04-07-2025
Elephants as symbol of wealth and power in Indian culture
We cannot imagine India without elephants. Elephants have been a powerful symbol of wealth and power since ancient times. Elephants are found on Harappan seals, but they were probably wild elephants or baby elephants kept in zoos and parks. Some argue that Harappan elephants were used to collect timber, but that remains speculative.
In early Vedic texts, the elephant is referred to as hasti-mriga or wild elephant with a hand. It was domesticated in the late Vedic period, as the king of Anga, in the Brahmana texts, gifts elephants to those who perform rituals for him. Images of elephants appear on the gateway of the Barabar caves in Bihar, gifted by Mauryan kings to Ajivika ascetics.
On the railings at the Buddhist stupas of Sanchi and Bharhut, we find the earliest images of Lakshmi, flanked by elephants who pour water on her as she sits on a lotus pond. Elephants were popular with merchants as they were sure-footed, large animals who could carry a lot of goods and simultaneously create highways as they made their way through dense jungles, across rivers in spate, and over mountain slopes.
In Buddhist mythology, Buddha tames a wild elephant sent to kill him. In Hindu mythology, Krishna kills the royal elephant of Kamsa, who blocked his path. Shiva is called Gajantaka, and is depicted dancing on the head of the elephant-demon, flaying its skin alive. Shiva then drapes the elephant-hide, Gaja-charma, around him.
Elephants are linked with wealth, power and sensuality. So, killing an elephant was seen as an act of defiance against royal authority and a rejection of uncontrolled sexual energy, like an elephant in musth (unstoppable sexual arousal). When aroused, elephants secrete a fluid from the temples on their forehead. This is called mada, from which comes words like mada (intoxication, uncontrolled passion) and madira (wine).
In the Udayagiri caves of Odisha (dating from 100 BC), we find images of elephant herds, and elephant hunts. This was the land of Gajapatis, kings with elephant armies, who fought Ashvapatis, kings with cavalry. In Chanakya's Arthashastra, kings were encouraged to keep forests where elephants could breed before they were captured. Killing elephants was frowned upon in ancient India, but collecting tusks of dead elephants was rewarded.
A great hero of ancient folklore was one Udayana, whose music could ensnare elephants. A king decided to capture the skilled Udayana. So, his soldiers hid themselves inside an artificial elephant made of wood and managed to get close to Udayana. The story reminds us of the Greek myth of the Trojan horse. While in the Greek story, the horse was used to get the army into the city of Troy, in the story of Udayana, an artificial elephant is used to capture the elephant's whisperer.
Later in the Hindu tradition, elephants are linked to Indra. In the Vedic scriptures, Indra is described as riding a horse-drawn, spoked wheel chariot. In later literature, he is shown as riding a white colored elephant with multiple trunks and multiple tusks said to have been churned out of the ocean of milk. This Indra, known as Sakra in Buddhist Indian literature, bows to the Buddha and dances when the Jain Tirthankaras are born.
This celestial white elephant is called Airavata. There are such elephants in the cardinal and ordinal directions of Hindu cosmogony. They are called Dig-gaja, or elephants of the directions. They hold up the sky. As per one lore, the head of Airavata was cut and used to revive Shiva's son. That is why the elephant headed god Ganesha has a white head, especially in the eastern part of India, but the lower part is red in colour, linking him to his mother Parvati.
Elephants are native to India, unlike horses. It is the access to elephants that enabled the kings of Magadha to establish the earliest empire. In the Mahabharata, kings who ride horses typically come from northwest India, particularly from the Punjab side, while the kings who ride elephants come from Magadha side. As early as 500 BC, elephants were exported to Persia from where horses were imported. We know that 500 horses were given by Chandragupta to the Greek king Seleucus.
Even when the Mughals came to India, they found the elephants fascinating. Although horses are more disciplined and easier to manage on a battlefield and elephants can run amok, elephants have always been preferred by Indian royalty. They were used as mobile battering rams to break a fort before cannons came to India 500 years ago, after which the elephant's role became ceremonial.
What is most interesting is that although elephants did exist in ancient China, especially in the south and southwestern parts, Chinese emperors did not like them too much as they were wild and undisciplined. They were hunted to extinction to make room for farmlands. This shows the cultural differences between China and India.
Elephants are native to India, unlike horses. It is the access to elephants that enabled the kings of Magadha to establish the earliest empire. Comment.
How did the symbolic meanings of elephants evolve across Vedic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions?
Why were elephants more culturally significant in India than in ancient China and what might this reveal about their respective civilizations?
What role did elephants play in warfare before the introduction of cannons in India?
In what ways did elephants influence the political power of kingdoms like Magadha?
(Devdutt Pattanaik is a renowned mythologist who writes on art, culture and heritage.)
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