An animal that is typically the mount or vehicle of deities in the Hindu pantheon. As mounts, they are often depicted with their respective deities and constitute part of their iconography. Vahanas are also worshipped as standalone beings. Some popularly depicted vahanas are Ganesha’s rat, Indra’s elephant, Durga’s lion, Kartikeya’s peacock, Lakshmi’s owl and Saraswati’s swan. From the Sanskrit, meaning “mount” or “vehicle.”