Home > Kerala Elephants > A Beautiful Hindu Myth about the Origin of Elephants A Beautiful Hindu Myth about the Origin of Elephants
A sleep with dreams
Myths are far more than mere figments of imagination; they are the gist gained by a society that existed for many generations. No social structure is perfect without its own baggage of myths. Myths are to a culture as dreams to a person’s mind; both are either irrational or mystical. Dreams cure one’s psyche off hidden ailments; while myths keep the cultural fabric of a society intact. A culture without myths is like a sleep without dreams; pestered by undiagnosed ailments. Here are some pearls from a large ocean of ‘Indian myths’.
Star performers
Indian culture being a very ancient one; has perhaps the richest baggage of myths. Elephants being fascinating animals for their huge size and strange behavior; are star players in the realms of myths. The following about the origin of elephants taken from Hindu mythologies; brought to us from Madhanga-leela – a classic work on elephant-care; written by Thirumangalathu Neelakantan Moosathu who lived in 13th century AD. For a change; along with that jumbo story; interesting skits about some associated figures are also given.
Splitting the egg
Brahma –the creator- thought of breathing life in to his work; he took the cosmic egg (Hiranya-garbha) in his hands and split it in to two halves; held one half in each of his hands and began blowing life in to it! During this process the whole universe shook in utter turmoil. The seven great sages known as ‘Saptarshis’- responsible for the existence of the earth- were shaken by these developments and they chanted ‘Sama-veda mantras’. Mantras or hymns are holy- scriptures; if chanted in the prescribed tune; they are capable of doing miracles (Sama-mantras are most powerful hymns to be applied only at most critical occasions).
Iravatham and the rest
The effect of Sama-veda-mantras made eight male elephants emerge from the piece of cosmic egg held in the right hand of Brahma. They were (A)iravatham, Pundarikan, Vamanan, Kumudan, Anchanan, Pushpadantan, Sarvabhauman, and Supradikan
These eight elephants are symbols of strength and they support earth from eight directions hence they are called ‘Ashta-dig-gajas’ or elephants supporting the eight directions. The first one; Iravatham is the legendary white elephant; the proud possession of Indra –the chief of all demigods- who rules heaven.
Made for each other
Let us come back to Brahma the creator; from that piece held in his left hand there emerged eight female elephants; all with beautiful names like Abhramu, Kapila, Pingala, Anupama, Thamrakarni, Subhra-danti, Angana, Anjanavathi. As all of these 16 elephants (eight pairs) born by the chanting of Samaveda became known as Samajans. These elephants are in duty to support the earth staying at the following directions.
1, Iravatham (Airavatham) or Abhra-matanga is the strongest among all the elephants; he is milky-white in color and guards the Eastern direction of universe with his wife Abhramu; belong to Indra – the ruler of heaven, Indra has many stories of disgrace; one of them is that a lady demon called Mahishi (she had the head of a buffalo) attacked heaven and drove away all demigods from there; their chief; Mahishi was in hot pursuit of Indra (who went hiding) with her big sword; this hunt went on for several years. Later hearing his persistent prayers; Vishnu took birth as Lord Ayyappa; killed Mahishi and the re-installed Indra in his place.
2, Pundarika with Kapila guards south-east; protecting Agni-devan or God of fire, As per Hindu myths Agni or fire is considered the most prominent among ‘the basic five elements’ of which the universe is made of. They are fire, water, air, earth and the sky. All main Hindu rituals are performed making fire as the principal witness. Fire is considered superior to other four basic elements as it is the ultimate cleaner; it can clean anything without getting itself unclean.
3, Vamana with Pingala; guards the universe from south; belong to Yama-devan or the demon god who takes away the soul from body at the time of death; he is the orderly of Lord Siva and rides on a buffalo carrying a knotted yarn to carry the soul of dead people; the knot is tied on the neck of the soul and dragged to hell if the victim is a sinner! The soul of those who have done adequate good deeds will rise straightly up to the heaven; there are people who rise to heaven with their bodies; but that is a very rare case!
