AIRAVATAM-PART2 Airavatam is a divine elephant. According to some sacredHindu texts, Airavata was born with three heads, six tusks and three trunks. Heis pristine white.
Some Puranas say Airavata was born with ten tusks, fivetrunks, and 10 teeth, representing 10 directions. He is the "king ofelephants" and serves as the main vehicle for the deity Indra. He is also called 'Abhra-matanga', meaning "elephant ofthe clouds"; 'Naga-malla', meaning "the fighting elephant"; and 'Arkasodara', meaning "brotherof the sun". ' Abhramu' is the elephantwife of Airavata.Airavata is also the third son of Iravati. In the Mahabharata he is listed as agreat serpent. Hindu tradition The appearance or birth of Airavata varies according todifferent Hindu texts. In the Ramayana, Airavata was born to Iravati(descendant of the sage, Kashyapa)whereas, the Vishnu Purana notes that Airavata was born from the churning ofthe ocean of milk. According to theMatangalila, Airavata was born when Brahma sang sacred hymns over the halves ofthe egg shell from which Garuda hatched, followed by seven more male and eightfemale elephants. Prithu made Airavata king of all elephants. One of his namesmeans "the one who knits or binds the clouds" since myth has it that these elephants are capable ofproducing clouds. The connection ofelephants with water and rain is emphasized in the mythology of Indra, whorides the elephant Airavata when he defeats Vritra. It is believed that the elephant guards one of the points ofcompass. Airavata also standsat the entrance to Svarga, Indra's palace. In addition, the eight guardiandeities who preside over the points of the compass each sit on an elephant(world elephant). Each of these deities has an elephant that takes part in thedefense and protection of its respective quarter. Chief among them is Airavataof Indra. There is areference to Airavata in the Bhagavad Gita: Of horses, know Me to bethe nectar-born Uchchaihshravas; of lordly elephants, Airavata and of men, themonarch.] Airavata is also known for being the cause of thechurning of the ocean.Once sage Durvasa presenteda garland to Indra, who passed it on to Airavata. The elephant thenthrew the garland on to the ground, which angered Durvasa and resulted in thedemigods to be "subject to old age and death." Reversing the curserequired the devas to retrieve the nectar of immortality by churning the oceanof milk. At Darasuram near Tanjoreis a temple where it is believed that Airavata worshipped the Lingam; theLingam is named after him as Airavateshwara. This temple, which abounds in rare sculpture andarchitectural workmanship, was built by Rajaraja Chola II (1146–73 CE). Jain tradition In Jain tradition, when a Tirthankara is born, Indradescends with his consort, Shachi, riding their mount, the great elephantAiravata, to celebrate the event. Flags with Airavata Flag of French Laos (1893–1952) Flag of the Provisional Royal Lao Government (1952–1975,2003-current) Laotian royal standard (1952–1975) Flag of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Erawan Erawan (Sanskrit Airāvana) is one of the Thai names ofAiravata. It is depicted as a huge elephant with either three or sometimesthirty-three heads which are often shown with more than two tusks. Some statuesshow Indra, the king of Tavatimsa Heaven, riding on Erawan. Modern Art DepictionOf Airavata The elephant became the symbol of Bangkok by association withIndra during its foundation as the capital of the new Rattanakosin Kingdom . Itis also sometimes associated with the old Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang and thedefunct Kingdom of Laos, where it was more commonly known as the"three-headed elephant" and had been used on the royal flag. In popular culture Airavata is a recruitable character in the Megami Tenseivideo game series. Airavata is referenced in the song "The AnimalTent" on the album The Circus by The Venetia Fair: Here comes Airavata; the elephant controls the rainclouds,His skin the rumbling earth (Airavata!) Airavata is the name ofthe Volvo bus service that Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation provide A beautifulincarnation Published - February13, 2019 08:35 pm IST in Hindu Staff Reporter Indra placed on his elephant a garland that was given to himby sage Durvasa. The elephant flung the garland down and trampled upon it.Angered, Durvasa cursed Indra and said he would lose all his wealth. To getback his wealth, Indra sought Vishnu’s help. The Lord asked him to churn themilky ocean, using the Mandara mountain as the churning rod, and the snakeVasuki as the rope. Whenthe mountain sank, the Lord assuming the form of a tortoise (Kurma) supportedit on His back. He says that when the Lordsupported the Mandara mountain, He had an experience that put Him to sleep! The repeated movement of the Mandara mountain during thechurning of the ocean, gave Him relief from the itches on His back.Soothed by this, the Lord went to sleep! Desika prays that the breath of thisKurma should protect all three worlds. Lakshmi There was a sage calledDurvasa who was descended from Mahadeva. Once upon a time, Durvasa was wandering around the world. And in the hands of a pretty woman he saw a beautiful and fragrantgarland. Durvasa wanted the woman to give him the garland, which she gladly did. Durvasa placed the garland on his head and continued to roamaround the world. Who should he then run into but Indra, the king of the gods?There were other gods with Indra and Indra was seated on his elephant,Airavata. Durvasa picked up the garland and threw it at Indra. Having caughtthe garland, Indra placed it on the head of his elephant. Airavata must havebeen surprised