Jambavat

Jambavan, king of the bears

Jambavat ( Sanskrit जाम्बवात् jāmbavat m. ) Is the king of bears in Hinduism .

myth

Jambavat supported Rama in the fight against Ravana and led countless black bears with white faces into battle.

Jambavat had slain a lion who was carrying the precious jewel Syamantaka. Krishna , who would have liked to have owned this precious stone, pursued Jambavat to his cave, where a fight lasted for days. After Krishna prevailed, Jambavat not only gave him the jewel but also his daughter Jambavati, who then became the mother of Shamba .

literature

• Hans Wilhelm Haussig , Heinz Bechert (ed.): Gods and myths of the Indian subcontinent (= dictionary of mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 5). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1984, ISBN 3-12-909850-X , p. 118.
• Jambavat . In: John Dowson : A classical dictionary of Hindu mythology and religion, geography, history, and literature. Trübner & co., London 1879, pp. 131-132 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ jāmbavat . In: Monier Monier-Williams : Sanskrit-English Dictionary . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1899, p. 419, col. 2 .