The myth and legend of the white elephant ( also for Khun Stu )
Torben Larsen
- The Land of the White Elephant..
In the story of the Buddha, the white elephant is connected to
fetility and to knowledge. On the eve of giving birth to the Lord
Buddha, his mother dreams that a white elephant comes to present
her with a lotus, symbol of purity and knowledge.
At the heart of the first great Southeast Asian Empire, at the
Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the might of the war elephants is
depicted on murals of the region's armies.
Over the next few hundred years, two states dominated the region
- the forerunners of modern Burma and Thailand (Siam). In both,
the elephant was a very important animal. It was key to military
success - both in mass battles, and in the elephant duels.
It was also key to royal pageantry - kings chose the biggest,
most magnificent elephants for royal ceremonies and processions.
Kings and courtiers spent a lot of time and energy hunting
elephants from the forests. And the most powerful kings kept
thousands in their stables.
The white elephant was something above an ordinary elephant. It
had sacred power. It was the mount of the war god. It brought
fertility. For the kings of Burma and Siam, the possession of
these sacred beasts became very important. A king who had many,
fine white elephants would be successful - his kingdom would
prosper and his reign be long. If his white elephants died, it
foretold disaster for king and kingdom.
This was set out in a Buddhist text, the "Three Worlds" says:
"The magnificent king has seven things: a perfect wife, and able
treasurer, a wise chief minister, a swift horse, a wheel of the
law and a precious gem to guide his actions: and the most noble
of white elephants."
The kings hunted eagerly for these fine and special beasts.
Occasionally they presented them to one another as marks of
diplomacy. Sometimes they fought over them. And always they
looked after them well - because their rule depended on it.
The Royal White Elephants were not taken to war, and not ridden
in procession, Rather they were kept within the confines of the
palace, entrusted to the care of senior officials, fed well,
washed regularly, and worried over constantly.
When the British envoy came to Amarapura in 1855, Mr. C. Grant,
the artist, drew beautiful pictures of the royal white elephant
Nibbana. Grant also made an eyewitness account of the noble beast
as follow: "The colour of the animal was a cream very slight dun,
his magnificent tusks nearly touch the ground. He was in bands of
crimson cloth or velvet and gold, studded with large bosses of
gold, margined with innumerable rubies,..."
By the nineteenth century, the white elephant was firmly
established as one of the special wonder of Siam. The American
Frank Vincent titled his book on Southeast Asia, The Land of the
White Elephant,
The Norwegian traveler, Carl Bock, starts his book of Siam with a
description of the king's white elephant. He also made a painting
of the animal. But the attendants were dismayed that in the
painting the elephant didn't look fair enough. So they washed the
animal with tamarind-water for serveral days and asked Bock back
to redo the painting. Bock admitted that the color had changed:
"So I made a second watercolor drawing... so that my readers can
form a correct idea of a real "white elephant", for this was
acknowledged to be the fairest ever caught at least within living
memory."
From Burma too, came reports of the kings' extravagant care for
white elephants. Though his favorite white elephant was clearly
dying, the last Burmese king, Thibaw, loaded him with treasures,
making him the wealthiest individual in the country. His forehead
was decked with a spray of diamonds to ward off evil spirits.
Diamonds were set into each tusk. A golden plaque, inscribed with
his titles, Jung from his head. From his ears hung golden
pendants. Four golden umbrellas protected him from the heat of
the sun. Above his gold feeding trough, a mirror specially
ordered from France was installed to reflect his splendor. Yet
the white elephant died. The pundits predicted plagues, floods,
earthquakes. But the real disaster was more prosaic. The British
took over Burma and deposed the king.
In neighboring Siam, the kings still revered the white elephant.
Indeed, they put the white elephant on their new flag.
But with elephants no longer so vital for warfare, elephant hunts
had become less common, and fewer of the rare white elephants
were found. The Siamese king passed a law demanding that any
white elephant found in the kingdom had to be presented to the
king. He sent out scouting parties and offered rewards.
The discovery of a white elephant became a special event, a time
for national celebration. The surgeon Finlayson arrived in
Bangkok just after one discovery in the 1820s. With a scientist's
eye, he noted they were not "snow white" oddities, but a kind of
albino. And rather than spinning stories of gold mats, he noted
they were well kept, in gold condition and clean surroundings
Thirty years later, Sir John Bowring also arrived in Bangkok a
few days after a newly found white elephant had been welcomed to
the capital in a glorious procession down the river. He was
escorted to the corrals and shown the prized animal. Praya Chang
( King's greatest white elephant) at Amarin Vinichai Palace Pra
Savej Vachirabhaha of King Rama 6
After Sir John had negotiated the main trade treaty between
Britain and Siam, the Siamese king sent to Queen Victoria a tuft
of the white elephant's hairs; and to Sir John himself, a few
hairs from the tail. Unfortunately the elephant died soon after,
and Sir John received another gift, described by the king as "a
portion of her white skin with beautiful body hairs preserved in
spirit. I trust it will be an article of curiosity." Sir John
passed it on to the Museum of the Zoological Society.
