The name for the
Barheaded Goose (Anser indicus), a bird with various symbolic meanings, the
most notable of which being purity and transcendence, given the bird's entirely
white coloring.
It flies at very high altitudes and is said to nest in the
high Himalayan Lake Manasarovar, which is said to be the realm of the gods.
Because it is widely thought to be able to distinguish
between milk and water—drinking the former and rejecting the latter—the hamsa
is also a metaphor for a discerning individual who can seek advice from a
variety of sources and discern what is good from what is harmful.
The hamsa is also the term for a sort of Hindu ascetic,
perhaps because of these associations.
The Hamsa ascetics were regarded as peripatetic since they
were only allowed to dwell in a hamlet for one night or five nights in a town.
They were also told to engage in other ascetic practices,
such as surviving on cow's urine or dung, fasting (upavasa) for a month at a
period, or following the chandrayana ritual, which entails increasing and
decreasing one's food consumption in accordance with the moon's waxing and
waning.
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