Story of Haṃsa

General.

A minister of Jarāsandha. Haṃsa and Ḍiṃbhaka were the sons of Brahmadatta, the chief of Sālva, and they were adepts in archery. Paraśurāma was their preceptor. (Harivaṃśa 3, 103). The Mahābhārata calls Haṃsa’s brother Ḍibhaka.

Education.

Vicakra and Janārdana were intimate friends of Haṃsa from their very infancy, of whom Janārdana was the son of Mitrasaha, a friend of Brahmadatta. Haṃsa, Ḍimbhaka and Janārdana had their education together and their marriages also were conducted at the same time. After some time Śiva presented them many weapons like Rudrāstra, Maheśvarāstra and Brahmaśirāstra, and also two attendants for self-protection. (Harivaṃśa 3, 105).

Curse of Durvāsas.

Swollen-headed and haughty on account of Śiva’s boon, Haṃsa and Ḍiṃbhaka turned out to be a nightmare to the world, and they once tried to give trouble to Durvāsas, who cursed them to be killed by Mahāviṣṇu. Sometime later the sage himself informed Śrī Kṛṣṇa about this curse of his.

Death.

The Haṃsa brothers began an aśvamedha (Horse Sacrifice) and deputed Janārdana to collect the tax thereof. Śrī Kṛṣṇa alone refused to pay the tax with the result that Haṃsa clashed with Kṛṣṇa who killed Ḍimbhaka and kicked Haṃsa down to Pātāla. He died there, in Pātāla of snake-bite. (Harivaṃśa 3, 128).

Grief of Jarāsandha.

Haṃsa’s death caused much grief to Jarāsandha, and for many years after it, he shed tears over the death of his friend. Even at the time when Bhīmasena, during his triumphal tour of the east, attacked Jarāsandha he remembered the dead Haṃsa and Ḍimbhaka. (Sabhā Parva, 13, 37).