The Goose or Swan.
The goose or swan is possibly an illustration of what may be a tribal totem. It is said in the Bhâgavata Purâna that at one time there existed one Veda, one god Agni, and one caste. This we learn from the commentator was in the Krita age, and the one caste he tells us of was named Hansa or Swan. The Hansas are, again, in the Vishnu Purâna, said to be one of four castes or tribes existing in a district exterior to India, and finally we learn from the Linga Purâna that Hansa was a name of Brahma himself. It is reasonable to suppose that we have a swan tribe in the Indian Hansas.[132] As an argument in favour of the theory that the Hansa was a tribal totem, we find that the Kalhans Râjputs of Oudh are said to take their name from the Kâla Hansa or Black Swan; that Râjputs nowadays will not eat it; and that the same respect is shown to a bird of allied type, the Brâhmani Duck, and its mate, the Chakwa, Chakwi of our rivers. They were once two lovers, separated by fate, changed into ducks, and all through the night they call sadly to each other across the broad stream of the Ganges, which keeps them apart.
To the Hansa is ascribed the fabulous power of being able to separate milk from water after the two have been mixed together.[133] In England the goose is supposed to have some uncanny way of predicting weather.[134] In Welsh belief the wild goose is a witch, especially if first seen on the first Thursday night of the lunar month.[135] The ancient Greeks ascribed to the swan the gift of prophecy and song; the sacred geese of the capital were respected at Rome, and the ancient Germans considered it a prophetic bird. The goose was a favourite Buddhist emblem, and a flock of them is depicted on the Lion Pillar at Betiya in Tirhût.[136]
In the story of Nala and Damayantî, a flock of these birds arranges the interviews between the lovers, and in the Mahâbhârata the Rishis take the form of a swan to convey the divine message. According to the comparative mythologists, it is needless to say, the Hansa is the sun.[137]