World Elephant

An 1876 drawing of the world supported on the backs of four elephants, themselves resting on the back of a turtle.

The "world-elephants" are mythical animals, which according to some authors, appear in Hindu cosmology. However, this concept is not found anywhere in the Puranas or the Epics^[1] and Al Biruni makes no mention of it, only quoting Brahmagupta who states "the earth is the only low thing".^[2]

The popular rendition of the World Turtle supporting one or several World Elephants is recorded in 1599 in a letter by Emanual de Veiga.^[3] Wilhelm von Humboldt suggested that the idea of a world-elephant was 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.^[4][5][6]

The Amarakosha (5th century) lists the names of eight male elephants bearing the world (along with eight unnamed female elephants). The names listed are: Airavata, Pundarika, Vamana, Kumunda, Anjana, Pushpa-danta, Sarva-bhauma, Supratika. Four names are given in Ramayana 1.41: Viru-paksha, Maha-padma, Saumanas, Bhadra.^[7]

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".^[8] The spelling Mahapudma originates as a misprint of Mahapadma in Sri Aurobindo's 1921 retelling of a story of the Mahabharata,

Love and Death.

On the wondrous dais rose a throne,

And he its pedestal whose lotus hood

With ominous beauty crowns his horrible

Sleek folds, great Mahapudma; high displayed

He bears the throne of Death. There sat supreme

With those compassionate and lethal eyes,

Who many names, who many natures holds;

Yama, the strong pure Hades sad and subtle,

Dharma, who keeps the laws of old untouched.^[9]

References