हंस

Definitions

• a goose, gander, swan, flamingo (or other aquatic bird, considered as a bird of passage)
• sometimes a mere poetical or mythical bird, said in Rigveda to be able to separate Soma from water, when these two fluids are mixed, and in later literature, milk from water when these two are mixed
• the soul or spirit (typified by the pure white colour of a goose or swan, and migratory like a goose)
• sometimes "the Universal Soul or Supreme Spirit", identified with Virāj, Nārāyaṇa, Vishnu, Shiva, Kāma, and the Sun
• (in dual) "the universal and the individual Spirit"
• a kind of ascetic
• a man of supernatural qualities born under a particular constellation
• an excellent draught-ox (according to some, a buffalo)
• a temple of a particular form
• a kind of mantra or mystical text
• name of two metres
• (music) a kind of measure
• a mystical name of the letter 'h'
• a spiritual preceptor