The White Elephant

We're in Southeast Asia again this week, this time for the story of the royal symbol of Thailand.

In Thailand, as well as Siam, Thailand's predecessor, the White Elephant is a symbol of the royal line. All White Elephants belong to the king and are ceremonially presented to him.

White Elephants, also sometimes called Pink Elephants or Auspicious Elephants, are not actually white. They are generally a light reddish-brown, sometimes turning pink when wet. The elephants are not actually albino and the determination of a White Elephant is made by palace experts.

A White Elephant at Naypyidaw's Uppatasanti Pagoda (Wikimedia)

White Elephants are found almost entirely among Indian Elephants and are extremely rare or nonexistent in African Elephants. 

Despite the English use of the phrase White Elephant, there is no evidence to support the idea that the King would give a White Elephant to someone in order to bankrupt them. In fact, all White Elephants belong to the King, so one would never have been given away.

To the people of Thailand, these White Elephants are priceless. A White Elephant even appeared on the flag of Thailand from 1855 to 1916, over 60 years.

The Flag of Thailand, 1855-1916 (Wikimedia)

In Buddhism, the dominant religion in Thailand, the Buddha's mother dreamed of a White Elephant on the night before the Buddha's birth. The White Elehphant is a symbol of wisdom and purity in Buddhism and of prosperity and good fortune throughout Southeast Asia.

The current King of Thailand owns 10 White Elephants, six males and four females. The male and female elephants are kept in separate facilities, since they are not allowed to breed.

There is currently only one confirmed White Elephant living in the wild. Called Sudu Aliya, which means white elephant, she lives in Sri Lanka. She is currently being monitored by the Center for Conservation and Research of Sri Lanka and was last seen in 2012.

I found the website of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center very helpful in writing this article. The Conservation Center cares for all of the royal White Elephants.

Share Spotlight: The Story of One

This week's share spotlight is a BBC documentary.
The Story of One

Something a little different this week for the Share Spotlight: a documentary. This documentary is a bit silly, but still one of my all time favorites. Terry Jones, a former member of Monty Python (which explains the silliness) takes the viewer through the journey to our modern number system. From notching marks on  a bone to the binary system that underlies all our modern technology, this documentary explains the major steps in the history of numbers.

My only real complaint is that Terry Jones fails to mention that the zero was actually invented twice. Once in India and once in Mesoamerica by the Mayans. The Mayan number system is fascinating and on my list of things to write about.

Other than that, what a great way to bring a little bit of History into Math! As much as I love math, this documentary really helped me get a good handle on why we use the numbers we do.

What did you learn about the history of numbers in school? What do you think about bringing a little bit of History into Math? Or vice versa?

Letters from the Seams of a Skull

Devanagari is one of the widely used scripts in the world

Devanagari is used for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, and Nepali languages and so is used all over the Indian subcontinent and the surrounding areas.

Devanagari is an abugida alphabet or alphasyllabary, which means that there are distinct vowels and consonants, but that vowels are also used to modify the consonants, which unmodified have a certain syllable sound.

Devanagari is most easily recognized by the bar that runs across the top of the script, from which all the letter seem to descend.

Some consonants in Devanagari. (Wikimedia)

Devanagari has been used from about the 12th century CE. There are about 50 letters in the Devanagari script, not counting the numerous derivations caused by combining the consonants with vowels. Devanagari is read from left to right.

The Vedas, the Hindu scriptures are generally written in Devanagari and the word "Devanagari" derives from deva, deity, and nagari, city.

In Hindu myth, the Devanagari script comes from Brahma. When Brahma went to write down his teachings, he found that there was no system to record them with. In order to share his teachings, he invented writing, using the seams of the skull as a pattern for the letters.

In some forms of the myth, it is Sarasvati, Brahma's wife, who invents the letters. Sarasvati (sometimes Saraswati or Saraswathi) is the goddess of knowledge, music, and arts, so writing would fall within her purview.

Svarasvati, holding a string of crystals, a book of the Vedas, and playing the veena (Wikimedia)

For the first post in my Writing Systems series, see The Beginning of History.

Share Spotlight: Long Neck Karen Tribe

This week's Share Spotlight comes from Living in Another Language.
Long Neck Karen Tribe


I have been a big fan of Living in Another Language for a while now. Amanda's writing sounds like a real person, someone who gets tired and upset, but also does her best to live life to the fullest and be happy in the now. Not to mention her absolutely incredible photographs.

One of my favorite parts of this post is how Amanda hits on one of the biggest problems I have with cultural tourism: treating people like zoo animals.

Not only is this a fascinating story, but I am so impressed with how she deals with this group of people who have largely been set up to be exploited. Its important to remember that no matter how someone looks or what they do for a living, they are real people, people with hopes and dreams, likes and dislikes.

So treat them like you'd want to be treated.

What do you think of cultural tourism? How do we ensure that folks don't wind up being treated like an exhibit?