Elephants are native to Africa and to southern Asia, where they are especially revered even today. Ganesha, a prominent Indian deity, is honored by many Buddhists as well as Hindus and is gaining popularity worldwide.
Troupeau d’Elephants Art Print by Denis-Hout,… Buy at AllPosters.com
Elephants are honored in many other parts of the world, even where they have never lived. For example, in the US, the elephant is used as the symbol of a major political party. And it is said that no home in Mexico is complete without a figure of an elephant in the living room.
Architectural Detail, Steyr, Austria Photographic Print by Bibikow, Walter
Buy at AllPosters.com
Elephants are part of modern mythology. In Europe elephants star in at least two best-selling and beloved old series of children’s books. In America the title character one of the oldest, most beloved Walt Disney movies is Dumbo, about a magical, flying baby elephant.
Big Ears Poster Buy at AllPosters.com
The elephant represents wisdom, strength, and longevity. Wild elephants have a social structure that is generally peaceful and cooperative. In ancient times they were recognized for living longer than most humans and for knowing how to find water during droughts.
Domesticated elephants are known for their long memories and the fact that they will punish their abusers when they can, even decades later. That is why Rudyard Kipling wrote “Say what you mean, and mean what you say, for an elephant never forgets.”
Men Riding Decorated Elephants at Annual Pooram Festival, Thrissur, India Photographic Print by Beinssen, Paul Buy at AllPosters.com
Most likely elephants were associated with shamanism long before humans invented agriculture and developed humanoid deities.
African Elephants
African Skies Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com
African elephants have never been domesticated. From a shaman’s viewpoint, that makes them more powerful than Asian elephants. They are also larger.
Elephant by Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya Art Print
by Labat,… Buy at AllPosters.com
Information on African elephants is coming soon.
Herd of African Elephants Moving Across the Plain Photographic Print
by Joubert, Beverly Buy at AllPosters.com
Silhouette of Elephants and Tree Photographic Print
by Davis, David Buy at AllPosters.com
Asian Elephants
Asian elephants have long been associated with wealth, royalty, and deities.
A Group of Asian Elephants Enjoy a Dip in Cool River Water
Photographic Print Buy at AllPosters.com
India
The Indian elephant deity Ganesha is honored by many Buddhists and others as well as by Hindus. In India, as the remover of obstacles, he is the god who must be prayed to before all others on every occasion. And there are millions of people for whom Ganesha is the only god.
According to one book on Indian goddesses and gods (the title of which I will post when I find it again), Ganesha may have begun as the son of an elephant goddess, long before Hinduism began.
As older deities are often suppressed or ignored by conquerors, the deity who later became known as Ganesha may have been portrayed as a demon for centuries before being reborn into Hinduism as the son of the goddess Parvati.
The goddess Laxshmi is usually shown as being flanked by a pair of elephants. Can she be the humanized descendant of that original elephant goddess? Whatever the case, elephants have a long spiritual history in India stretching back farther than anyone can recall.
Thailand
Elephants on Display, Bangkok, Thailand Photographic Print
by Foster, Lee Buy at AllPosters.com
Thai Elephants Maneuver Their Way Through a Bangkok Traffic Jam in Downtown Photographic Print Buy at AllPosters.com
The royal White Elephant of Thailand lives in his own palace and is tended by his own set of servants.
Ordinary elephants were long used for heavy work, such as moving logs. Nowadays they have been replaced by machines. Those who care about them are scrambling to find ways to support and protect them. One famous program has elephant artists creating paintings, which are then sold to benefit the elephants.
