Hatsadiling ( th, หัสดีลิงค์; my, ဟတ္ထီလိင်္ဂ; pi, hatthīliṅga; sa, hastilinga) is a mythical bird commonly featured in Northern

Thai art Traditional Thai art is primarily composed of Buddhist art and scenes from the Indian epics. Traditional Thai sculpture almost exclusively depicts images of the Buddha, being very similar with the other styles from Southeast Asia, such as Khmer ...

. The creature is considered to be the size of a house, with the head and body of a

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

, trunk and tusks of an

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

, the comb of a

cock Cock or cocks most commonly refers to: * Cock (bird) or rooster, a male of any bird species * Cock (slang), a slang term for the penis Cock or cocks may also refer to: Names * Cock (surname) * Cocks (surname) Places * Cocks Glacier, Ross Dep ...

, and the wings of a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

. According to an oral myth in northeastern Thailand, the bird once inhabited the legendary forest of

Himavanta Himavanta ( th, หิมพานต์; ; ) is a legendary forest that is said to be located at the hill of Himmanpan Mountain or the Himalayas which is derived from the Sanskrit word ''Himālaya'' ( हिमालय 'abode of the snow'). Hi ...

. The bird is often featured as a motif on funerary hearses of prominent Buddhist monks in Northern Thailand during phongyibyan cremation ceremonies. The hatsadiling (''hathi linga'') has also been used by the

Marma people The Marma ( my, မရမာလူမျိုး), formerly known as Moghs or Maghs, are the second-largest ethnic community in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts, primarily residing in the Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati Hill District ...

as a primary motif for funerary hearses. The bird was considered instrumental in the founding of Hariphunchai, a Mon kingdom in modern-day Thailand. It is featured in

Cāmadevivaṃsa The Camadevivamsa ( th, ตำนานจามเทวีวงศ์, , literally, "Chronicle of the Lineage of Cāmadevi") is a Pali chronicle composed in the early 15th century by the Lanna Buddhist monk Mahathera Bodhiramsi ( th, พระ� ...

, a Pali chronicle that recounts the founding of the Hariphunchai kingdom by Queen Camadevi. The

Dhammapada The Dhammapada ( Pāli; sa, धर्मपद, Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka ...

- aṭṭhakathā mentions the hastilinga.

Buddhaghoṣa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator and philosopher. He worked in the Great Monastery (''Mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajjavāda school and in t ...

mentions it as an animal which possesses the strength of five elephants.

Other terms

In the Thai language, the bird is also known by a number of terms, including nok hatstadiling (นกหัสดีลิงค์), nok hatsading (นกหัสดิน), nok hatsadi (นกหัสดี) and nok hat.

Other terms

References

See also