Elephant
animal · 12 works · 16 mentions · 20 anchored passages
the elephant · elephants · an elephant · الفيل · Abū Ḥajjāj · Hastini · elephant · elephant-splendour · female elephant · fīl
spoken of as
2 expressionselephants5 mentions
On Anger (Latin) · Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa (Sanskrit) · De Rerum Natura (Latin)
the grunting of a pig terrifies elephants.
the elephant3 mentions
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda) (Sanskrit) · Law in a Free State (English) · Ansāb al-ʻArab al-qudamāʼ (Arabic)
May the elephant-splendour spread wide, the great glory that arose from the body of Aditi.
in the texts
On the Nature of the Gods
An animal cited as an example both of something islanders would disbelieve in without direct experience and of a creature whose sagacity does not match its shape.
and if anyone spoke to you of an elephant, you would think you were even being laughed at?
but among men themselves, are there not, even with the most similar forms, unlike characters, and, with like characters, unlike shapes?
None of the beasts is more sagacious than the elephant;
On Anger
Animal cited as terrified by the grunting of a pig, illustrating groundless fear.
the grunting of a pig terrifies elephants.
Look at the elephants' necks bowed to the yoke, the bulls' backs trodden with impunity by boys and women alike as they leap about, the serpents gliding with harmless slither among the cups and in the bosom, the placid mouths of bears and lions within the house, and the wild beasts fawning on those who handle them;
Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa
Elephants of the city, described as trumpeting in confusion and dropping their food as an omen.
That city, thrown into confusion and agitation, resounded with great noise — the trumpeting of frenzied elephants and the jingling of horses.
elephants dropped their mouthfuls of food;
her elephants, warriors, and troops of horses all cried out.
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana
Largest female size-class ('Hastini'); also names an animal-imitative congress.
, sporting in water, or the congress of an elephant with many female elephants, which is said to take place only in the water, the congress of a collection of goats, the congress of a collection of deer, take place in imitation of these animals.
On the occasion of a "high congress" the Mrigi (Deer) woman should lie down in such a way as to widen her yoni, while in a "low congress" the Hastini (Elephant) woman should lie down so as to contract hers.
In the same way can be carried on the congress of a dog, the congress of a goat, the congress of a deer, the forcible mounting of an ass, the congress of a cat, the jump of a tiger, the pressing of an elephant, the rubbing of a boar, and the mounting of a horse.
Atharvaveda (Paippalāda)
An elephant whose splendour serves as the recurring standard invoked throughout the splendor hymn.
May the elephant-splendour spread wide, the great glory that arose from the body of Aditi.
As great as is the splendour of the sun and of the mighty elephant — that much splendour, O you two Aśvins garlanded with lotus-wreaths, create for me.
By that splendour whereby the elephant came into being, whereby the king stands foremost among men, whereby the gods ascended heaven with their light — with that splendour, O Agni, unite me here.
Stromata
An elephant used in an anecdote illustrating communication among animals.
When an elephant, for instance, fell into the mud and cried out, another that was present and saw what had happened turned back and, after no long while, brings with him a herd of elephants and saves the one that had fallen in.
Ansāb al-ʻArab al-qudamāʼ
The animal to which the Arabs assigned heaviness and baseness, and which bears the kunyah Abū Ḥajjāj in the reciprocal naming of beasts.
the elephant's kunyah is Abū Ḥajjāj, the lion's Abū al-Ḥārith, the wolf's Abū Jaʻdah, the bear's Abū Rabāḥ, the pig's Abū Qādim — and it is said Abū ʻUqbah — the fox's Abū al-Ḥuṣayn, the dog's Abū Khālid and, with some of them, Abū Nāṣiḥ.
swerving to the fox, courage to the lion, endurance to the ass, fidelity to the dog, wrath to the leopard, heaviness together with baseness to the elephant, and so forth.
De Rerum Natura
Elephants, cited as an animal species abundant in India though rarely seen elsewhere, illustrating a point about the infinite supply of atomic seeds for any kind.
Snake-handed elephants, whose thousands wall
With ivory ramparts India about,
Such few examples.
Kitāb mīzān al-ḥaqq fī al-manṭiq
An elephant, taken as the thing that must be defined by composition of primary significations for someone who has never seen one
and this too is called sought and (acquired), as in defining the elephant for one who does not know it and has not seen it, and other single terms besides.
Letters to Lucilius
A large tamed animal made to kneel and perform by a keeper, part of the closing analogy on taming.
The little Ethiopian bids the elephant kneel down and walk along a rope.
Law in a Free State
An animal cited in the clerk's anecdote about a legal case requiring a special license to ride one through the city.
I know elephants are not allowed to go through the streets without a special license in the daytime, because our people had a case in which a man wanted to ride an elephant through the city and distribute coloured leaflets, and the Bench said that …” Policeman—“Traction engines isn't elephants;