It is commonly supposed that the Buddhists of Siam and Birmah regard the
Chang Phoouk, or white elephant, as a deity, and worship it accordingly.
The notion is erroneous, especially as it relates to Siam. The Buddhists
do not recognize God in any material form whatever, and are shocked at
the idea of adoring an elephant. Even Buddha, to whom they undoubtedly
offer pious homage, they do not style "God" but on the contrary maintain
that, though an emanation from a "sublimated ethereal being," he is by
no means a deity. According to their philosophy of metempsychosis,
however, each successive Buddha, in passing through a series of
transmigrations, must necessarily have occupied in turn the forms of
white animals of a certain class,--particularly the swan, the stork, the
white sparrow, the dove, the monkey, and the elephant. But there is much
obscurity and diversity in the views of their ancient writers on this
subject. Only one thing is certain, that the forms of these nobler and
purer creatures are reserved for the souls of the good and great, who
find in them a kind of redemption from the baser animal life. Thus
almost all white animals are held in reverence by the Siamese, because
they were once superior human beings, and the white elephant, in
particular, is supposed to be animated by the spirit of some king or
hero. Having once been a great man, he is thought to be familiar with
the dangers that surround the great, and to know what is best and safest
for those whose condition in all respects was once his own. He is hence
supposed to avert national calamity, and bring prosperity and peace to a
people.
[Illustration: A WAR ELEPHANT ]
From the earliest times the kings of Siam and Birmah have anxiously
sought for the white elephant, and having had the rare fortune to
procure one, have loaded it with gifts and dignities, as though it were
a conscious favorite of the throne. When the governor of a province of
Siam is notified of the appearance of a white elephant within his
bailiwick, he immediately commands that prayers and offerings shall be
made in all the temples, while he sends out a formidable expedition of
hunters and slaves to take the precious beast, and bring it in in
triumph. As soon as he is informed of its capture, a special messenger
is despatched to inform the king of its sex, probable age, size,
complexion, deportment, looks, and ways; and in the presence of his
Majesty this bearer of glorious tidings undergoes the painfully pleasant
operation of having his mouth, ears, and nostrils stuffed with gold.
Especially is the lucky wight--perhaps some half-wild woodsman--who was
first to spy the illustrious monster munificently rewarded. Orders are
promptly issued to the woons and wongses of the several districts
through which he must pass to prepare to receive him royally, and a wide
path is cut for him through the forests he must traverse on his way to
the capital. Wherever he rests he is sumptuously entertained, and
everywhere he is escorted and served by a host of attendants, who sing,
dance, play upon instruments, and perform feats of strength or skill for
his amusement, until he reaches the banks of the Meinam, where a great
floating palace of wood, surmounted by a gorgeous roof and hung with
crimson curtains, awaits him. The roof is literally thatched with
flowers ingeniously arranged so as to form symbols and mottoes, which
the superior beast is supposed to decipher with ease. The floor of this
splendid float is laid with gilt matting curiously woven, in the centre
of which his four-footed lordship is installed in state, surrounded by
an obsequious and enraptured crowd of mere bipeds, who bathe him,
perfume him, fan him, feed him, sing and play to him, flatter him. His
food consists of the finest herbs, the tenderest grass, the sweetest
sugar-cane, the mellowest plantains, the brownest cakes of wheat, served
on huge trays of gold and silver; and his drink is perfumed with the
fragrant flower of the _dok mallee_, the large native jessamine.
Thus, in more than princely state, he is floated down the river to a
point within seventy miles of the capital, where the king and his court,
all the chief personages of the kingdom, and a multitude of priests,
both Buddhist and Brahmin, accompanied by troops of players and
musicians, come out to meet him, and conduct him with all the honors to
his stable-palace. A great number of cords and ropes of all qualities
and lengths are attached to the raft, those in the centre being of fine
silk (figuratively, "spun from a spider's web"). These are for the king
and his noble retinue, who with their own hands make them fast to their
gilded barges; the rest are secured to the great fleet of lesser boats.
And so, with shouts of joy, beating of drums, blare of trumpets, boom of
cannon, a hallelujah of music, and various splendid revelry, the great
Chang Phoouk is conducted in triumph to the capital.
Here in a pavilion, temporary but very beautiful, he is welcomed with
imposing ceremonies by the custodians of the palace and the principal
personages of the royal household. The king, his courtiers, and the
chief priests being gathered round him, thanksgiving is offered up; and
then the lordly beast is knighted, after the ancient manner of the
Buddhists, by pouring upon his forehead consecrated water from a
chank-shell.
