Buddhists, Hindus believe in the power of White Elephant to subdue enemies

The junta detained and charged de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption and other crimes

Myanmar’s military junta, facing powerful armed insurgencies in the North Eastern part of the country, has decided to use Buddhist symbolism to defeat the enemy.

According the Myanmar daily Irrawaddy, the junta is preparing to launch a major offensive code-named “Operation Sin Phyu Shin” or  “Operation Lord of the White Elephant” – to retake the areas of northern Shan State captured by the “Brotherhood Alliance” and its allies late last year.                                                                          

The Irrawaddyreported that the junta had set up a committee to lead the operation and placed Vice-Senior General Soe Win in control of it. Three recently promoted Generals have been assigned to command the troops.

Policy of expansion 

The operation’s name refers to Burmese King Hsinbyushin (1763-76) of the Konbaung dynasty who is revered among the generals for waging wars against Qing China and Siam. Hsinbyushin was the third king of the Alaungpaya, or Konbaung dynasty in Myanmar. He had pursued a policy of expansion at the expense of practically all his neighbours, especially Siam (Thailand).

The Myanmar military’s fresh move to step up attacks follows a second string of humiliating defeats in the northern Shan State in July. The first series of defeats began in late October 2023 and ended when China intervened to broker a ceasefire in January 2024.

The Brotherhood Alliance comprises three ethnic armies – the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang Nationalities Liberation Army (TNLA).  These armies overran dozens of towns in northern Shan State during its first phase. The alliance also punctured the government military’s reputation as a competent fighting force when many of its troops and senior officers raised the white flag in the face of determined and coordinated attacks by the Brotherhood Alliance, the Irrawaddy said.

The operation resumed in late June this year after the China-brokered ceasefire collapsed. Since then, the Brotherhood Alliance has seized northern Shan’s Kyaukme, Nawnghkio and Lashio towns, and the Northeastern Military Command, as well as Madaya and Mogoke towns in the Mandalay Region..

Why the White Elephant?

In Buddhism , Buddhist countries and also Hindu India,  the White Elephant does not have the pejorative connotation that it has in the English language where it means an expensive and non-productive project or property. But it is a good omen, a sign of wisdom, good governance and power.

In Hindu mythology, Indra, the king of the gods, is depicted as seated on a White Elephant. Buddhists believe that the mother of Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha, dreamt that a White Elephant had entered her womb, signifying that she was to give birth to a person of great wisdom and power.

The kings of Myanmar took the title “Master of the White Elephant” and had a large number of White Elephants which they captured by waging wars against the Thais. When the British took over Myanmar (then known as Burma), they discouraged the use of White Elephants as these represented the Burmese monarchy which they had abolished in 1885.

A later military dictator of Myanmar,Than Shwe, (1992- 2011) revived the use of the White Elephant as a symbol of power. Than Shwe, it was said, desperately wanted one of the power symbols to signify his own “kingly rule.” He needed divine help especially to build Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s new capital.

In 2008, Than Shwe’s created a White Elephant Capture and Training Group charged with directing a nationwide effort to increase the stock of White Elephants.

Royal processions

The question as to whether White Elephants are really white arises. In fact, they appear to have little in common with the silk-draped White Elephants in paintings of royal processions in the mythical past. At best, they could be gray.

It is said that a White Elephant’s skin “has to turn red, not black, when sprayed with water, the tail and trunk should be straight and long, and the eyes must have yellow irises enclosed by red rings.”

According to literature on the subject, some of the more mystical authorities even insist that a White Elephant must not snore but should emit the gentle sounds of Burmese and Thai classical musical instruments!

However, in Thailand, the most important traits of the White Elephant are the shape of the tail hair, the mottling on the inside of the mouth, the blotches on the head of the penis and even the sound of snoring, according to one source. Notice that the one trait that seems not to matter at all is the color of the elephant.

To set the record straight, the Thai term for the “White Elephant” is actually “Auspicious Elephant.” There is no allusion to color!

From 1549 to 1769, the kings of Thailand, Cambodia and Burma fought a series of wars over White Elephants. In fact, White Elephant-related plunder of rival partly helped build Myanmar’s national symbol, the golden stupa of the Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon (Rangoon).

White Elephants are believed to appear during the reign of the righteous leaders and  their presence in a country or kingdom as signifying “a new renaissance”.

It is believed that in Myanmar’s history, White Elephants emerged during the time of kings who ruled discharging ten kingly duties. The White Elephant is a good omen when the state is endeavoring to build a peaceful, modern and developed nation.

Is Myanmar ruled justly?

The obvious answer to the question whether Myanmar is ruled justly is a resounding “no”. The military launched a coup against an elected government in February 2021 and cracked down on protests. War against rebellious Christian tribes in the North made that part of the country unlivable.

Vowing to resist the military junta, former lawmakers and activists formed a shadow government and mobilised fighting forces across the country. The military has responded with a brutal crackdown on opposition forces and protesters.

“The coup has also brought economic turmoil, wiping out modest gains in poverty reduction made over the past decade. The economy shrank by nearly 20 percent in 2021. Additionally, the health-care system has collapsed amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of people are facing hunger, and tens of thousands have fled to other parts of Myanmar or across the borders. Because of the coup, Myanmar has become a failing state,” says Joshua Kurlantzick of America’s Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

The junta detained and charged de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption and other crimes. It placed members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), and other parties, as well as many activists, under house arrest.

Massive protests erupted nationwide in the weeks after the coup. Eventually, ousted NLD lawmakers, protest leaders, and activists from several minority groups established a parallel government known as the National Unity Government (NUG). The NUG declared war on the junta and formed an armed division known as the People’s Defense Force.

The military’s brutal crackdown on dissent and widespread abuses in the conflict have drawn condemnation from the United Nations, foreign governments, and rights organisations. The military shot live ammunition at civilian protesters and into people’s homes. By late 2021, the military was destroying entire villages believed to support the opposition, massacring both civilians and opposition fighters.

At least 1,500 people have been killed by the military, which is likely an undercount, according to Thailand-based nonprofit Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). The junta has arrested more than eight thousand people, including journalists, medical workers, and NLD politicians.

More than one million people fled abroad as refugees before the 2021 coup. Hundreds of thousands more remain displaced internally. Many of these refugees in recent years have been Muslim Rohingya.

In 2019, The Gambia filed the first international lawsuit against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, accusing the country of violating the UN Genocide Convention. But both Suu Kyi’s government and the military have denied that ethnic cleansing is taking place, and Suu Kyi defended the military at a tribunal in The Hague.