Both the king with whom Sir John negotiated (King Mongkut), and
his son King Chualongkorn, were great modernizers. They welcomed
foreigners. They pushed forward reforms which helped Siam to
escape colonialism and emerge as a modern nation. But being
modern reformers did not mean abandoning the white elephant.
After all, both King Mongkut's father and grandfather had died
only shortly after their own treasured white elephants had passed
away. When King Mongkut's white elephant was sick, he nursed it
back to health, and himself lived for another 14 years.
King Mongkut also wrote a manual describing the mnay points of a
perfect white elephant - including yellow eyes, white nails,
pinkish skin, white hairs, and a beautiful snore. The beauty of a
woman can not be catalogued like this, he noted, because men have
differing tastes. But the beauty of white elephant is more
definite.
When King Mongkut heard that America had no elephants, he offered
to send some over. "If on the continent there should be several
pairs of young male and female elephants turned loose in the
forest where there was an abundance of water and ... if the
climate there should prove favorable to an elephant, we are of
opinion that after a while they will increase till the
inhabitants of America will be able to catch them and tame and
use them as beasts of burden making them of benefit of the
country"
President Lincoln replied that the American climate was probably
unsuitable, and that they preferred to use steam power. But he
thanked the Siamese king for the gift of two magnificent elephant
tusks.
King Mongkut's son, King Chulalongkorn traveled to Europe in
1907. One of his German hosts had heard about the Siamese love
for the white elephant. He hired a local artists to make a flag
with a white elephant and hang it all around the house where the
king was lodged. The King thanked him very much for the thought.
It had made him feel very much at home. But it was a pity the
artist had probably never seen an elephant. The animal on the
flag looked more like a cow. He would send them a proper
elephant. What he meant by this was the Order of the White
Elepahnt - a decoration granted by the king for service to the
state.
When Siamese envoys traveled to England and had audience with
Queen Victoria. They were most impressed with her appearance: "
One can not but be struck with the aspect of the august Queen of
England, or fail to observe that she must be from a race of godly
and warlike kings and rulers of the earth, in that her eyes,
complexion, and above all her bearing , are those of a beautiful
and majestic white elephant." In the Brahman text, The seven
specific good attributes which the white elephants must have
are:
1. A white or pinkish color around the cornea of the eyes.
2. The roof of the mouth white or pink and unridged.
3. White or pink toenails.
4. White or light brown hair that is transparent when held up to
light. Two or more body hairs growing out of one follicle.
5. The sking must be white, pink ,light brown, or light grey.
6. The tale's hair must be long.
7. White or pink genitals.
There are many more details about the attributes of white
elephant
In Laos, after the new form of government came into power, the
king was put into the working commune and died a few years after
that. One of the king's white elephant was kept in the zoo near
Vientiane. This one the royal officer from Thailand got a chance
to see it and he said that it does not meet all the major
characteristics of a royal white elephant, mentioned in the
ancient text:
Another white elephant of a better attributes is kept somewhere
close to the house of the government's leader. This one seem to
meet all the major characteristics of the royal white elephant as
you may see in the above pictures. This elephant will lead the
parade every year during Songkran festival (Thailand and Loas'
New Year, on the 13th of April) in Vientiane. It would be dressed
up in the old traditional maner.
In Cambodia, the last white elephant was seen and taken picture
in the royal palace during the1960's. After that, the civil war
in Cambodia took place for many years, and nobody have seen or
heard any thing about white elephant ever since. In Vietnam,
white elephants were mentioned in the history on and off, but
there are no records of the white elephant being found.
The white elephants are very rare today, due to the change in
politic of the countries in Southeast Asia. In Burma or Myanmar,
white elephant do not exist anymore. The last white elephant in
Burma was found in 1961 in Intawgyi District of Kachin State,
Norther Burma. It was a male elephant. The white elephant spent
first few months in its homeland and was moved to Yangon Zoo for
public interest. It's complexion was not actually white but
pinkish like a Scandinavian's. And the hairs growing thinly all
over the body were all white and shiny. It was reported that the
elephant had all the major characteristics of a royal white
elephant, mentioned the ancient scriptures: Despite its
regality, the elephant didn't receive a VIP treatment later.
Besides, the mother elephant was left in the timber production
site in the northern Myanmar. The young white elephant therefore
was looked after by a nurse elephant of ordinary colour. To make
matters worse, he didn't enjoy the publicity he received every
day in the zoo and the food quality didn't seem to be in
accordance with the needs of the royal elephant either. Finally,
he died an ordinary death in 1971 and has been put into oblivion
since then.
White elephants' sculptures, paintings, wood craves, murals and
archives can be found just about any places you can imagine in
Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand. You can find it in the
temples, palaces, tourist souvenirs, and many other products.
Some of the paintings which you will see in the following pages
are among the oldest and the most famous collection.
Regards
Torben
I wish I was what I was when I wished what I was was what I am.