The composite elephant: an unseen history of connected Asia and beyond

Abstract

Throughout history, the elephant has been employed to represent abstract, unseen ideas of royalty, sanctity, and morality. In Asia, elephant traditions that were passed down and spread out from ancient India formed a strand connecting various Asian cultures together, ranging at the very least from Persia to Southeast Asia. Histories of connected Asia have been written mainly by focusing on cross-cultural contacts but still lack in noticing what has been shared across cultures. This article will shed light on the iconography and iconology of the composite elephant, which helped create commensurability between Asian cultures and beyond in an age of globalization of the early modern period.