List of elephants in mythology and religion
The following elephants or elephant-like figures occur in mythology and religion.
Lists
[edit]Deities with elephant heads
[edit]- Ganesh, the famous Hindu deity.
- Malini, a goddess associated with the birth of Ganesha
- Vinayaki, a Hindu goddess.
Mythological elephants
[edit]- 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
- Behemoth, a demon depicted as a round-bellied elephant
Other instances
[edit]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
[edit]- Gaja, elephants in Hindu mythology
- List of fictional elephants
- List of individual elephants
- List of legendary creatures