List of elephants in mythology and religion

The following elephants or elephant-like figures occur in mythology and religion.

Lists

Deities with elephant heads

  • Ganesh, the famous Hindu deity.
  • Malini, a goddess associated with the birth of Ganesha
  • Vinayaki, a Hindu goddess.

Mythological elephants

  • Airavata, an elephant ridden by the Hindu god Indra.
  • The eight Ashtadiggajass described as supporting the world in Hindu cosmology
  • Erawan, the Thai version of Airavata
  • 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

Other instances

An elephant god doubtlessly existed in the predynastic period of Egypt, as indicated from the statuette of a man with the head of an elephant. Jean Vercoutter discovered this in a temple in Sudan, Wad ban Naqa. In 1970, during the German expedition of Musawwarat es-Sufra at Sudan, graffito was found on the eastern outside wall of the Temple of Mut of an elephant-headed figure wearing a sun disk.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Elephants In Ancient Egypt"