naaken (นาเคนทร์)

Thai. ‘Elephant king’, ‘snake king’, i.e. a single word that means both phaya chang and phaya ngu, or alternatively phaya naak, and is used to refer to a mythical creature that is described as a snake with the head of an elephant, or alternatively, as an elephant with the body of a snake, and which is said to represent Vishnuphong, i.e. the rainmaking White Elephant (fig.) that occurs in the Wetsandornchadok or Vessantara jataka, for one. It can occasionally be found in the form of balustrades on temple buildings in northern Thailand. It is sometimes referred to as chang patjay naaken, literally ‘elephant [with the] essence of the elephant king and snake king’. In addition, it is known by several other names, including chang patjay naak (fig.), literally ‘elephant [with the] essence of [a] naga’, and chang hua naak, i.e. ‘elephant-headed naga’. 回