Raja (elephant)

Raja (Sinhala:රාජා ඇතා - Raja Atha) (also known as Maligawa Raja) was a Sri Lankan tusker elephant belonged to the Sri Dalada Maligawa, Kandy. Raja participated at the annual Esala procession in Kandy for around 50 years and was the sacred casket bearer of the final Randoli perehera for 37 years. He was one of the most celebrated elephants in Asia during his lifetime, and was world famous for his noble behavior. On August 20, 1986 former Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene declared Raja as a national treasure, in recognition of his valuable services to the religion and culture of Sri Lanka.

Early years

It is believed that Raja was born in the jungles of Eravur in Batticaloa District circa 1913. He was captured along with few other elephants by a group of men headed by a Muslim man named Umaru Lebbe Panikkar in November 1925. Panikkar is a name given to the men who mastered capturing elephants in the eastern parts of the country. The young elephant Raja had been purchased by Tikiribanda Mampitiya Disawe of Giragama Walauwa in Kandy for 3300 rupees, a huge sum at that time, along with another young elephant named Skanda. With a permit issued by the British government, both the elephants were brought by train to the Kadugannawa railway station and then to the Giragama Walauwa on December 11, 1925. Arambegama Kirihamy was appointed as the mahout of the young elephants. He attached the young elephants to the female elephant he was looking after, who became the foster mother of young elephants.

Raja (play)

Raja (Bengali: রাজা), (also known as The King of the Dark Chamber in English translation), is a play by Rabindranath Tagore written in 1910. This play is marked as a symbolic play as well as a ‘mystic play’. The story is loosely borrowed from the Buddhist story of King Kush from Mahāvastu. A short stage version of Raja was published under the title of Arupratan in 1920.

Sen described Raja as ‘the first really symbolic drama by Tagore.’ The theme of the play is ‘the secret dealing of God with the human heart.

References

Suikoden V

Suikoden V (Japanese: 幻想水滸伝V, Hepburn: Gensō Suikoden Faibu,  (listen) ) is a role-playing video game developed by Konami and Hudson Soft and published by Konami for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console and the fifth main installment of the Suikoden video game series. It was released in 2006, and has sold around 200,000 copies in Japan.

Loosely based on a classical Chinese novel, Shui Hu Zhuan by Shi Nai'an, Suikoden V centers on the political struggles of the Queendom of Falena, and takes place 6 in-universe years before the events of the first Suikoden. The player controls the Prince of Falena and travels the world, acquiring allies and dealing with the problems of the nation. The game features a vast array of characters, with over sixty characters usable in combat and many more able to help or hinder the Prince in a variety of ways.

Gameplay

Suikoden V is a role-playing video game and thus features many of the usual traits. The player controls the Prince and travels with him around the world map, advancing the plot by completing tasks and talking with other characters. The Prince can also recruit new characters to his cause, which often involves a short sidequest. In towns, the player can gather information, sharpen character's weaponry, learn new skills, and buy equipment; wilderness areas generally feature random encounters with monsters.

Raja (1972 film)

Raja (Tamil: ராஜா) is a 1972 Indian Tamil film, directed by C. V. Rajendran. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Jayalalithaa, S. V. Ranga Rao and K. Balaji in lead roles. The film had musical score by M. S. Viswanathan. The film was a remake of Hindi film Johny Mera Naam.

Cast

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. S. Viswanathan.

References

External links

Elephant

Elephants are large mammals of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea. Two species are traditionally recognised, the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), although some evidence suggests that African bush elephants and African forest elephants are separate species (L. africana and L. cyclotis respectively). Elephants are scattered throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Elephantidae is the only surviving family of the order Proboscidea; other, now extinct, members of the order include deinotheres, gomphotheres, mammoths, and mastodons. Male African elephants are the largest extant terrestrial animals and can reach a height of 4 m (13 ft) and weigh 7,000 kg (15,000 lb). All elephants have several distinctive features the most notable of which is a long trunk or proboscis, used for many purposes, particularly breathing, lifting water and grasping objects. Their incisors grow into tusks, which can serve as weapons and as tools for moving objects and digging. Elephants' large ear flaps help to control their body temperature. Their pillar-like legs can carry their great weight. African elephants have larger ears and concave backs while Asian elephants have smaller ears and convex or level backs.

Elephant (public information film)

Elephant is the title of a British public information film about the importance of wearing a seatbelt in the rear of a car. It was first broadcast in 1993 and continued until 1998, when it was replaced by the Julie campaign.

The film, shot entirely in black and white (save for a streak of red in the closing shot), shows four friends driving along an ordinary street. The driver and the passenger sitting behind him are not wearing their seatbelts. When the car crashes into another vehicle ahead, computer imagery shows the unrestrained back seat passenger morphing into an elephant to demonstrate that in a collision at 30 miles per hour, a passenger not wearing a seatbelt can be thrown forward at the force of 3 and a half tons, equivalent to an elephant charging directly at the person in front. The weight of the "elephant" forces the driver through the windscreen, and the front seat passenger gapes in horror as the camera closes in on the driver's body and the wreckage of the car.

Elephant (Tame Impala song)

"Elephant" is a song by Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala. It was released as a single from their second album Lonerism on 26 July 2012. Said lead singer Kevin Parker of the song:

"Elephant" features a bluesier side of Tame Impala, heard more frequently on their EP, as the song was written around that stage. Because it was written around that time, "Elephant" is "an anomaly on Lonerism. There are no other songs that have that bluesy riffing".

The cover artwork was designed by Leif Podhajsky.

Awards

TV/Film appearances

"Elephant" has a number of appearances in television and film, including: