Gajananar

The specialties of the elephant

Dhoomaketur: ganatyaksha: phaalachandro gajanana:

 

Gajananar is the next name. It means the one with the elephant face. The poet auvaiyar sang, "kolanj chei tunga karimukattu toomaniye" calling the lord as karimukar.

 

The elephant has several positive attributes. Body strength; intelligence; particularly sharp memory; knowledge; though it has great power to just stamp human being with its massive body (like how clothes are smashed against stones), it is so gentle and obedient and according to the training given by the mahout, it brings large logs of wood for social activities, fighting against the enemy in the war, not showing destructive qualities but displaying the nature to work very hard, eat satvic vegetarian food; won the title that "worth a 1000 gold even after it is dead" because of the ivory which is priceless even after the elephant is dead – like this we cannot count the several positive attributes of the elephant.

 

Among the animals, it is the only one which as the trunk representing the hand. Can any other animal sway the fan to the lord as an elephant does? Can any other animal lift its trunk like an elephant and salute?

 

Other animals can only push another person; they cannot lift the person and put on their back. Only the elephant can lovingly cuddle the person with its trunk and lift to a position above itself and keep him on its back. It is very special that the elephant who has immense strength and large body is like this. When it encounters a person on its way, it is only the elephant that has an option other than merely just colliding with that person. It will lift that person gently by curving its trunk and leave the person aside and then move on.

 

It has a name "dvipam". Dvi-pam means to drink twice, or eat twice. How is the elephant "dvipam"? It first takes the food or water with the tip of its trunk. Later it puts it in its mouth. Unlike other animals instead of directly devouring the food with the mouth, the elephant takes it with its hands (trunk) like human beings and eats it – so it is dvipam. But when spitting, it will spit from the mouth only if it is a solid. If it is a liquid it will squirt like a fountain from its trunk. There is a big principle behind this behavior. When we take something in, we should inspect it more than once and then only take it. But what should be eschewed should be discarded in one breath without any wavering. The elephant demonstrates this principle by its dvipam.

 

Surprisingly a person has left a note on the elephant. There are several types of machines today. However, there is no single instrument which can at the same time take a small needle and other hand also curve around a large log of wood and lift it. It is only the elephant's trunk in god's creation that is capable of doing these both! The person wrote in his note that the lord vigneswarar is adorning an elephant face because he is capable of administering both the small and large matters.

 

The entire universe is held by eight elephants in the eight directions. They are called ashta-dik-gajas (eight-direction –elephants). This is physical strength. There are also eight-direction-elephants for the intelligence. There are eight statesmen in the administration of the kingdom, called "en perayam", who are 8 noble persons skilled in the arts of national policy and administration. Similar to this, some kings form a council of wisdom, comprising 8 wise men. The king krishna devarayar had such as council. These 8 wise men we called ashta-dik-gajas.

 

The elephant has superior beauty, the beauty which has majesty with it. The speciality it its gait is called "gaja gati". The gaja gati is a combination of male and female aspects in the gait. That is why the gait of majestic men as compared to the "gaja gati", as well as the beauty of the gait of a chaste woman is also compared to that, and they are called, "gajakamini".

 

The elephant is not just beautiful and majestic by itself. Its majestic charm is its ability impart on the person who is sitting on top of him, a new look and charm. That is why a person is mounted on an elephant and sent on a procession. The ministers and citizens who wanted to make a king out of sri ramachandra, naturally with a majestic beauty, told dasaratha particularly, "gajena mahata yantham" – i.e. we wish to see the beauty of his parading on top of an elephant, in the ramayanam. The Ramayana says that a beautiful white umbrella should be above the head of Rama who is parading on top of the elephant. "Gajena mahata yantham ramam charavruthananam". For our lord vigneswarar also the "umbrella" (chatram) ritual is very important. When we buy the statue of lord vigneswarar for prayer, we also buy the umbrella together with it.

 

How nice it looks when we smear white vibhuti (ash) or white sand paste ("thiruman") on the wide forehead of the blank elephant? Or how it is if we put the face mask? Is there any other animal which can boast these?

 

Another fact, we think that pearls are formed from shells. But pearls are also formed rarely in other places. Pearls are formed in bamboos. The finest pearls are formed on the "gaja kumbam" i.e. cups on fore head of the elephant. The elephant has these cups bulging out of its forehead, as if to further elevate its majestic look. These cups are called "gaja kumbam".

 

Another specialty, which is a divine specialty, is that the elephants head is one of the abodes of the goddess lakshmi. The goddess dwells daily in five places – inside a lotus flower, on the back side of the bilva leaf, on the partition in the head of a noble married woman, at the back of a cow, and on the head of an elephant – these places are considered highly auspicious places.

 

While the head of an elephant has this specialty, the hair at the end of its tail also is not without a specialty. This hair is a talisman against the trouble caused by ghosts and spirits. It also bestows good health. So people cut it and wear it like a gem stone in a ring. It is a jewel and at the same time a talisman. Normally the hair and nails are considered inauspicious. Using these only people practice witchcraft. They do not have any negativity only if they are in the body of a person. Once the hair falls from the body or nail is cut they both should be thrown far away. An exception to this is the elephant's hair that is used as a talisman against evil witchcraft. Similarly, the tiger's nail. There is a chain with tiger's nail adoring the lord Krishna in the famous tanjore paintings.