Elephant .. temple.. worship.. tradition..

This picture was sent to me by my brother who visited a place called Subramanya in the western ghats. The place is devoted to the Snake Lord [Subramanya] - Cobra. It is worshipped here. Many temples have the tradition of maintaining tamed elephants ... surely an elephantine task... People offer coins to it which it gleefully accepts with its trunk, promptly hands it over to the care-taker standing by and then blesses by touching the head of the giver with its trunk. I thought it would be intersting to share.

One more picture.

Oh, thank-you! I love elephants. I have tried to talk my husband into getting one for me. We could keep it in the garage if we gave up our cars; but he thinks not.

I love elephants. I hope they are trained with kindness, Dinu.

Thank you for sharing the photos.

June

Dinu~I used to collect elephant figurines, it is "bad luck" to get one with the trunk pointed down, but I had one anyway from India of all places! It was covered in little mirrors and had a pink tassle for a tail. Are any of the men pictured the elephant keeper? Just wondering. Is the trunk supposed to represent the snake?

May be the 'keeper is on the other side. Yes, sure this is a well tamed pachyderm. He will not be a threat. Elephants and humans bond very well and studies have shown that they have emotions as that of humans. They feel much the same way we feel - be it joy or sorrow. They have tears to express as well.

No, the trunk does not represent the snake. There are so many patterns featuring this beautiful animal. Compared to the shape, the Indian Elephant is much more lovlier than the African counterpart. It has a better proportion.

oH! I didn't realize it was different, that is very interesting. Thanks again for sharing the pictures and other information, fascinating.

Elephants are very intelligent, did you know that they survive by what they learn, not instinct? Very much like humans. Elephant babies stay with their moms/family till they are teenagers, unlike most animals. They would have a very hard time surviving without this teaching.

We have an Elephant Sancutuary in Tennessee here in the US, they take problem or unwanted circus and zoo elephants and give them permanent homes where they can live like elephants are supposed to live, able to roam large amounts of ground, swim in ponds, form groups and familys with other female elephants. At the Philadelphia Zoo, they finally admitted that the little one acre elephant enclosure was a cruel place to keep them, and one of the elephants who came to the zoo as a baby in 1963 was sent to this sanctuary, where she is doing great and so happy! I cried when I read the story, mainly because I have seen this elephant at the Phila zoo all my life. If anyone wants to see the site, I think it is just Theelephantsanctuary.com

Thanks for the pictures, I enjoy reading about India (saw your squirrel post too)

Interesting information Bhavana. Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting, Dinu.

And here is a link to The Elephant Sanctuary... http://www.elephants.com/

What interesting things you find to post. Elephants are great and beautiful creatures.

Thanks Kooger for the link ( i am not very computer savvy )

I hope everyone has a chance to check out the site. I also would like to say that I was not implying that all captive elephants are kept in cruel conditions - from what I have read about the elephants in India and Asia, alot of them are revered pets, spend alot of time with their keepers/owners, and are treated with love and respect. There are always exceptions, but that is what I have heard.

This is from a temple in Thanjavur, Soutn India. It is a famous one too.

Here is a photo of an elephant in the womb:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=417909&in_page_id=1770&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&icc=picbox&ct=5

Bet the mom gets some kicks from those feet.

Dini, thank you for such an informative post..especially enjoyed viewing 'elephant in the womb'...

Elephants, along with only apes and to a limited extent dolphins, share with humans the ability to recognize themselves (the mirror test). An "x" was painted above the eye of a female elephant in the UK and she would repeatedly touch that spot on her reflection in a mirror.

That's interesting David. Thanks for the womb picture. Amazing!

Elephant's hair is worn on finger rings [jewelers make it] as a good omen. I think it is taken from the tail end.

Dinu....thanks for posting the thread. Elephants always bring up good memories. For many years, I dealt in cire perdue, castings. Some of Ganesha were just exquisite. Another nice memory is of a morning with some guys who were bathing their elephants. It was like guys in America at classic car rally. Except the cars, elephants in this case, were having a wonderful time too.

That's a fun picture. Thanks.

I was there myself this week. Here is a picture - this time there was a baby calf. A coin offered by the girl is being removed from the trunk-tip by the mahout. This calf's eyes were so human-like! The picture is a bit blurry due to insufficient light for my Fuji.

Fabulous, Dinu! What are the spots on the elephants back? Elephants a re so intellegent. I don't like seeing them in the circuses.

Thank-you, Dinu. You know I love the elephants!

When I looked at those spots, they looked like some injuries or scars which have been smeared with some ointment or cream. That's what I felt.

Thanks, Dinu. I wasn't sure what I was seeing. Elephants are beautiful and I'm glad your country takes care of them.

Poaching is an eternal problem in the forests despite the ban and security. But they are taken care of nicely, in captivity.