Airāvata (Nāga)
Airāvata
Airāvata has other meanings too: see all meanings of Airāvata.
Airāvata is a great nāga. When King Pṛthu milked the earth, he was the milker for the nāgas, drawing poison into a bottle-gourd with Takshaka as the calf (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 4).
In the Brahma Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, Sumantu Muni tells King Śatānīka that the Pañcamī tithi is dear to the nāgas, and names eight great serpents who give abhaya (freedom from fear) to living beings: Vāsuki, Takshaka, Kāliya, Maṇibhadra, Airāvata, Dhṛtarāshṭra, Karkoṭaka and Dhanañjaya.
In the account of the ratha of Bhagavān Sūrya, Airāvata and the renowned Dhanañjaya are the nāgas with Bhagavān Sūrya in Āśvayuja and Kārtika.
Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 32, 52
In the milking of the earth
The Brahma Purāṇa tells, through the Sūta speaking to the munis, how King Pṛthu, son of Vena, made the earth yield her riches. The Earth, Vasundharā, took refuge in Pṛthu and agreed to become his daughter and give milk, if he found her a calf and made her level. Pṛthu milked her first for men, with Svāyambhuva Manu as the calf and his own hand as the vessel, and the milk was all the crops. Then each class of beings milked from her its own food, with its own calf, milker and vessel.
For the nāgas, the calf was Takshaka and the milker was the nāga Airāvata. The milk he drew was poison (visha), and the vessel was a bottle-gourd. This nāga Airāvata is distinct from Airāvata the elephant, whom Brahmā made lord of the elephants in the same chapter.
Source: Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 4
Sources
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapters 32, 52
- Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 4