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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 ...
It is believed that the elephant guards one of the points of compass. [5] Airavata also stands at the entrance to Svarga, Indra's palace. In addition, the eight guardian deities who preside over the points of the compass each sit on an elephant (world elephant). Each of these deities has an elephant that takes part in the defense and protection ...
Elephant with howdah. A howdah or houdah (Hindi: हौदा, romanized: haudā, derived from the Arabic هودج hawdaj which means 'bed carried by a camel') also known as hathi howdah (हाथी हौदा hāthī haudā), is a carriage which is positioned on the back of an elephant, or occasionally some other animal such as a camel, used most often in the past to carry wealthy people ...
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.
With the animals of the country, domestic or wild, those of remote parts of the earth, known by a few specimens, are also represented: the lion, the elephant, apes, etc.; legendary creatures also, like the unicorn, the basilisk (described by Pliny), the dragon, and the griffin.
However, as Christianity increasingly spread among gentiles with traditions of religious images, and especially after the conversion of Constantine (c. 312), the legalization of Christianity, and, later that century, the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, many new people came into the new large public ...
Ganesha is easily recognized from his elephant head. Devotion to Ganesha is widely diffused and extends to Jains and Buddhists and beyond India. India and Hinduism have influenced many countries in other parts South Asia , East Asia and Southeast Asia as a result of commercial and cultural contacts.