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हस्तिकूट (hastikUTa)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Hastikūṭa]
(“the artifice concerning the elephant”). § 757b (Ānuśāsanik.): Bhīshma said: A brahman Gautama nursed an infant elephant that had lost its mother, till it was ten years old, huge as a hill, etc.
he looked upon it as a son, and it brought him his fuel and water. Indra, in the shape of king Dhṛtarāshṭra, seized this young elephant, offering to give to Gautama great riches instead
“what use can brahmans have of elephants?” (†vv. 4850 and 4852--86). Gautama said he would take the elephant from him even in [Yamaloka]
(c), Mandākinī (d), the woods of Meru (e), Nandana (f), Uttarāḥ Kuravaḥ (g), [Somaloka]
(h), [Sūryaloka]
(i), [Varuṇaloka]
(j), [Indraloka]
(k), Prājāpatyāḥ lokāḥ (l), [Goloka]
(m), Svayambhubhavana (n), († vv. 4896--4902), the world of the Somapīthin (yatropayāti haribhiḥ somapīthī, B.
C. yatropayānti haribhiḥ somavīthīṃ) (o)
Dhṛtarāshṭra, as regards c-k, said that he would go to higher regions, and as regards l-n, that he would not go (or be) there
having mentioned (o), Gautama recognized Indra
they asked each other's benediction
Indra returned the elephant, and as Gautama alone of all Ṛ. had been able to recognize him, he took Gautama and the elephant with him and proceeded to heaven *(XIII, 102).