[October 25th, 2004] Elephant

Elephant, a great animal in many ways. It will serve well as the first symbol featured in Seek My Bowl.

Its most significant symbolic attribute is its wisdom. In asian religions elephants have appeared in many settings. A white elephant announced the birth of Siddharta Gautama which probably resulted in white elephants being sacred in the kingdom of Thailand. The current king owns 10.

One of the most known gods in hinduism, Ganesha, lord of the hosts, is equipped with an elephant head. He is the god of writing, of luck and fortune, doorways and households. His elephant head symbolizes intelligence and beauty.

Elephants have a long lifetime and have thus become a symbol for victory over death. Maybe that is why it, in the past, has been bundled with fable animals like the unicorn. More likely, the trunk is the reason for this unrealness off elephants. Having a trunk is not exactly normal even for large animals.

A conception that may be associated is that of its helplessness. In myths, a fallen elephant is not able to stand up on his own feet but needs miraculuos help to get up. Maybe this is why elephants are described as dumb in some fables. Dumb enough to fall - in sharp contrast to its attributed wisdom.

The national order of Denmark is called Elefantorden. It was created in 1458 and was raised to the most important order of Denmark in 1693. The elephant has since been used now and then as symbol on danish coins.

The most famous modern use of the elephant as a symbol may be the elephant of United States republican party. It has been used as a picture for the party since 1874 when it first appeared in a Harpers Weekly cartoon.

To sum up , the elephant is a symbol of knowledge, wisdom, immortality and stupidity. A musthave for anyone.