4, Kumuda with Anupama guards the south-west Sun-god; he also happens to be the father of the legendary hero Karnan of the Mahabharata. Kunthi; the mother of Karnan had a boon as whoever she wished would father a child in her; the unmarried Kunthi inadvertently wished for sun-god and a child (Karnan) was born to her.
5, Anchanan with Thamrakarni and the origin of rain; guards the west; belongs to Varuna; the god of Rain; and the seas. Varuna once desired for marrying Damayanthi; the legendary beauty of Mahabharata. King Nalan of Nishadha was her lover and the proposed groom to marry her. But at the time of marriage Varuna along with Indra disguised as Nalan and sat at both sides of the groom. The marriage was a ‘swayam-vara’ in which bride had the liberty to marry the person of her choice. But there were three identical grooms on the venue; but Damayanthi; clever she was; was not confused. She garlanded the real Nalan. Later Damayanthi answered to the media persons that she could distinguish real love on the face as other two were fakes. Our hero Varuna returned home dejected. The earth thus got its first shower of rain from Varuna’s tears; the phenomenon of rain will be here until Varuna gets his love back! |
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6, Pushpa-dantan and subhra-danti the north-west guards Pavana or Vayu (the God of Air); Hindu mythology air has also a personified form; he is swift, restless and wild; Vayu is the father of Hanuman. Vayu once got enraged by the provocations of sage Narada and he blew away a mountain called Maru and placed it in the sea; which happens to be the present Sri Lanka!). Narada is also a unique one who is perpetually engaged conveying provocative information between gods and in initiating quarrels between them. Narada is pleased to see the sufferings of those engaged in a fight initiated by him! .
7, Sarvabhauman with Angana pertain to the north; they guard Lord Kuvera or Kubera; the god of wealth. He is the custodian of nine invaluable treasures kept in heaven. Kubera is described as a strange god; dwarf with three legs, one eye, eight teeth who ruled Lanka. God Brahma feeling sympathetic to Kubera presented him with a Pushpak aircraft that enabled him to reach anywhere defying his infirmities. That Pushpak aircraft was later stolen by Ravana; the demon king; who conquered Lanka. Kubera fled to Kailash at the Himalayas and lived there for many years until Lord Sri Ram killed Ravana and gave back the aircraft to the Kuvera) (Pushpak aircraft was different from present day aircraft as it resembled a chariot that was pulled by airborne horses)
8, Supradikan with Anjanavathi guards the north-east; belongs to the Moon-God who also has his own baggage of mischief. The moon-god (Chandra or Soma) had 27 wives (all constellations like Aswathi, Bharani, Karthika, Rohini etc) who were daughters of Daksha; the Cosmic progenitor. But the Soma got more attached to Rohini inviting wrath of the other twenty six. They complained to their father of has ‘nepotism’; seeing the tears his darlings’ face Daksha got enraged and cursed Soma to die. But that was far more than what they bargained. The bereaved wives asked for his rejuvenation. That request was only partly admitted. Chandra will die for 14 days and then come back to life for the next fourteen days; what a compromise! The lunar eclipse is actually this and not what the star-gazers say. .
Spared the rods
The initial eight pairs -that came out of the cosmic egg- gave birth to numerous calves. These original elephants as created were far different from present day ones; they had wings and could reach any place they wished; had no duty to perform and lived a life of merry-making. Unlike their parents these calves had no burden to hold the earth in its position. Total freedom spoilt these kids and they kept themselves busy flying here and there, from heaven to earth or wherever they wished and did whatever they wanted. In short they became a perpetual menace to peace loving public.
Grapes of Wrath
How those ‘flying kids’ became ordinary elephants is another story. There was a huge banyan tree in the Himalayan valley. There lived a great sage by name ‘Dheerksha-tapas’ (meaning one who is engaged in prolonged meditation) in a hut built under that tree. These spoilt elephant calves while on flight landed on that banyan tree for a time-pass. They kept on picking up quarrels among each other as usual. One angry calf broke a banyan tree-branch and threw to another. This branch fell on the hut of the sage who was engaged in a spiritual discourse with his disciples. The sage who was already annoyed by the noises made by these elephants could not control himself. He cursed them to loose their flight and to become slaves to human beings. What a pity; the whole elephant community suffers for the misdeeds of some spoilt kids. Bye…………!.
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