The elephant represents wisdom, strength and prudence. He serves in India, China and Africa as the emblem of royal power and symbolizes the qualities necessary for a good ruler – dignity, insight, intellect, patience, as well as loyalty, peace, longevity, prosperity, happiness. In Asia and Africa, the elephant as an emblem plays the same role as the eagle or lion in Europe and America.
In Ancient India the elephant is a symbol of sacred wisdom, royal dignity, invincible power and prudence. Mighty Indra, the head of the pantheon, drives his possessions on the beautiful white elephant Airavata, which was born when the ocean churned.
This elephant is the chief of the world elephants, dignagov, guardians of the countries of the world. Huge, like mountains, with four fangs each, the diggings on four sides support the earth.
Ganesha, the god of happiness with the head of an elephant, is the leader of the ganas, the lower deities, who formed the retinue of Shiva, the father of Ganesha. He is called the Obstacle of Obstacles (Vigneshvara) and is the god of wisdom and literature. According to legend, the Ganesha tusk was written with the great epic “Mahabharata”.
