More about elephant

Elephant has got different names from the religious point of view. These names are naga, dvipa, padmin , Hastin etc. So, the different epithets have been given to the elephant. It is so called naga because it freely moves in water as well as on mountains and jungles. The name Dvipa which means the twice drinking i.e. drinking both from the mouth and the trunk. It has the habit of eating lotus. Due to this habit its name is given as Padmin that means lotus.It is associated with lotus in several representations. It is also given the name of 'Hastin' as it is born from teh hands of God rahma.
          According to legend, thefirst elephant was produced from the cosmic golden egg or Hiranyagarbha. Brahma took two halves of the broken shell in his hands and breathed life into them. Out of the shell came Airabata and seven other male elephants and from tehsecond shell sprang eight female elephants. These male and the female elephants started reproducing. Attached to this legend, an elephant is also called Hathi in Hindi and Hatti in Nepali. The eight male elephants became the bahana of Astha dikpalas or guardians of eight directions.