ARAYANNAM . The swan (Haṃsa).
1)
General. A bird (Haṃsa) in Devaloka. The prefix
‘ara’ denotes royalty, sublimity, greatness etc. Many
purāṇas describe Arayannam as a bird of the Devas.
Mānasasaras at the heights of the Himālayas is the
permanent abode of these divine birds. They do not
like the rainy season. So they come down to the earth
when rain begins at the Mānasasaras, and go back to
the Saras, when rain begins on the earth. This pheno-
menon explains Ceruśśeri's (Malayalam poet) state-
ment in his Kṛṣṇagāthā that ‘when rain set in haṃsas
-Arayannams—began flying away’.
2)
Origin. Kaśyapa, the son of Brahmā, married the
eight daughters of Dakṣa, Tāmrā being one of them.
Tāmrā bore five daughters Krauñcī, Bhāsī, Śyenī,
Dhṛtarāṣṭrī and Śukī. Śyenī gave birth to the kite,
Dhṛtarāṣṭrī, the Haṃsa and the Kokā and Śukī the
Śukas (doves). Kokā or the Cakravākī bird is the sister
of Haṃsa. This is how the Arayanna and the Cakra-
vāka got Devatva (divinity). (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa,
Araṇyakāṇḍa, Canto 14).
3)
Bhīṣma and the Arayanna. Śiśupāla, before his death,
blabbered a lot of unbecoming things about Bhīṣma,
who was partial to his (Śiśupāla's) enemies. And, he rela-
ted the story of an Arayanna to elaborate the stand taken
by the aged Bhīṣma. An aged Haṃsa (Arayanna) which
once dwelt on the sea-coast preached to all the other
birds much about ethical actions. The birds felt great res-
peet for the Arayanna. They flew across the sea in search
of prey after entrusting their eggs to the Arayanna. The
old Arayanna grew fat on those eggs. There was one
intelligent bird among the lot, and when it looked for
the eggs they were not to be found. That bird informed
its colleagues about the treacherous conduct of the
Arayanna. The birds organised themselves and attacked
the Arayanna to death. Oh! Bhīṣma, the same will be
your end also. (M.B., Sabhā Parva, Chapter 41, Verses
30-41).
4)
Nala and Arayanna. While Nala, the prince of the
Niṣadha kingdom was resting in a garden he saw an
Arayanna in a tank there. Out of curious pleasure Nala
caught it, but seeing its mental tremor he let it free.
Out of gratitude for this generous act, the Arayanna
played the role of the messenger for Nala to get as his
wife Damayantī, the very beautiful daughter of the
King of Vidarbha.
5)
How the Arayanna (Haṃsa) got the white colour. Once
king Marutta was conducting the Māheśvara Satra
(a yāga) and Devas like Indra came down to receive
their share of the Havis (oblations in the sacrificial
fire). And, this was the time when Rāvaṇa with his
attendants was on his triumphal tour. Hearing that the
Devas were at the Āśrama of Marutta, Rāvaṇa also
went there, and Indra and the other Devas, trembling
with fear, assumed different disguises and hid them-
selves away. Indra assumed the guise of the peacock,
Yama of the crow, Kubera of the chameleon and
Varuṇa of the Arayanna. Thus beguiled Rāvaṇa went
his own way. The Devas, who thus escaped blessed the
family of those birds whose forms they assumed. Indra
shaped the blue feathers of the peacock with mixed
colours and eyes like his own. Moreover, he blessed
them that they would never be affected with any
disease, and that they would dance with their feathers
spread when rain set in. Yamadharma blessed the
crows that they would get the offerings made on earth
by men to their departed ancestors. And Bhagavān
Varuṇa told the Rāja-Haṃsas: “I escaped the clutches
of Rāvaṇa by assuming your shape and form. Therefore,
be thee, who are now black and white, in future as
purely white as milk”. Kubera blessed the Chameleon
with capacity to change colour as and how it pleased,
and also for its cheeks to appear golden in colour to the
onlookers. After thus blessing the birds the Devas dis-
appeared. (Uttara Rāmāyaṇa).