Thursday, December 9, 2010

Travel Thursday | White Elephant of Thailand


Believe me now?


It was a trip with my sis back in 2008 (Yeah! I visit Thailand almost by yearly -just love it!), and during our trip to Ayuthayya , we stop by at an elephant sanctuary and there, they taught the elephant to do some tricks like sitting, drawing (REALLY!!!) and etc.

As I was busy taking pics of other elephants around, I saw this baby elephant from far and it's WHITE! I mean... really WHITE! Kid you not! Crazy me (As usual!) ran closer to take the pics. I was practically awe struck, is it suppose to be sacred or something...

Out of curiosity I googled (from Wikipedia ofcos) and found out :
The term derives from the sacred white elephants kept by Southeast Asian monarchs in Burma, Thailand[1], Laos and Cambodia. To possess a white elephant was regarded (and is still regarded in Thailand and Burma) as a sign that the monarch reigned with justice and power, and that the kingdom was blessed with peace and prosperity. The tradition derives from tales which associate a white elephant with the birth of the Buddha, as his mother was reputed to have dreamed of a white elephant presenting her with a lotus flower, a symbol of wisdom and purity, on the eve of giving birth.[2] Because the animals were considered sacred and laws protected them from labor, receiving a gift of a white elephant from a monarch was simultaneously both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because the animal was sacred and a sign of the monarch's favour, and a curse because the animal had to be retained and could not be put to much practical use, at least to offset the cost of maintaining it.


Have you seen an animal as unique?


Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia



16 comments:

Teamgsquare said...

Always heard Thailand as "The land of White Elephants " . Very unique animal . Thanks for Sharing

George said...

Thanks for the information (and photo) about white elephants. I've never seen anything as unique as this.

Gracie said...

The white elephant is very unique! Wow! I haven't seen any animal that is different.

And I would love to go to Thailand!

Ako Retna said...

geezz,

u pun minat travelling eh..
orait .. masuk my list blog of travel nih hahaa...

nice knowing u .. ;-)

Shingo T said...

Gosh, that's a white elephant (pun intended).

An albino elephant?

illustration poetry said...

woowww, never seen a white elephant before!!!

have a nice weekend :))

xxoo

Lily Riani said...

Team G Square,

agree. but the thought of seeing one. hemmm...

george,

glad you like it. do drop by my blog often.

gracie,

you would love thailand, shopping cheap, food yummy, culture extensive, tourism fantastic.

Lily Riani said...

ako,

ah ah... noticed you love traveling too... we need to keep in touch much more ;)

shingo t,

hehehhehe..... not sure neh. didnt ask the elephant.

Sympathy for The Devil,

me too hence the excitement.... ahhaha... you have nice weekend too yah. :D

Kellie Collis said...

That must have been amazing! Enjoy your day, Kellie xx

Unknown said...

White elephant sounds alien to me,, that's why i love coming to yuour blog, a treasure trove of travel information..

hey enjoy the remaining of the weekend ya...

Lily Riani said...

kellie,

it was. thanks

eugene,

thank you thank you....

TG said...

Never seen a white elephant. That's amazing. It's like a big panda, just that it's not one. It's an elephant. lol.

Lily Riani said...

mkl,

never seen one like this, apparently according to thai beliefs its sacred. wow! does that mean am lucky.

Unknown said...

never see one when I was in Thailand :(

And yeah, I can understand the yearly Thailand visit, me love it tooooo :')

Lily Riani said...

byya,

exactly. we should do a trip together :D

Anonymous said...

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