CAN THE SWAN REALLY SEPARATE MILK AND WATER?

V.S. GOPALAKRISHNAN

27 Feb 2015

In our literature and scriptures, we have come across the mention that the swan separates milk from water. Is that real? Or is that metaphorical? Well, as far as I am concerned I can also separate milk from water. It simply entails boiling the diluted milk.

The white swan is the vahana of the couple Brahma and Saraswathi. Why do Gods have to have vahanas is something on which I will write a blog separately. Have there been any swans in India that I have seen? Sadly no. I have seen them in the waterpools of Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, but the white swan seems to have practically vanished from India. Why so? But we get to see other kinds of water birds only like ducks and geese which belong to the same Anatidae family of birds as swans. Some of these have lovely colours and captivating beauty and yet nothing can rival the pristine purity and ethereal beauty of the white swan which is the most graceful-looking of them all.

Let us see which spokespersons in history and prehistory have announced that the swan can separate milk from water and consume the former only. But before that let us see where swan itself is mentioned and celebrated in our scriptures and literature.

MENTION OF SWAN:

Like most things in India swan is mentioned right in the Vedas! Called “Hamsa” in Sanskrit, it is said to find a mention a number of times in Rig Veda ((1-65-5; 1-163-10;2-34-5;3-8-9;;AV 6-12-1 etc). The Vedas say that swans lived on Lake Mansarovar in summer and migrated to Indian lakes in winter.

It seems that when soma is crushed to extract the juice, a sound comes out which is like the hissing sound made by a swan when disturbed on the water (Rig Veda  1-65-5)

Swan is said to be mentioned in Yajur Veda (Kataka, Maitrayani, Vajasneyi Samhitas and Taitriya Brahmana) crediting it with the ability to separate soma from water!

It seems that the wise swan is compared in the Shiva Purana (2-15-10) to the sun and the spiritually elevated man.

The “Mute Swans” are the category of white swans with red beaks that we adore while there are six other species of swans such as black swans, black necked swans etc. The mute swans go in pairs, devoted to each other, largely monogamous in life and it is stated that the writer Asvagosha mentions this in his “Buddhacharita” as a factor that was invoked to get Gautama Siddhartha back to his wife.

 

(above; the "Mute swan" or white swan)

(above: black swan)

(above: the black-necked swan)

The Ramayana carries the story of Ravana entering the scene of King Marutta performing sacred rites at which Gods and sages were present. And a wrathful Ravana challenged King Marutta to a fight and even ate up the rishis! The various Gods present, frightened of Ravana, disguised themselves in different forms. Varuna disguised himself as a swan and escaped the killing by Ravana. In return Varuna gave the boon of a pure white permanent colour to the swan!

In the Mahabharata, there is the famous story of Nala-Damayanti. A golden swan is sent by Nala to Damayanti which sings the praises of Nala to Damayanti and they end up in marriage.

Dramatist Kalidasa’s plays and many Tamil literature works also frequently mention swans.

As per the Sikh Granth traditions, swans eat pearls while white cranes go for measly frogs.

Our great saints are called “Paramahamsa”. The “hamsa” represents wisdom and enlightenment. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Paramahamsa Yoganand are well known great spiritual figures.

STORIES OF SWANS SEPARATING MILK FROM WATER:

I have earlier referred to the Yajur Veda references on the swan’s ability to separate soma from water, and in due course this became a common impression of the swan being able to separate milk from water.

Kalidasa has referred to the extraordinary capacity of swan ‘separating milk from water’ in the Sakuntalam drama (Act 6-33). 

In a large number of Tamil literature, the swan’s capacity to select milk from water has found mention.

WHERE DOES THE TRUTH LIE?

Scientifically, swan is a bird which neither produces milk nor drinks milk.

Swan is essentially herbivorous. At best it does extract milk from the stems of water plants and it has filters (lamellae) in its mouth to keep out dirt and mud while doing so.

The white swans are incredibly graceful, beautiful and purity-personified. It has thus become an object of not just admiration but veneration. Qualities of wisdom, discretion and spirituality are now commonly being attributed to swans and evolved human beings.

Man is faced with choices and he should take in and practise what is good, virtuous, ennobling, spiritually elevating etc and should eschew what is bad, harmful, only sensually fulfilling etc. This is the allegorical lesson for man from the example of the swan that can allegedly separate milk and water. 

The ability to separate milk from water is thus highly metaphorical. Most of our mythologies have to be better understood not too literally but metaphorically in terms of the lessons and the wisdom presented.

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