World Elephant

The Ashtadiggajas (Sanskrit: अष्टदिग्गज, romanized: Aṣṭadiggajas, lit. 'eight elephants of the quarters') is a group of eight legendary elephants that appear in Hindu cosmology, 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, whose names are given in the Ramayana: Virūpākṣa (east), Mahāpadmasama (south), Saumanasa (west), and Bhadra (north).

The Matanga Lila associates the Ashtadiggajas as vehicles (vahana) of the Ashtadikpala, eight divine guardians of the directions. It states that the Unborn (Creator) took half shells of the cosmic egg 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 in battle.

In popular culture

The popular rendition of the World Turtle supporting one or several World Elephants is recorded in 1599 in a letter by Emanual de Veiga. Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed that the idea of a world-elephant may be due to a confusion, caused by the Sanskrit noun Nāga 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 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".