The next time you wish to purchase an elephant sculpture, decor item or a picture you might want to consider these facts. In the West it is a superstition that an elephant must have it's trunk UP. In the East it is believed that the trunk has to be DOWN for luck.

I have done considerable investigation on this and can only find PROPER EVIDENCE of these beliefs in the East. In Hinduism one of the main Goddesses is Ganesh which is an elephant that takes the form of a human -another Goddess is Ganapati which also takes the form of a human woman.

        GANESH                                                                                     GANAPATI

Both of these Goddesses are always depicted with their truncks down. They are believed to have various different powers -all of which are positive.

Bhudism also places a large emphasis on the elephant which is also always depicted with the trunk down.

BHUDIST SHRINE                                                                    BHUDA RIDING AN ELEPHANT

Bhudism has VERY MANY different beliefs in the elephant -also all of which are positive.

I have looked everywhere to see why we have the superstition that the trunk must be up for luck but have not been able to find anything conclusive. I would assume that we think that a charging elephant with his trunk in the air is powerful.