The Indra on Airavata

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In Hinduism, each of the divine Gods and Goddesses have their own animal escorts. These are also called as Vahanas (animal vehicles). The literal meaning of a Vahana is something which carries, or pulls. While different Gods are associated with different Vahanas, Lord Indra, the god of gods, is associated with a white elephant called Airavata.

Airavata is the mythological winged white elephant. Airavata is also called ‘Ardha-Matanga’, meaning “elephant of the clouds”; ‘Naga-malla’, meaning “the fighting elephant”; and ‘Arkasodara’, meaning “brother of the sun”.

One of his names means “the one who knits or binds the clouds”, hence the myth that elephants are capable of producing clouds.  When Indra defeated Vritra, Airavata reached down to the watery underworld with his trunk, sucked up the water and sprayed it into the clouds.  Indra then caused cool water to rain down, thereby linking the waters of the sky to those of the underworld.