In years past, the inhabitants in the Angkor Borei’s surroundings have found several statues representing Ganesha, made of a burning clay, precious stone, or bronze, in other gestures of sitting or standing. Those prehistoric statues which are definitely dated are to demonstrate that the villagers in that region have paid homage to those Ganesha Statues. To those combined ancient sculptures whose half of body is human and the upper one is the elephant head, we could regard them as the statue of medium in the event that we mainly focus on the social Khmer context. Also, it has provided us with the new knowledge or with its deep meaning of the elephants in the ancient period. The study of the skeleton or the bone fragments buried in the prehistoric site’s cemetery in Banteay Meanchey province and the present Thailand’s U Dontani province in the Metal Age has led us to be aware of paying homage to the elephant since the prehistoric period.

Elephant with Tri-Heads, Khmer Bronze at
Mandalay, 12th C from Angkor Thom City

The wonderful feature of elephant is illustrated in detailed through the paintings on the ceramic, monastery’s or grotto’s wall in the 5th century B.C and the 2nd-3rd century A.D. Naturally, several plots of Khmer legend also affirm the sexual intercourse between the elephant and woman in “The King Of White Elephant” legend revealing the Khmer animism, which helps us deeply understand the Khmer people’s vision around the supreme power or the Khmer King’s mystery. For another instance, the Khmer legend “Chao Sro Toup Cheik” has stated that the elephant is used to find a good person in order to ascend to the throne in Khmer Nokor.

It is known that Khmer native ethnic minority in Buriram and Surin province’s some regions, where the elephant represents the family line or the earth spirit, always performs the Lieng Arak ritual in the animism before choosing any location to construct the new residence.

Wood-made Elephant with Tri-heads,

National Museum, 19th Century

Snay Village, Museum of

Ethnology, Toul Kork

Ganesha, Angkor Borei, Museum
of Ethnology, Toul Kork

Ganesha, Angkor Borei,
National Museum

In short, the elephant’s figures carved or painted on the cremating ceramics are considered a miracle because the elephants have represented mysterious natural power controlling the universe and are promoted to the God, relevant to the religious belief. Therefore, it is a fact that Khmer people in the plains and the plateaus have paid homage to the elephant since the prehistoric period; this is because of the presence of elephant symbol. By and large, through our observation, the elephant is thought as the better thing on the Khmer vision since it always brings about the prosperity, the evolvement, and the achievement in the context of animism, Brahmanism, or Buddhism.

In Cambodian context, the paying homage to the elephant has been implemented two times, in the prehistoric and the historic period, when the animism is combined with the belief system of Brahmanism and Buddhism. It is the historic period that the Khmer elephant has become the Ganesha or Erawan, the three headed elephant, which represent the Rain God or Varuna and the universe king’s meal in the Angkorean culture; for example, the God Varuna has used the Ganesha or Erawan, a vehicle, to give people the rain. In other words, the Brahman’s objective in the Vessantara’s story also has the same meaning because the powerful elephant could bring sufficient rain to the inhabitants and could avoid the drought.

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