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.[1] There are also eight female elephants that stand beside the Ashtadiggajas, referred to as the Ashtadikkarinis.
There are a total of eight Ashtadiggajas and Ashtadikkarinis that stand guard over the eight zones:[2]
Direction | Male | Female |
---|---|---|
East | Airāvata | Abhramu |
South-east | Puṇḍarīka | Kapilā |
South | Vāmana | Piṅgalā |
South-west | Kumuda | Anupamā |
West | Añjana | Tāmrakarṇī |
North-west | Puṣpadanta | Śubhradantī |
North | Sārvabhauma | Aṅganā |
North-east | Supratīka | Añjanāvatī |
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).[3][4]
The popular rendition of the World Turtle supporting one or several World Elephants is recorded in 1599 in a letter by Emanual de Veiga.[5] Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed, without any proof, 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.[6][7][8]
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]
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".[10] The spelling Mahapudma originates as a misprint of Mahapadma in Sri Aurobindo's 1921 retelling of a story of the Mahabharata.