Hastin

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Script error: No such module "For". Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) is a term for 'elephant' used in Vedic texts. Other terms for 'elephant' include Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) and Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".).

The elephant in the Rigveda

In Rigveda 1.84.17 and 4.4.1. and probably other instances, the Rigveda seems to refer to elephants (e.g. Bryant 2001: 323), an animal native to South Asia. It has been speculated that some of these verses might be references to domesticated elephants.[1] In RV 1.64.7, 8.33.8 and 10.40.4, "wild" elephants are mentioned.

Script error: No such module "Lang".

In the Rigveda and in the Atharvaveda, the term is translated as 'elephant' (according to Keith and Macdonell, Roth and other scholars).[2] In the Rigveda, Script error: No such module "Lang". (animal with a hand) occurs in RV 1.64.7 and RV 4.16.14.

Ibha

RV 9.57.3 and RV 6.20.8 mention Script error: No such module "lang".s, a term meaning 'servant, domestics, household' according to Roth, Ludwig, Zimmer and other Indologists.[3] Other scholars like Pischel and Karl Friedrich Geldner translate the term as 'elephant'.[4] According to Sayana,[4] Mahidhara[4] and the Nirukta,[4] Script error: No such module "Lang". is translated as 'elephant'. Megasthenes[4] and Nearchos[4] also connect Script error: No such module "Lang". with 'elephant'. The term Script error: No such module "Lang". is only used in the Samhitas, and especially in the Rigveda.[5][6]

Script error: No such module "Lang".

Another term that may mean 'elephant' is Script error: No such module "Lang". (RV 8.33.8; RV 10.40.4). According to Macdonell and Keith, Script error: No such module "Lang". refers to elephants.[7]

The elephant in other Hindu texts

The Akananuru (27) and the Purananuru (389) state that elephants were raised and trained in ancient Tamilagam's northern boundary of Venkatam hills, Tirupati.

Notes

  1. RV 4.4.1, 9.57.3 (where "the people deck him like a docile king of elephants"), 6.20.8; Talageri, Shrikant (2000)
  2. Vedic Index, II, 501; II, 171
  3. In RV 4.4.1 and 6.20.8, ibha is translated as servants/attendants by Griffith.
  4. a b c d e f Vedic Index, I, 79
  5. Vedic Index, I, 79.
  6. RV 1.84.17; 4.4.1; 9.57.3; and perhaps 6.20.8. Vedic Index, I, 79.
  7. Vedic Index, II, 288

References

  • Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Macdonell, A.A. and Keith, A.B. 1912. The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.
  • Talageri, Shrikant: The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis. 2000. Template:ISBN

See also