Clouds Knitting

from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, clench”)

— Anything unsubstantial —

(obsolete) a rock; boulder; a hill.

ऐरावत, airāvata “produced from the ocean”— in the महाभारतम्, Mahābhāratam, listed as a mythical great serpent — is the वाहन Vāhana [‘Steed/Mount/Vehicle’] of भगवान Lord इंद्र Indra (इन्द्र • índra, the god of war and weather; also the King of the Gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hinduism.), and with a rather apt etymology to connect it to the Thunderer (51☳ 震 zhèn, shake = 雷 thunder). One of his names means "the one who knits or binds the clouds". In Thai idiom, it is Erawan: เอราวัณ, from पाणि Pāḷi इरावन Irāvan, or Sanskrit ऐरावन Airāvana.

ऐरावत  "belonging to इरावती Iravati" Airāvat is heralded as the king of the animal world and the vehicle of इंद्र Indra, ruler of the heavens. ऐरावत Airāvat is a white elephant with seven trunks, a naturally armoured body and divine immunity to fire and injuries.

When कुंती Kunti, mother of the पांडव Pandavas, sees a reflection of ऐरावत Airāvat in the miraculous floor of the palace of इन्द्रप्रस्थ Indraprastha — Capital city of the Pāṇḍavas — she wishes to see and worship it in person. To fulfil his mother’s wish, भीम Bhīma — second of the five पाण्डव Pāṇḍava brothers,  sons of पाण्डु Pāṇḍu — reaches the heavens, defeats the forces protecting the divine elephant and proudly brings ऐरावत Airavat from the heavens. भीम Bhīma creates a pathway of arrows (rays) between heaven (void) and earth (locale) for the divine elephant’s descent.