Religious Significance Of Elephants In India

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I chose to research and discuss the religious significance of elephants in India. In Hindu the elephant represents royalty, wisdom, power, and intelligence. Elephants are native to India and are revered in their culture. Indian royalty would often travel in processions on top of an elephant as way to represent their majesty and royal status. Perhaps this practice was influenced by the Hindu representation of the God of God’s, Indra riding on a white elephant named Airavath, which was given to him as a gift after emerging from the ocean (V. Jayaram).

Ganesh, the son of Shiva, is represented as having the head of an elephant. Ganesh represents wisdom and intelligence. The large head of Ganesh represents intelligence, his trunk grasping power,