The Ashtadiggajas () is a group of eight legendary elephants that appear in

Hindu cosmology Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts. Hindu cosmology is also intertwined with the idea of a creator who allo ...

, serving as the guardians of the eight zones of the universe. There are also eight female elephants that stand beside the Ashtadiggajas, referred to as the Ashtadikkarinis.

List

There are a total of eight Ashtadiggajas and Ashtadikkarinis that stand guard over the eight zones:

Literature

Besides the Ashtadiggajas, there are four elephants who support the earth from the four directions from the

netherworld Netherworld (''nether'', ″beneath, lower″) may refer to: *Underworld, a region thought to be beneath the surface of the world in many religions and mythologies Film and television * ''Netherworld'' (film), a 1992 American horror film *''Nethe ...

, whose names are given in the ''

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

:'' Virūpākṣa (east), Mahāpadmasama (south), Saumanasa (west), and Bhadra (north). The ''

Matanga Lila Matanga Lila is a treatise in Sanskrit dealing with the life and behaviour of elephants. The title has been translated as Elephant-sport. It is a treatise in 263 stanzas divided into twelve chapters of varying length. In the treatise, the author's ...

'' associates the Ashtadiggajas as vehicles (''

vahana ''Vāhana'' () or ''vahanam'' () denotes the being, typically an animal or mythical entity, a particular Hindus, Hindu deity is said to use as a vehicle. In this capacity, the vāhana is often called the deity's "mount". Upon the partnership b ...

'') of the Ashtadikpala, eight divine guardians of the directions. It states that the Unborn (Creator) took half shells of the

cosmic egg ''Cosmic Egg'' is the second studio album by Australian rock band Wolfmother, released on 23 October 2009. It is the first album by the second lineup of the band, featuring vocalist, songwriter and lead guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and ...

in his hands; the Ashtadiggajas - eight elephants led by Airavata emerged from the shell in the right hand as the sages chanted the ''saman'' hymns; while the eight cow-elephants came from the left shell as their consorts. Ashtadiggajas reproduced with their consorts, populating the forests, the mountains with elephants. They aided the gods in defeating the

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

in battle.

In popular culture

The popular rendition of the

World Turtle The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-Bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing Religious cosmology, the world. It occurs in Hinduism, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of th ...

supporting one or several World Elephants is recorded in 1599 in a letter by Emanual de Veiga.

Wilhelm von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a German philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1949, the university was named aft ...

claimed that the idea of a world-elephant may be due to a confusion, caused by the Sanskrit noun

Nāga In various Asian religious traditions, the Nāgas () are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...

having the dual meaning of "serpent" and "elephant" (named for its serpent-like trunk), thus representing a corrupted account of the world-serpent.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', sometimes referred to simply as ''Brewer's'', is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions, and figures, whether historical or mythical. The "New Edi ...

lists ''Maha-pudma and Chukwa'' are names from a "popular rendition of a Hindu myth in which the tortoise Chukwa supports the elephant Maha-pudma, which in turn supports the world".

, 15th ed., revised by Adrian Room, HarperCollins (1995), p. 1087. also 14th ed. (1989). The spelling ''Mahapudma'' originates as a misprint of ''Mahapadma'' in

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yogi, maharishi, and Indian nationalist. He also edited the newspaper Bande Mataram (publication), ''Bande Mataram''. Aurobindo st ...

's 1921 retelling of a story of the

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

. In

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

's ''

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...

'' novels, the Disc sits atop the shoulders of four elephants that stand on top of a giant turtle. There is a legendary fifth elephant that plummeted into the ground and left a legacy of valuable minable materials.

References

{{reflist

Elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

Legendary creatures in Hindu mythology Mythological elephants Elephants in Hinduism

List

Literature

In popular culture

See also

References