Girimekhala

{{Short description|Giant Elephant monster of Sri Lankan Mythology}}

Girimekhala ({{Transliteration|pi|Girimekhalā}}) is the elephant that carries Mara in Theravada Buddhism.

Buddhist tradition

Its height is 250 yojana.Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, G P Malalasekera (1899-1973)p614. When Mara and his army of evil tried to prevent the future Buddha from achieving enlightenment, the Buddha asked the earth to bear testimony for his deeds and Girimekhala fell in front of the Buddha.Becoming the Buddha: The Ritual of Image Consecration in Thailand,p133.Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, G P Malalasekera (1899-1973)p614.

Girimekhala appears in the Buddhist chant Buddha-jaya-maṅgala Gāthā (Verses of the Buddha's Auspicious Victories):{{cite book|author1=The Dhammayut Order in the United States of America|title=A Chanting Guide: Pali Passages with English Translations|date=2013|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dhammayut/chanting.pdf}}

{{blockquote|text=Bāhuṃ sahassam-abhinimmita-sāvudhantaṃ

Grīmekhalaṃ udita-ghora-sasena-māraṃ.

Dānādi-dhamma-vidhinā jitavā munindo:

Tan-tejasā bhavatu te jaya-maṅgalāni.

[Tan-tejasā bhavatu te jaya-maṅgalāni.]

}}