Who danses on Erawan Elephant: angel or goddess?

[boablanc]

Hi! I have some questions about Erawan Elephant.
The legend said that it has 33 heads, each head has 7 tusks, each tusk has 7 lotus ponds, each pond has 7 lotus pads, each pad has 7 lotus blossoms, each blossom has 7 lotus petals, each petal has 7 dancing angels, and each angel has 7 lady-in-waiting.
In the other source Erawan has the same quantity of heads, tusks etc. but "each of the 7 petals of each flowers reside 7 goddesses, each attended by 7 heavenly maidens".
The questions are:
1) Which translation is more correct: angel or goddess?
2) What do they look like? A woman? A woman-bird?
3) Are there names of the goddess or a special word for them (eng. or thai)?
Thanks.

[Thongkorn]

Next post please

[malt25]

Can't wait for post number 2 !

[DeaconJohn]

Wrong forum, dear.

Nobody here knows their ass from their elbow about Thai history or mythology.

[Seastallion]

angel or goddess, I'm sure it doesn't matter as it's a translation.

My rule of thumb when there are two (seemingly) different translations, is to think of some sort of compromise, to realise that not every word in every language has an exact equal translation into another language....in this case, I would be tempted to think of goddess-angel, or an entity that English has no word for but is an entity somewhat like what we think of as an angel, and also somewhat like what we think of as a goddess.

Some might even think of it, or translate it, as "magical fairy".

Don't take translations too literally.