Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c10.222

v1.c10.222

1. **Erāvaṇa.**—Sakka’s elephant. He was once the elephant of the king of Magadha, who gave him to **Māgha** and his companions to help them in their good works on earth. As a result, when Magha and the others were reborn in **Tāvatiṃsa**, Erāvaṇa was born there himself and became their companion. Ordinarily he was a deva like the others, because there are no animals in the deva-world, but when they went to the park to play, Erāvaṇa assumed the form of an elephant, one hundred and fifty leagues in size. For the thirty-three devas Erāvaṇa erected thirty-three heads (*kumbha*), each two or three quarters of a league in girth. Each head had seven tusks, each fifty leagues long, each tusk bore seven lotus plants, each plant seven flowers, each flower seven leaves, and on each leaf danced seven nymphs (**Padumaccharā**). For Sakka himself there was a special head, **Sudassana**, thirty leagues around, above it a canopy of twelve leagues all of precious stones. In the centre was a jewelled couch one league long, on which Sakka reclined in state.¹