Thursday, January 17, 2008

An Elephant Blessing!

As previously mentioned, my most favorite experience in India was receiving an elephant blessing in the Meenakshi Hindu Temple. Well we weren't allowed to take in cameras without paying a fee so Rafiq offered to get us a few snaps of the occasion and he sent me these today!!! Imagine my surprise when we rounded a corner and there stood this real live elephant.... ...decked out for the occasion, of course! The Hindu reverence for the elephant intrigued me as it might for others. Here is a little background: One of the Hindu Gods, Ganesh, the son of Shiva and Parvati, has an elephantine countenance with a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshiped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. Receiving an elephant blessing is a sign of good luck and fortune. I think I have had pretty good luck since I am just waiting for the "fortune" part to kick in.
Here I am patiently waiting my turn while Rochelle gets slobbered on (I mean blessed)!

2 comments:

It"s me said...

Well you still need to tell me if your elephant "blessing" worked.

Anonymous said...

Well said.