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                Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya 
nama:

                                The Swansong

Each being in the wonderful Lord’s creation is endowed with a special 
characteristic, setting it apart from others. Man, for instance, has the gift 
of intelligence and reasoning. Dogs are known for their unflinching loyalty and 
cats for their loving nature. The horse is almost a byword for strength and the 
elephant for hugeness. When you search for something, which could almost 
single-handedly signify beauty and grace, you have to necessarily plump for the 
Swan. It may have its competitors, but in the context for breathtaking beauty 
and captivating grace, it is the Swan which wins hands down. Ornithologists 
tell us that seven species of swans exist:  Whooper, Trumpeter, Tundra, Mute, 
Black-necked, Black and Coscoroba.  The most commonly seen member of the family 
is the Mute Swan, an enormous, all-white bird with the pinkish bill that ends 
in a black knob. The curving neck of the Mute Swan has the most neck vertebrae 
(23) of any bird.
Apart from its other distinctions, the Swan also figures quite prominently in 
the scripture.

The moment we think of a Swan, what comes to our mind is its proverbial 
capacity for separating milk from water. We are told that the beautiful bird 
has the astonishing capability of imbibing only milk and casting aside water, 
when diluted milk is placed before it. It would appear as though the Swan has 
an inbuilt lactometer, enabling it to gauge the milk content of the liquid and 
to separate milk from water. This trait of the Swan makes it an ideal example 
for all those who have the knack of separating wheat from chaff and the 
essential from the non-essential. 

Knowledge and wisdom are vast oceans. Even if one has the aptitude and industry 
for imbibing everything, the time at one’s disposal, consisting of life’s 
productive years, is extremely limited. We should hence learn to isolate and 
absorb the quintessential, from a mixture of good and bad, casting aside the 
inconsequential, say the Shastras, holding out the Swan’s conduct as a shining 
example—
”Alpascha kaala: bahavascha vighnaa: yat saarabhootam tat upaadadheeta
 Hamso yathaa ksheeram ivaambu mishram”

Having been brought up in cities, many of us might not have seen Swans at all, 
except in zoos. Those who have would recollect its long and extremely graceful 
neck. More graceful is its gait—so much so that poets unfailingly plump for the 
Swan as a simile, when they want to describe a damsel’s poise and elegance. The 
Swan is never in a hurry and moves slowly but gracefully, says Sri 
Nammazhwar—“men nadaya annangaal!”. And true to its soft nature, the bird 
prefers a bed of flowers for the night and is up and about much before sunrise, 
we are told by Sri Tondaradippodi—“ezhundana malaranai palli kol annam”. In 
passing, Azhwar also comments on the bird’s extremely beautiful plumage, which 
it shakes to get rid of dewdrops—“ een pani nanainda tan irum siragu udari”. 

The Swan is reputed to be a spotless bird, with a breathtakingly white plumage. 
It is the apparent embodiment of Sattvam and inhabits only pure environs, we 
are told. It will never set foot in muddy waters, says a poet—“na badhnaati 
ratim hamsa: kadaachit kardamaambhasi”. The Kishkindha Kandam of Srimad 
Ramayanam paints a striking portrait of a sleeping Swan, floating in the clear 
waters of a lake, surrounded by water lilies—

“suptaika Hamsam kusumai: upetam mahaa hradasttham salilam vibhaati
 ghanai: vimuktam nisi poorna chandram taara ganaakeernam iva antariksham”

The Swan is thus compared to the glorious full moon inhabiting a clear sky 
bereft of even a puff of cloud and surrounded by a bevy of splendorous stars.
The Swan appears to be Sri Valmiki’s favourite object of comparison and again 
serves as a simile for the moon, this time in Sundara Kandam. The Full Moon 
radiates splendour, shining milky-white in the sky like a superior conch, 
resembling a graceful Swan in majestic progress across a lotus pond—

“Shankha prabham ksheera mrinaala varnam udgacchamaanam vyavabhaasamaanam
 dadarsa Chandram sa Kapi praveera: poplooyamaanam saraseeva Hamsam”

One would be inclined to think that apart from its looks, the Hamsam is also 
endowed with good communication faculties, from the way poets invariably choose 
it as the messenger, bearing romantic messages between lovers separated by a 
distance. The Swan is indeed a “Doota” par excellence—this is clear from the 
Naishada Kaavyam, where it dons this role in conveying Damayanti’s feelings to 
Nala Maharaja and vice versa. Our own Swami Desikan has employed the Swan to 
telling effect as a messenger between Sri Raghava and Sri Mythily, in his 
exquisite kaavyam, “Hamsa Sandesam”. Beside Himself with grief at the 
separation from His Princess, Chakkravartthi Tirumagan chooses the Swan for 
conveying His feelings to Sri Janaki. In the process, Swami Desikan furnishes 
beautiful descriptions of several divyadesams lying in the Swan’s flight path.

