Raghu's column!: Amidst elephants for three days! In the Land of White Elephants!

VIDEO OF OUR ENCOUNTER WITH ELEPHANTS IN THAILAND

AND AT THE NONG NOOCH VILLAGE ELEPHANT SHOW:

Very recently we spent three days amidst many elephants in Thailand. For a few hours on each of these days, we were amidst several elephants as you can see in the attached pictures and video. On the first day, it was at the Sriracha Tiger Zoo, Chonburi, and the second day it was at the Nong Nooch Village, Pattaya, and on the third day, it was at the Safari Park, Bangkok. The remarkable Elephant Show in the video is of the one at the Nong Nooch Village. However, we did not get to see White (Pink) Elephants, which are available only with the royals.

The elephant has a symbolic and religious meaning for Thais. Elephants are so ingrained in Thai culture that they are recognised as a symbol of national identity. For hundreds of years, these great creatures have stood alongside Thai people in pursuits such as war, labour, transportation, and more recently, tourism. The elephant is the National Animal of Thailand and it appears in many official seals.

The elephant figured in the Siamese Flag until the early 1900s (Siam is the old name of Thailand) and now it is found on many provincial seals and on Bangkok’s seal it shows the Hindu deity Lord Indra riding an elephant.

Here are some interesting facts about these magnificent animals:

Queen Maya, the mother of Buddha, had a dream that she ascended the heavens and was greeted by a great white elephant bearing a lotus flower before it disappeared into the right side of her belly, and thus the Queen knew she had conceived.

The Hindu God, Indra, the King of Heaven, rides a three-headed elephant named Airavata. Lord Indra is also a protector deity for Buddhists, and also the patron protector of Bangkok (shown in Bangkok Emblem).

The elephant is also a symbol of justice and loyalty. An archaic Siamese tradition involved a person to be punished being placed in a Rattan Ball and kicked by an elephant, if he survived he was forgiven if not, justice has been served. Loyalty because it has always been associated with the Thai struggle to maintain their sovereignty from the might of neighbours.

The White Elephant is the symbol for Kinship (Buddha+Indra). By Royal Law, all White (Pink) Elephants in the Kingdom belong to the King, and their presence must be made known to the King upon their discovery and identification. To spot a white elephant during a King’s reign is a sign of a prosperous reign, and Kingdoms have gone to war to seize control of these rare elephants.

There’s a yearly festival to honour Thailand’s elephants. Each year, ‘Surin Elephant Roundup’ pays homage to Thailand’s elephants and gives thanks for the role these mighty creatures have played in the development of Thailand over the years. All of the province’s elephants are recalled for the event, including those that now live in other parts of the country. There’s a huge parade, with hundreds of elephants, followed by a gigantic buffet breakfast. Fruit and vegetables are laid out on long stretches of tables for the elephants to feast upon. There are then several days of elephant demonstrations at the stadium.

In the year 1900, the number of elephants in Thailand was estimated to be around 100,000, but just over a century later, that figure had been dramatically reduced to around 6,000 – 7,000 with almost half of that number domesticated and the remainder living wild in National Parks. With the longevity up to 70 years in the wild, this should not have happened to the population of Elephants.

It is estimated that there were once more than 350 species of elephants in the world. Today we only have two of them left – the Asian and the African species.

Asian elephants and African elephants are different. Asian elephants, the type found in Thailand are like Indian elephants and have several big differences with their African cousins. African elephants are usually significantly larger and heavier than Asian elephants. The two species of elephants have different ear and head shapes, and there are differences between their tusks, trunks, and toenails. The skin of an Asian elephant is typically smoother too. Furthermore, only male Asian elephants have tusks, whereas both male and female African elephants may have these ivory horn-like overgrown tusks (teeth).

Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant; is the only harmless great thing, and humanity has made it an endangered species and very soon it may become extinct.

In conclusion, I would like to end this article with a Thai saying that says a marriage is like an elephant – the husband is the front legs, that choose the direction and the wife the back legs, providing the power and support!

VIDEO OF THE AMAZING OPEN SAFARI ZOO AND PARK,

BANGKOK: