Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v1.c9.1243

v1.c9.1243

Uposatha is also the name of a tribe of elephants, the ninth in a series of ten tribes, of ascending importance.³ It is said that a cakkavatti's elephant belongs either to the Chaddanta tribe or to the Uposatha. If a Chaddanta elephant comes to a cakkavatti, it is the youngest of the tribe that comes, if an Uposatha elephant, then it will be the foremost.⁴ When the cakkavatti dies, the elephant goes back to his fellows.⁵ The strength of an Uposatha elephant is equal to that of one thousand million men.⁶ In the *Milindapañha*,⁷ the king of the Uposatha elephants is described as being gentle and handsome, eight cubits in height and nine in girth and length, shewing signs of rut in three places on his body, all white, sevenfold-firm. Just as this elephant could never be put into a cowpen or covered with a saucer, so could no one keep as slaves the children of Vessantara.