The titles reserved for the Chang Phoouk vary according to the purity of
the complexion (for these favored creatures are rarely true
albinos,--salmon or flesh-color being the nearest approach to white in
almost all the historic "white elephants" of the courts of Birmah and
Siam) and the sex; for though one naturally has recourse to the
masculine pronoun in writing of a transmigrated prince or warrior, it
often happens that prince or warrior has, in the medlied mask of
metempsychosis, assumed a female form. Such, in fact, was the case with
the stately occupant of the stable-palace at the court of Maha Mongkut;
and she was distinguished by the high-sounding appellation of Mââ Phya
Seri Wongsah Ditsarah Krasâat,--"August and Glorious Mother, Descendant
of Kings and Heroes."
For seven or nine days, according to certain conditions, the Chang
Phoouk is fêted at the temporary pavilion, and entertained with a
variety of dramatic performances; and these days are observed as a
general holiday throughout the land. At the expiration of this period he
is conducted with great pomp to his sumptuous quarters within the
precincts of the first king's palace, where he is received by his own
court of officers, attendants, and slaves, who install him in his fine
lodgings, and at once proceed to robe and decorate him. First, the court
jeweller rings his tremendous tusks with massive gold, crowns him with a
diadem of beaten gold of perfect purity, and adorns his burly neck with
heavy golden chains. Next his attendants robe him in a superb velvet
cloak of purple, fringed with scarlet and gold; and then his court
prostrate themselves around him, and offer him royal homage.
When his lordship would refresh his portly person in the bath, an
officer of high rank shelters his noble head with a great umbrella of
crimson and gold, while others wave golden fans before him. On these
occasions he is invariably preceded by musicians, who announce his
approach with cheerful minstrelsy and songs.
If he falls ill, the king's own leech prescribes for him, and the chief
priests repair daily to his palace to pray for his safe deliverance, and
sprinkle him with consecrated waters and anoint him with consecrated
oils. Should he die, all Siam is bereaved, and the nation, as one man,
goes into mourning for him. But his body is not burned; only his brains
and heart are thought worthy of that last and highest honor. The
carcass, shrouded in fine white linen, and laid on a bier, is carried
down the river with much wailing and many mournful dirges, to be thrown
into the Gulf of Siam.
In 1862 a magnificent white--or, rather, salmon-colored--elephant was
"bagged," and preparations on a gorgeous scale were made to receive him.
A temporary pavilion of extraordinary splendor sprang up, as if by
magic, before the eastern gate of the palace; and the whole nation was
wild with joy; when suddenly came awful tidings,--he had died!
No man dared tell the king. But the Kralahome--that man of prompt
expedients and unfailing presence of mind--commanded that the
preparations should cease instantly, and that the building should vanish
with the builders. In the evening his Majesty came forth, as usual, to
exult in the glorious work. What was his astonishment to find no vestige
of the splendid structure that had been so nearly completed the night
before. He turned, bewildered, to his courtiers, to demand an
explanation, when suddenly the terrible truth flashed into his mind.
With a cry of pain he sank down upon a stone, and gave vent to an
hysterical passion of tears; but was presently consoled by one of his
children, who, carefully prompted in his part, knelt before him and
said: "Weep not, O my father! The stranger lord may have left us but for
a time." The stranger lord, fatally pampered, had succumbed to
astonishment and indigestion.
A few days after this mournful event the king read to me a curious
description of the defunct monster, and showed me parts of his skin
preserved, and his tusks, which in size and whiteness surpassed the
finest I had ever seen. His (that is, the elephant's) eyes were light
blue, surrounded by salmon-color; his hair fine, soft, and white; his
complexion pinkish white; his tusks like long pearls; his ears like
silver shields; his trunk like a comet's tail; his legs like the feet of
the skies; his tread like the sound of thunder; his looks full of
meditation; his expression full of tenderness; his voice the voice of a
mighty warrior; and his bearing that of an illustrious monarch.
That was a terrible affliction, to the people not less than to the king.
On all occasions of state,--court receptions, for example,--the white
elephant, gorgeously arrayed, is stationed on the right of the inner
gate of the palace, and forms an indispensable as well as a conspicuous
figure in the picture.
When the Siamese ambassadors returned from England, the chief of the
embassy--a man remarkable for his learning and the purity of his
character, who was also first cousin to the Supreme King--published a
quaint pamphlet, describing England and her people, their manners and
customs and dwellings, with a very particular report of the presentation
of the embassy at court. Speaking of the personal appearance of Queen
Victoria, he says: "One cannot but be struck with the aspect of the
august Queen of England, or fail to observe that she must be of pure
descent from a race of goodly and warlike kings and rulers of the earth,
in that her eyes, complexion, and above all her bearing, are those of a
beautiful and majestic white elephant."