Airavata: The king of elephants

Every god in our mythology has his own animal vahana, which carries them to different places. Similarly, the king of all Gods, Indra, owns his escort, who is a pure white elephant, Airavata. The elephant king is considered to be the "one who ties clouds" and is in charge of the rain that falls on the ground.

Airavata is considered as the king of all elephants; Image source- Wikipedia

The churning of the ocean by the Devas and Danavas was no longer easy now. The variety of things appearing from the Kshirasagara bewildered and baffled everyone at the same time. But the only goal was the pot of immortality. Everyone looked for it with eager eyes and throbbing hearts.

Mount Manidia was rotating in the middle of the ocean, and Vasuki pulled against the giant mountain. The amount of foam began to rise, but not much result was seen. Nothing was coming out of the sea, and this was disheartening to everyone.

The churning process was longer than usual this time, and it felt like something gigantic was about to appear in front of the impatient eyes of everyone. All these assumptions began blending into reality when the giant Airavata appeared from the waves.

The spotless white elephant with four tusks and seven trunks emerged from the sea. Indra was astounded by the sight of Airavata and asked Brahma for his authority, and thus Indra became the master of this divine elephant, Airavata.

The birth of Airavata has some other variations as well. According to the Ramayana, Airavata was born to Iravati, and according to Matangalila, he was born as a result of Brahma's mantra song that escaped his lips. When Lord Brahma chanted hymns over the two halves of the eggshell from which Garuda hatched, the left shell gave birth to eight baby elephants, and the shell on the right gave birth to eight elephants, including Airavata.

Airavata is also known by various other names, including ‘Ardha-Matanga’ (elephant of the clouds), ‘Arkasodara’ (brother of the sun), ‘Naga-malla’ (the fighting elephant). It is said that Airavata is capable of binding clouds and thus causing rain on the earth. There is a very interesting story behind it.

Back in times when there was no concept of rain, Indra thought of providing his people with the much-needed coolness during the scorching hot periods. But, it was a cumbersome job to extract the water stored underground and transport it to the sky.

Indra was engrossed in pondering the way to create rain when Airavata approached him. Seeing his master in confusion piqued his interest, and he wanted to know the reason. Indra explained everything to his elephant, and then Airavata put his trunk into the marshy underground to suck up the water. He sprayed the water on the clouds. With the order of Indra, those clouds released water and thus caused rain.

Airavata is also mentioned as the guardian of the Svarga. It is believed that the entrance of Svarga is guarded by eight guardian deities, each of whom sits atop an elephant and rules the compass points. Out of them, the chief and most powerful is the Airavata of Indra. All these qualities and roles make him one of the most significant figures in Hindu mythology.

Airavata with his master Indra; Image source- Hindu blog