There are many avataras of Lord Narayana, besides the well known ten. One of them, according to the Bhagavata Purana, is His avatara as Hari. This is His avatara to save the elephant Gajendra, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan, in a discourse. King Indradhyumna, a great devotee of the Lord, was cursed to be born as an elephant. But even as an elephant, his devotion remained undiminished. Everyday, he would fetch flowers to offer to the Lord. One day, when he entered a pond, a crocodile grabbed hold of his leg. Gajendra’s cries were answered by the Lord, who came to his rescue.
Parasara Bhatta, in his commentary on the Vishnu Sahasranama, says that 34 names in the Sahasranama refer to this avatara of Lord Narayana. One of the names in the Sahasranama is sabdasahah. According to Bhatta, this is the 912th name in the Sahasranama. Sabdasahah means one who tolerates sound. What was the sound the Lord had to bear? When Gajendra screamed in pain, the Lord assumed that the elephant was calling out His names. The Lord felt that since the elephant had called His name, it was as if a burden had been cast on His shoulders — the burden of having to go to Gajendra’s rescue at once. Even so, why should it be said that he tolerated the sound? That is because the elephant hadn’t clearly called out the Lord’s names. Even its cries of pain had been interpreted by the Lord as a calling out of His names! Whatever may be the nature of our calling to Him, even if it be in unintelligible sounds, He will still come to help us. The elephant, in its previous birth, had been a king, who, as a devotee of the Lord would have uttered all the names of the Lord. Now even though Indradhyumna is an elephant, the names are still there in his heart, and that is enough for the Lord, to save Gajendra.