at the pleasant smell that was coming from his head. For heraised his trunk to get a better sniff. And in the process, thegarland fell off his head and onto the ground. Durvasa was very angry. He thought that Indra had insulted him. He had not evenbothered to thank Durvasa for the garland. And instead of placing the garlandon his own head, he had seen it fit to place the garland on the head of anelephant. From which place it had fallen off onto the ground. Durvasa thereforegot ready to curse Indra. Bythen, Indra had realized his mistake. He got off the elephant, fell atDurvasa’s feet and begged that he might be forgiven. But Durvasa was not like the other sages; he refused to bepacified. And so he cursed Indra. What was the curse? That Lakshmishould disappear from Indra’s abode. Lakshmi, you may know, is the goddess of wealth andprosperity. When Indra returned to where he lived in Amaravati, he found the place to be dreary and dilapidated. Lakshmi had left.The plants were dying. The sages were not performing sacrifices. People hadbecome selfish. It was not simply Amaravati that had become like this. Indraruled over all the three worlds. And in all the three worlds this was preciselywhat had happened. The demons never liked the gods and were forevertrying to fight with them. They now discovered that the gods were lesspowerful and less well protected. So they attacked the gods and gave thema good thrashing. Whatwere the poor gods to do? They elected the god Agni as their leaderand fled to Brahma for refuge and help. Brahma told them that he was unable tohelp them himself; they should seek help from Vishnu. On the northern shores ofthe great ocean the gods assembled and began to pray. How could Vishnu ignore such prayers? He manifested himselfbefore the gods and gave them the following advice. The gods should meet the demons and have a temporarytruce. Both sides should get together and prepare to churn the greatocean. Before the churning, herbs were to be thrown into the ocean. Themountain Mandara was to be used as the churner and the great snake Vasuki asthe rope for churning. Itwas expected that amrita (a drink that made one immortal) would come out of theocean as a result of the churning. And the gods should promise thedemons that this amrita would be equally shared out among the two sidesstronger. But the promise of the amrita would make sure that the demons tookpart in the churning. This was nothing but an empty promise. Vishnu hastened toassure the gods that he would ensure that the demons got none of the amrita. This the demons did not know, they gladly agreed to thechurning. Herbs were hurled into the ocean and the churning began. The godsgrasped Vasuki’s tail and the demons its head. In fact, it was Vishnu who asked the demonsto grasp the head of the snake. Flames and smoke belched out of the mouth of the snake andmade the demons suffer. Thegases that came out of the snake’s mouth went up into the sky and formedclouds. These clouds were driven towards the tail and poured down as soothingrain on the gods who had grasped the tail. On what was the huge mountain Mandara to be balanced? Thesolution was again provided by Vishnu. Vishnu adopted the form of a gigantic turtle on which the mountain couldbe placed. Thus the churning went on. And wonderful were the things thatemerged out of the ocean as a result of the churning. The first to come out wasthe cow Surabhi, worshippedby the gods. Next the goddess Varuni emerged. Followed by thefragrant tree known as parijata. Outcame the apsaras (dancers of heaven). And the moon, which Mahadeva accepted asan adornment for his head. There were bad thingsas well. The poison that came out was accepted by the snakes. And dressed all in white, the god Dhanvantari came out withthe pot of amrita in his hands. At the sight of the amrita, the gods, thedemons and the sages were delighted. But there was more to come. There emergeda lotus flower with the shining form of the goddess Lakshmi. She held anotherlotus in her hand. The sages began to chant hymns in front of her. Thegandharvas sang, the apsaras danced. Rivers like the Ganga arrived sothe Lakshmi could have a bath. There are eight elephants who protect the eight directions.These elephants took clear water from golden vessels and bathed the goddess.The ocean gave her a garland of lotus flowers which would not fade. Vishvakarmaprovided the jewels. Thus bathed, dressed, jewelled and garlanded, Lakshmiembraced Vishnu. Sincethe demons did not like Vishnu, this meant that Lakshmi had forsaken the demons.And Lakshmi smiled upon the gods. The demons did manage to get hold of the potof amrita. But Vishnu adopted a female form to trick the demons of the amritaand give it to the gods. The gods drank the amrita and attacked the demons withswords. The amrita hadmade the gods strong and the demons were not match for them. Theirarmies scattered and they fled into the underworld. The gods were delighted.They bowed before Vishnu and continued to rule over heaven. The sun went backto its old path across the sky. So did the stars. Indra ascended his throne and ruled over the threeworlds, after having prayed to Lakshmi. Parashara told Maitreya. “Indra’s prayers pleased Lakshmiand she agreed to grant him boons”. The first boon that Indra asked for wasthat Lakshmi should never leave the three worlds. And the second boon was that Lakshmi should never turn away from anyone who prayed to Lakshmi usingthe same prayer that Indra had used. Compiled fromwebsites. 2nd and final part of the posting. R. Gopalakrishnan04-02-2026. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1190549875.106816.1770186082617%40mail.yahoo.com.
