Kaikeyii's
comparison of the hunchbacked Mantharaa with a _raajahaMsii_ (2.9.33).  On
the other hand, a fourth stage passage (3.1074*) pairs a _raajahaMsa_ and a
_haMsii_.


Yours

John Brockington


Professor J. L. Brockington
Secretary General, International Association of Sanskrit Studies

Sanskrit, School of Asian Studies
7 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh   EH8 9LW        U.K.

tel:  +131 650 4174
fax: +131 651 1258