Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Aside from being a curiosity for Europeans, the elephant also became a symbol of military might from the experience of fighting foreign powers that fielded war elephants throughout history. [34] In 326 BC after Alexander the Great 's victory over King Porus of India, the captured war elephants became a symbol of imperial power , being used as ...
Gajasura, an elephant demon from Hindu mythology; Gajendra, from the Sanskrit text Gajendra Moksha; Girimekhala, the elephant that carries Mara in Theravada Buddhism; Kasogonagá, a Toba deity described as either an elephant or an anteater. Supratika, a name for several elephants in Hindu mythology; Behemoth, a demon depicted as a round-bellied ...
He is the "king of elephants" also serves as the main vehicle for the deity Indra. [1] It is also called 'abhra-Matanga', meaning "elephant of the clouds"; 'Naga-malla', meaning "the fighting elephant"; and 'Arkasodara', meaning "brother of the sun". [2] 'Abhramu' is the elephant wife of Airavata. Airavata is also the third son of Iravati.
Ganapati (गणपति; gaṇapati), a synonym for Ganesha, is a compound composed of gaṇa, meaning "group", and pati, meaning "ruler" or "lord". [20] Though the earliest mention of the word Ganapati is found in hymn 2.23.1 of the 2nd-millennium BCE Rigveda , it is uncertain that the Vedic term referred specifically to Ganesha.
Wilhelm von Humboldt claimed that the idea of a world-elephant may be due to a confusion, caused by the Sanskrit noun Nāga having the dual meaning of "serpent" and "elephant" (named for its serpent-like trunk), thus representing a corrupted account of the world-serpent. [10] [11] [12]
In the context of the history of Ancient India, the earliest depiction of gaja is found on the seals discovered at sites (like Harappa and Mohenjo Daro) of the Indus Valley civilisation (3000 BCE – 1700 BCE). Some scholars believe that by that time elephants had been tamed and domesticated, and used for peaceful and possibly for other purposes.
The history of India up to (and including) the times of the Buddha, with his life generally placed into the 6th or 5th century BCE, is a subject of a major scholarly debate. The vast majority of historians in the Western world accept the theory of Aryan invasion with c. 1500-1200 BCE dates for the displacement of Indus civilization by Aryans ...
The pentacle or pentagram has a long history as a symbol used in alchemy and western occultism; it was adopted as a symbol in Wicca in c. the 1960s. There was a campaign to recognize it as a symbol representing Wicca as a religion on US veteran headstones since the late 1990s, and the symbol was recognized for use on such headstones in 2007. [19]