The White Elephant
Helen Bruce describes how, in Buddhist countries, for the last six hundred years, the albino elephant has always received special veneration.
Elephants, being instruments of war, were of the utmost importance to oriental kings. They went into battle sometimes equipped with various weapons, even with burning torches tied to their tails, in addition to archers and spearmen on their backs. In 1277 when the Burmese invaded Yunnan and fought with the Tartars, 2,000 elephants were said to have been used.
The Mongol embassy to Ceylon on 1284 asked the King of Ceylon for certain relics of the Buddha, among them teeth. It is said that the teeth supplied to them were those of an elephant, and there is certainly significance in the fact that it was an elephant and not any other animal which devout Buddhists used for this substitution.
In the Monastery of the Fifth King in Bangkok there is a very famous Walking Buddha image. One writer reminds us that in looking at this we ‘must remember such literary metaphors as “arms like the hanging trunk of an elephant”’, and, of course, this comes from Buddhist sources.
To continue reading this article you need to purchase a subscription, available from only £5.
Start my trial subscription now
If you have already purchased access, or are a print & archive subscriber, please ensure you are logged in.
Please email digital@historytoday.com if you have any problems.