A video of a mahout riding a three-headed elephant during a procession is making the rounds on social media, with some claiming the elephant is real. In this article, we’ll check the validity of that claim.
Claim: Video showing a real three-headed elephant.
Fact: These visuals are from Thailand’s Ayutthaya Khon Festival, where a three-headed elephant is paraded to represent Erawan, the Thai name for Airavata, the divine elephant. However, the additional two heads on the elephant are prosthetic, not real. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The viral video indeed shows a mahout riding a three-headed elephant, but the additional two heads are prosthetic, not real. A reverse image search of the video led us to the same footage on YouTube, posted by a Thai vlogger. According to the description, the video depicts preparations for the ‘5th Ayutthaya Khon Festival,’ which celebrates the culture of the Ayutthaya people in Thailand.
Building on this, further research uncovered similar videos of three-headed elephants in processions during the Ayutthaya Khon Festival at Wat Mahathat. Footage from this year’s as well as previous festivals, where similar three-headed elephants were featured, can be viewed here, here, here, and here. These visuals clearly show that the additional two heads of the elephant are prosthetic.
The festival is an annual event celebrating the culture of Ayutthaya, which is regarded as the precursor to modern Thailand. In Thai mythology, Erawan (the Thai name for Airavata, the divine elephant) is portrayed as a massive elephant with three, or sometimes even thirty-three heads, often depicted with multiple tusks. Many temples in Thailand feature sculptures of Indra riding Erawan, the three-headed elephant. Additionally, there is a dedicated Erawan Museum in Thailand.
Thus, all these details establish that the three-headed video shown in the viral video is not real but a depiction of Erawan, which has divine status in Thai mythology.
To sum up, these visuals from the Ayutthaya Khon Festival in Thailand do not depict a real three-headed elephant.
