About
Angana — Celestial Female Elephant, Consort of Sarvabhauma
Angana · Anganaa
Angana is the seventh 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. Angana is paired with Sarvabhauma, the seventh of the eight male Ashtadiggajas and guardian of the northern direction. She is named in enumerations of the dik-gaja consorts in the Matanga-Lila. No individual narrative episodes are recorded for Angana in the primary sources beyond her identity, lineage, and pairing.
✦ The Name
Angana in Sanskrit means a woman or a graceful female, derived from a root relating to limbs or bodily form, and by extension connoting a being of graceful physical presence. The name is used broadly in Sanskrit literature to denote a woman of beauty or refinement. Applied to this celestial female elephant, it designates her as a being of feminine grace and beauty within her kind. The name should not be confused with the name of the male dik-gaja Anjana, guardian of the west, with which it shares partial phonetic similarity.
✦ 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, Kapila, Pingala, Anupama, Tamrakarni, Shubhradanti, and Anjanavati
- Siblings (male): Airavata, Pundarika, Vamana, Kumuda, Anjana, Pushpadanta, Sarvabhauma, and Supratika
- Consort: Sarvabhauma — the seventh of the eight male Ashtadiggajas, guardian of the northern direction
✦ References
- Primary Sources
- Matanga-Lila (attributed to Nilakantha): Names Angana as the seventh of the eight female dik-gaja elephants and records her pairing with Sarvabhauma.
- Secondary Sources
- Mani, Vettam. Puranic Encyclopaedia. Motilal Banarsidass, 1975: Brief reference to Angana in the context of the dik-gaja consort enumerations.