haMsa
1. haMsa/ m. ( ifc. f( A ). ; accord. to Uṇ. iii, 62 fr. √ 1. han , ‘to go?’) a goose, gander, swan, flamingo (or other aquatic bird, considered as a bird of passage; sometimes a mere poetical or mythical bird, said in RV. 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; also forming in RV. the vehicle of the Aśvin s, and in later lit° that of Brahmā ; ifc. also = ‘best or chief among’), RV. &c. &c.