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  Elephant History & Spirituality

Elephants and Buddhism

One of the key beliefs of Buddhism is that of reincarnation until your being reaches a stage of enlightenment. Lord Buddha is said to have incarnated as an elephant several times, including as Chaddanta a snow white elephant with 6 tusks who lead a herd of 8000 animals and had the ability to fly Another story in Buddhism tells of Lord Buddha taming the ferocious elephant Nalagiri who had been sent to kill him. When the elephant charged towards him, Lord Buddha stood and sent out his thoughts of loving kindness to Nalagiri, who then stood and listened to the words of advice given by Lord Buddha, causing him no harm.


The Hindu God Ganesh has the head of an elephant and is believed to be the protector of wisdom and the remover of obstacles. Another Hindu God Erawan has 3 heads representing Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.


The War Elephant
Elephants have been used throughout early thai history on the battlefield. Their size and strength made them natural allies to the armies they fought alongside. They were the earliest version of the tank and were used, wearing full armour, to intimidate the army. Their tusks would be tipped with poison and swords were attached to their trunks. The elephants were trained to fight with their tusks and to trample men and horses under their feet. the mahout training a war elephant held a very respected and esteemed position Thai Elephants continued to be used during wars until the mid 19th century, during fighting with Burma, and the Japanese used elephants during their campaign against the British during the 2nd world war to carry supplies and heavy equipment.