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A white elephant (also albino elephant) is a rare kind of elephant, but not a distinct species. Although often depicted as snow white, their skin is typically a soft reddish-brown, turning a light pink when wet. They have fair eyelashes and toenails. The traditional "white elephant" is commonly misunderstood as being albino, but the Thai term, chang samkhan, actually translates as 'auspicious elephant', being "white" in terms of an aspect of purity. As of 2023, Myanmar has ten white elephants. The king of Thailand also keeps a number of white elephants, eleven of which are still alive as of 2016. Religious significance Hinduism In Hindu puranas, the vehicle or mount of god Indra (Sakra in the Buddhist pantheon) is the white elephant named Airāvata, which possesses the ability to fly. Airāvata emerged when the universe was created by the churning of the Ocean of Milk by the demons and the gods. Consequently, Airāvata is depicted as a sacred white elephant, typically with four tusks in India and sometimes with five heads in Southeast Asia. The white elephant is referred to as Shrī Gāja (lit. 'elephant of Shrī'), Megha (lit. 'cloud'), or Gāja Lakshmī (lit. 'Lakshmī of the Elephants') when worshipped as a divine being. King Bimbisara had a white elephant, which he had captured in a forest when the elephant was in his musth period. He named the bull elephant Sechanaka, which means "watering", as the elephant used to water the plants by himself without any prior training. It is said the cost of this elephant was more the half of Magadha. He later gave it to his son Vihallakumara, which made his other son Ajatashatru jealous. Ajatashatru tried to steal it many times, which resulted in two of the most terrible wars, called the Mahasilakantaka & Ratha-musala. Buddhism The white elephant also holds significance in the story of The Buddha's conception and birth. According to the story of the Buddha's conception, on the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six white tusks entered her right side. From this dream, soothsayers predicted that the child would be born a Buddha or a chakravarti (universal ruler). Historical significance In the Buddhist kingdoms of Southeast Asia, the white elephant was closely linked with Buddhist cosmology, because of the white elephant's close association with Sakka (cf. Śakra), the chief deva of Mount Meru, and the concept of kingship, namely the ideal 'universal monarch' (chakkavatti, cf. chakravarti) and 'righteous king' (dhammaraja; cf. dharmaraja). Thus, the possession of a white elephant symbolised kingship in mainland Southeast Asian kingdoms. Competition for white elephants drove royal courts to wage war with each other. The most prominent of such wars were the so-called 'elephant wars' between Thai and Burmese kingdoms. Between the 1500s to 1700s, Ayutthaya fought numerous wars with the Taungoo, Restored Taungoo, and Konbaung kingdoms. Arakanese and Burmese monarchs adopted the title 'lord of white elephants.' The discovery and receipt of white elephants by royal courts featured prominently in indigenous chronicles. Myanmar In Myanmar (Burma), white elephants, called hsinphyudaw (Burmese: ဆင်ဖြူတော်, lit. 'royal white elephant'), have historically been revered as good omens, and as symbols of power and good fortune. In the pre-colonial era, the discovery of a white elephant was considered a cosmic endorsement of the reigning monarch. They are traditionally graded based on characteristics called kyan-in lekkhana (ကြန်အင်လက္ခဏာ), including their tusks, back, ears, eyes, tail, toenails, skin, and tail. As of 2023, Myanmar possesses ten captive white elephants, which are in the custody of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation's Forest Department. Three white elephants are currently held in a pavilion near the Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple in Yangon. The rest are kept at Uppatasanti Pagoda in Naypyidaw, the national capital. The captivity of white elephants has been criticised by observers, including historian Than Tun. Burmese white elephants are kept in inhumane conditions, shackled for 22 hours a day and housed in small open-air pavilions.The ruling military regime has repeatedly announced the discovery of white elephants, to bolster support for their regime, and by extension, their political legitimacy. In 2009, the military regime began printing 5000 Myanmar kyat banknotes that feature an image of a white elephant, widely seen as an act of yadaya. In 2013, Thai prime minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul asked the Burmese government to temporarily lend a white elephant and house it at Chiang Mai Zoo for 6 months, in order to mark 65 years of bilateral relations between the two countries. The Burmese government rejected the request, citing logistical challenges. On 24 July 2022, a white elephant named Raṭṭhanandaka was born in Taungup Township, Rakhine State. Special postage stamps and gold commemorative coins featuring the elephant were produced to mark the 2023 Independence Day celebrations. Below is a list of captive white elephants in Myanmar: Rājāgahasīripaccayagajarājā (ရာဇာဂဟသီရိပစ္စယဂဇရာဇာ) – a male discovered on 20 January 2000 (20 January 2000) in Rathedaung Township, Rakhine State Siṅgīmālā (သိင်္ဂီမာလာ) – a female discovered on 28 January 2002 (28 January 2002) in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State Ratīmālā (ရတီမာလာ) – a female discovered on 18 July 2002 (18 July 2002) in Maungdaw District, Rakhine State Bhaddavatī (ဘဒ္ဒဝတီ, lit. 'endowed with goodness') – a female discovered on 26 June 2010 (26 June 2010) in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State Nandavatī (နန္ဒဝတီ) – a female discovered on 23 September 2010 (23 September 2010) in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State Ngwe Saddan (ငွေဆဒ္ဒန်) – a male discovered on 15 October 2011 (15 October 2011) in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State Hemavatī (ဟေမဝတီ) – a female discovered on 25 October 2011 (25 October 2011) in Ngwesaung, Ayeyarwady Region Jātakalyā (ဇာတကလျာ) – a female discovered on 27 November 2011 (27 November 2011) in Naypyidaw Sīrimālā (သီရိမာလာ) – a female discovered on 27 February 2015 (27 February 2015) in Pathein Township, Ayeyarwady Region Raṭṭhanandaka (ရဋ္ဌနန္ဒက, lit. 'country's happiness') – a male born on 24 July 2022 (2022-07-25) (aged 2013) in Taungup Township, Rakhine State Persia There were white elephants in the army of the Sasanian king Khusrau II. According to al-Tabari, a white elephant killed the commander of the Arab Muslims Abu Ubayd al-Thaqafi in the Battle of the Bridge. White elephants were considered royalty by Arabs and rode by caliphs. Abul-Abbas, a white elephant was gifted to Charlemagne by Harun al-Rashid, the fifth Abbasid caliph. Thailand "According to Brahmanic belief, if a monarch possessed one or more 'white' elephants, it was a glorious and happy sign." King Trailok possessed the first. In the Thai language, they are called albino, not white, indicating "pale yellow eyes and w.... Discover the Damien Albino popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Damien Albino books.