About
Kapila — Celestial Female Elephant, Consort of Pundarika
Kapila · Kapilaa
Kapila is the second of the eight female celestial elephants who are the consorts and siblings of the Ashtadiggajas. She is a daughter of Iravati, who is the daughter of Bhadramada, one of the ten daughters of Krodhavarsha, a wife of Kashyapa the great progenitor sage. Kapila is paired with Pundarika, the second of the eight male Ashtadiggajas and guardian of the south-eastern direction. She is named in the Matanga-Lila and in related enumerations of the dik-gaja consorts. No individual narrative episodes are recorded for Kapila in the primary sources.
✦ The Name
Kapila in Sanskrit denotes a reddish-brown or tawny colour, derived from a root associated with the colour of smoke or reddish earth. The name is borne by several notable figures in the Hindu tradition — most prominently the sage Kapila, the founder of the Samkhya philosophical system, and the divine cow Kapila of Puranic lore — but in the context of the dik-gaja consorts it designates this specific female elephant without any identification with those other figures. Applied to a celestial elephant, the name may indicate a distinctive colouring setting her apart from the brilliant white of Airavata.
✦ Lineage
- Paternal great-grandfather: Kashyapa — the foremost progenitor sage
- Paternal great-grandmother: Krodhavarsha — daughter of Daksha, wife of Kashyapa
- Grandmother: Bhadramada — one of the ten daughters of Krodhavarsha
- Mother: Iravati — daughter of Bhadramada; mother of all sixteen dik-gaja elephants
- Siblings (female): Abhramu, Pingala, Anupama, Tamrakarni, Shubhradanti, Angana, and Anjanavati
- Siblings (male): Airavata, Pundarika, Vamana, Kumuda, Anjana, Pushpadanta, Sarvabhauma, and Supratika
- Consort: Pundarika — the second of the eight male Ashtadiggajas, guardian of the south-eastern direction
✦ References
- Primary Sources
- Matanga-Lila (attributed to Nilakantha): Names Kapila as the second of the eight female dik-gaja elephants and records her pairing with Pundarika.
- Agni Purana: Includes enumerations of the female dik-gaja consorts.
- Secondary Sources
- Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopaedia. Motilal Banarsidass, 1975: Brief reference to Kapila in the context of the dik-gaja consort enumerations.