The Elephant and the Buddha

Digs & Discoveries September/October 2023

(Courtesy Anil Dhir)
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Elephant statue, Gada Balabhadrapur, India(Courtesy Anil Dhir)

While working in the village of Gada Balabhadrapur on the banks of the Daya River in India’s state of Odisha, archaeologists unearthed a three-foot-tall sculpture of an elephant dating to the third century B.C., a time when Buddhism flourished in the area. Elephants are potent symbols in the Buddhist religion. Queen Maya of the Shakya Clan is said to have dreamed that a white elephant with six tusks entered her womb, signifying

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