The adbuction of the lotus-flower by the king of elephants

[Christophe Vielle]

Thank you very much, that is nice, and Vallabhadeva ad loc. (v. 75 ed.
Murti/Janert) identifies the suragaja with Airaava.na, viz. the "royal"
elephant of Indra:

suragaja airaava.no vi.saa.nadh.rtaa.m naliniim udvahan yathaa
pratipathagatir bhavaty evam adriraajo'bhuut

P.S. read g.rhiitvaa in the extract I gave in my previous mail

[Jean Fezas wrote]

>The simile appears in the kumAra-saMbhava in the last verse of the third
>canto, where the mountain (himAlaya) carries home his daughter (umA) after
>the destruction of kAma by ziva.
>3.76a    sapadi mukulitAkSIM rudrasaMrambhabhItyA
>3.76b     duhitaram anukampyAm adrir AdAya dorbhyAm /
>3.76c     suragaja iva bibhrat padminIM dantalagnAM
>3.76d     pratipathagatir AsId vegadIrghIkRtAGgaH //
>
>"Just then the Mountain, having taken into his arms his daughter who
>deserved to be sympathized with and who had closed her eyes in fear of the
>anger of S'iva, went along his path, as does the elephant of the gods
>holding a lotus sticking to his tusk, with his body stretched to its full
>length on account of his great speed" (Kale's translation). Mallinatha
>says nothing about the suragaja and gives nalinIm as an equivalent of
>padminIm...
>
>It is difficult to suppose that later poets could have ignored this verse...
>J. Fezas (Langue et littˆ©rature sanskrite, Paris-3)
>

Dr. Christophe Vielle
Centre d'Etudes de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud
Institut orientaliste
Place Blaise Pascal 1
B - 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
BELGIUM
Tel. +32-(0)10-47 49 54 (office)/ -(0)2-640 62 66 (home)
E-mail: vielle at ori.ucl.ac.be