Symposia & Conferences
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Item Symbolism of Elephants in Buddhism and Hinduism(Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Aslam, N.; Bukhari, M.F.Elephants have been utilized in different cultural and religious depictions since the Stone Age. They are depicted on petroglyphs and inside caves and also represented through different methods of art and craft as well as sculptures, architecture, ivory crafts and ivory paintings. In different mythologies the elephant is a sacred animal. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the elephant has been a strong special power that has spiritual significance. In Hindu mythology, one acts as the custom vehicle of Lord Indra who is considered as the God of heaven and additionally Ganesha was offered his head by the elephant when he was once beheaded by his own angry father. Hence the elephant has the honour and respect and is therefore celebrated and worshipped by the Hindus of India. In Buddhism many symbols represent the Buddha, and in Buddhist iconography a white elephant is an albino elephant. The white color is a sign of purity and holiness in Buddhism. The elephant is commonly known for its power and wisdom, and white elephants also have the all these characteristics. Queen Maya the mother of Buddha also claimed that in a dream a white elephant flew in the air and inserted his trunk in her right side resulting in the birth of Buddha. The symbols of Buddhism means “Om Mani Padme Hum”. The lotus flower, dharma wheel, stupa and white elephant are common symbols which represent the presence of Buddha.Item The Close Relationship between the Tusker and Buddhism(Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Bandara, D.J.M.R.V.Asian elephants are long-lived mammals who live for sixty years. They are highly intelligent and also extremely sociable and stay in groups. These mammals have a close relationship with humans for over centuries serving as work animals and playing an important role in religious and cultural events. The research question is why only the tusker and not the elephant is used in Buddhist cultural events. The main objective of this research is to find the reason of using the tusker in Buddhist cultural events. Mainly a literature survey was conducted in this research to collect data. Among them only qualitative data was analysed in this academic work. Through the analysis, it was found that the tusker is used in the stories related to Buddha’s life, Tales of Pansiya panas jathaka and in Perahera festivals. The most important finding is that it is always the tusker which is mentioned and not the elephant in the above references. According to the biological factors all the Asian elephants do not have tusks. In some of the male elephants, a pair of incisors may become elongated into tusks. Because of this speciality, tuskers might have been used as a symbol for the Lord Buddha as He also was special among general human beings.