elapatra (4133)

elapatra
Entry 4133, Page 156, Col. 2

(elapatra, elapatra)
elapatra¦, m., (1) one of four ‘great treasures’ (ma- hānidhi; cf. a similar group of four treasures in Pali, DN comm. i.284.8, saṅkha, ela, uppala, puṇḍarīka), each presided over by a nāga-king of (presumably) the same name (so definitely stated for Elapatra): Mv iii.383.18-- 384.1 catvāro mahānidhayo saṃkho vārāṇasyāṃ mithilā- yāṃ (19) padumo kaliṃgeṣu piṃgalo takṣaśilāyāṃ ela- patro; vārāṇasyāṃ saṃkhasya māsiko (20) samājo vartati; tahiṃ nidhānādhipatayo nāgarājāno nimantritakā āgatā; (384.1) tatra ca elapatreṇa nāgarājñā praśnā sthāpitā (see below for Pali equivalent); (2) Elapatra, in Mv iii.384.1, above, n. of a nāga-king presiding over the ‘treasure’ of the same name; presumably the same as the nāga (or nāga-king) named (without reference to the ‘treasure’) Mvy 3271 (Kyoto ed. Elāpattra, by error; Mironov Ela° with no v.l.); Suv 162.9; Mmk 452.20; Kv 2.9; Māy 222.3; 247.2; certainly the same as the Elapatra (mss.; ed. wrongly em. Elā°) of Divy 61.4, tho here he is not called a nāga but one of the four ‘kings’ presiding over the four treasures (cf. Mv iii.383.18 ff. above), (Divy 61.1) atha catvāro mahārājāś caturmahānidhisthāḥ, (3--4, vs) Piṅgalaś ca Kaliṅgeṣu Mithilāyāṃ ca Pāṇḍukaḥ, Elapatraś ca Gān- dhāre Śaṅkho Vārāṇasīpure. Besides the Pali parallel, DN comm. above, cf. the 9 treasures of Kubera which include Śaṅkha and Padma (with presiding personages of the same names), and among the Jains the 9 treasures of a cakra- vartin, which in their AMg. forms include piṃgala, paṇḍua (= pāṇḍuka), and saṃkha; the Skt. forms of these are recorded at least lexically. Note also in Pali the nāga- king Erakapatta, of Dhp. comm. iii.231 ff., who however does not seem to be brought into relation to the ‘treasure’ called in Pali ela (above); but the vss attributed to him, and the replies to them, in Dhp. comm. are reproduced in Mv iii.384, see above.