What is the qualification that these birds possess, for serving as couriers 
between lovers? They are eminently aware, from their own experience, of the 
intense pleasure that lovers derive from each other’s company and the 
unbearable pain that is occasioned by separation from each other. And being 
conscious of this, the Swans themselves are enviously together always—  “idaril 
bhogam moozhgi inaindu aadum annangaal!” “toovi ser annam tunyaodu punarum 
soozh punal Kudandai”. It is this sensitivity of Swans to lovers’ pangs of 
separation, which makes them excellent messengers. All this is inferred from 
Sri Nammazhwar’s pauram, “unartthal oodal unarndu udan meyum mada annangaal!”. 
Modern Ornithologists confirm that Swans generally mate for life.  They remain 
together throughout the year and keep their young with them until they nest 
again.  If one of a pair dies, the survivor usually takes a new mate and 
remains devoted.

By all accounts, the Swan is indeed an exalted creature. This is further 
evident from the fact that the Lord chose the species for taking an Avataram. 
The Hamsavatara episode is similar to that of several other avatarams. Here 
too, the Lord rescued the Vedas from the clutches of  asuraas Madhu and Kaitapa 
and restored them to the four-headed Brahma, who was totally blinded and unable 
to carry on the process of Creation, without the Vedas. Emperuman, as a Divine 
Swan, imparted the wisdom of the Vedas to Brahma, thus restoring his creative 
powers. The principal mission of the Hamsavatara was thus the propagation of 
the Shruti and Shastras, as can be divined from Azhwar sreesooktis—“Annamaai 
nool payandaan”  “Annamadaai irundu angu ara nool uraittha” etc. The Hamsam is 
honoured thus, not only by Emeperuman but also by our venerated Acharyas, who 
carry the bird in their names. Belonging to the class of Sanyasis known as 
“Parama Hamsa”, all our Acharyas automatically inherit the 
title of their lineage.

Additionally, Sri Nammazhwar is reputed to have sported a signet ring on his 
fingers, with the figure of a beautiful Swan embossed it. Around seven hundred 
years ago, Azhwar Tirunagari was over run by people of other faiths, who 
ransacked the Adinatha Perumal Sannidhi, plundered its wealth and converted it 
into a temple of their own faith. Not content with all this sacrilege, they 
also threw Sri Nammazhwar’s vigraham into a deep lake, convinced that the 
removal from the scene of this icon symbolising Sri Vaishnavism would 
effectively put an end to the tenet. However, the Lord sent a rescue party in 
the form of Sri Satakopa Jeeyar, the revered founder of Sri Ahobila Mutt. 

Distressed at the happenings, the Acharya meditated upon the Azhwar just as Sri 
Madhurakavi did. Having learnt of the whereabouts of the Azhwar’s vigraham 
through his penance, Jeeyar delved deep into the lake, rescued the arccha 
moorthy and re-established Azhwar in all his original splendour at his 
sannidhi. Pleased at Jeeyar’s kainkaryam, Sri Nammazhwar gifted the Acharya 
with his Hamsa Mudra. This is recorded in the Vaazhi Tirunaamam of the 
Jeeyar—“Azhwar tan kripayaale Hamsa mudrayon vaazhiye”. It is noteworthy that 
even after six hundred and odd years, this holy Hamsa Mudra or signet ring is 
preserved with reverence and worn by Srimad Azhagiasingars of Ahobila Mutt, on 
ceremonious occasions.

The fourth chapter of the Cchaandogya Upanishad recounts the story of two Hamsa 
Pakshis, named Bhalla and Bhallaaksha, who were instrumental in Emperor 
Jaanashruti gaining the knowledge that matters. Jaanashruti was a renowned 
ruler, wealthy beyond imagination. All his wealth was spent on feeding the poor 
and on other socially productive activities. Though the Emperor was well 
informed in the Shastras, he neglected self-inquiry and knew not anything about 
the Ultimate and ways to realise it. Two Maharshis, concerned for the good 
Emperor who was frittering his life away without acquiring the wisdom that 
mattered, took the form of two Swans and flew over Jaanashruti, talking to each 
other. The Emperor, who listened to the conversation, was taken aback. Said the 
first Swan to the other—“Take care to fly such that your shadow doesn’t fall 
over Jaanashruti Maharaja!”. The second Swan remarked disparagingly, “What can 
happen if my shadow does fall on him? Is he a Brahma Gnaani lik
e Raigva? I am not prepared to accord undue honour to a mere Maharaja, who is 
devoid of any Atma gnaanam!” (Shastras tell us that we must not let our shadow 
fall on Bhagavatas and Acharyas). Stung by the second Swan’s cruel comment, 
Jaanashruti sought out Raigva, propitiated the Maharshi with his sincerity of 
purpose and imbibed from him knowledge about the Brahmam and the strategies for 
realising the same.

The English Idiom pays the ultimate tribute to the Swan, by calling the magnum 
opus of a person, the crowning glory of his life’s work, his last act of 
distinction, as a Swansong. Though the Swan is not renowned for the melody of 
its voice, unlike the Koel or nightingale, the fact remains that the final 
performance of an artiste, into which he or she naturally puts in his best, is 
known as a Swansong. This, by itself, is evidence of the regard with which even 
the secular world treats the bird. 

I feel this piece is now long enough. Lest readers call upon me to treat this 
as my Swansong, I shall end here and now.

Srimate Sri LakshmmiNrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta 
Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
dasan, sadagopan








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