Elephant's Head or A Cow

26/01/2021 Elephant's Head or a Cow?
Mighty Optical Illusions

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 DECEMBER 22, 2010  BY JAMES DEAN
Elephant’s Head or a Cow?

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Noah Robin sent in what appears to be a Hindu motive obtained from the ceiling of the Rameshwaram
Temple in Rameshwaram, India. Noah was right when he presumed this one seems to be along our
lines. My question to you is whether the head portrayed below belongs to an elephant or is it cow’s
head instead? I guess whichever is holier in that part of the world! Or could it be both at the same time?
I guess we’ll never know!
https://www.moillusions.com/elephants-head-or-a-cow/ 1/31
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POSTED IN MULTIPLE MEANINGS • TAGGED COW, ELEPHANT, HEAD, HINDUISM, HOLLY, ILLUSION, INDIA
Published by James Dean

James is the manager of moillusions.com. He spends his time nding the most popular optical illusions
so that YOU keep coming back to your site for more! Check him out on
https://plus.google.com/u/1/109932087769818686311/ View all posts by James Dean
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95 Replies to “Elephant’s Head or a Cow?”
talcianna
December 22, 2010 at 7:38 pm
i think its a cow head…
REPLY
Lil' Smily
Itz an elephantz head coz a cow doesnt have 2 ears && it doesnt have that thing going uhp in the back
lyk a camel… && the elephant has a hole coz someone shot him :D .. cool doe
REPLY
Gregory Padilla
You sir, are prehaps unfamiliar with the brahma type of cow?
War Hammer
It’s both, the elephant’s head is easy to see but the oxen (the Indian cow) is not so easy, but if you
look closely you’ll can see the bump on the elephant’s head is the oxen’s nose and the bottom lip
and tusk is the oxen’s ear and horn, and nally the elephant’s trunk is the oxen’s famous hump.
cows and Elephants are counted as sacred deities in the Hinduism Religion and the killing of either
could result in you losing your life.
cows are also sacred animal to Jainism, Zoroastrianism too.
Shar
December 23, 2010 at 1:12 am
Actually some cows do have a small hump and lick of fur there, mainly bulls though. And a cow/bull
would have a set of ears and a set of horns.
Shar
And actually breeds of cattle in India do have a rather large hump right there, I found out after
further research.
Vineeth
its elephants head..as cow is on the other side of the image..
Sreejith Balakrishnan
Hi Guys, Just a small correction. That is supposed to be a Bull. That is Lord Shiva from Hindu
Mythology (at the background)and he has a Bull as his animal. That might also explain the hump on
the back :)
Lil' Smily
Okkz
anon
June 26, 2012 at 2:37 am
you need a dictionary…
ali
very cool, it’s both at once. I think it’s an ox rather than a cow though because of that
hump[img]http://www.datastorageconsultants.com/hunting/Africa/images/oxen.jpg[/img]
REPLY
ruedli
@ Lil’ Smily: This cow doesn’t have two pairs of ears it has ears and horns. And abozt the thing on the
back like a camel, take a look at this: http://goldendrake.de/Reisen/Indien/M_Indien_Strand_Kuh.jpg
this is what a cow in india looks like. :-)
REPLY
Lil' Smily
ohh okk thxx
Patrik
it is a cow, but because it have that thing at back and cow ears, head and have horns. (but if you look
closely, you will see elephant too)
REPLY
Marisol
I like it. Duality.
REPLY
David Bergfelder
This one is great. I see both animals. The cow (actually it’s a bull) is a brahma and they do have humps.
and the poor elephant got shot in the head.
It’s a cowlephant
REPLY
sushanta sahu
There is no cow in the picture. The picture is a mix of elephant head and OX head (Not Cow). Cow is
female and Ox is male. There is no female species in the picture. Elephant and Ox……….. Good illusion.
REPLY
illusionist
it’s both. and technically it’s a water buffalo, hence the hump
REPLY
Johnny Jack Pompolla

WOW… this type of illusions existed so many years ago!!
REPLY
Clif
What you mean is: Is that an elephant or a bull? A bull and cow are different you know. The question
should probably be: Is that an elephant or a brahma bull.
Clif
REPLY
tubes
I would say it’s both considering both animals are extremely sacred in India. Left would be the elephant
& right being the cow. Also if you look a little closer you would notice the utters or something on the
cow.
REPLY
Orack Bobama
It is an elephant head. Everyone knows that cows cant look up.
REPLY
Anadi Kulkarni
its obviously both. This is pretty amazing, and I don’t say this just because I’m Indian.
REPLY
Yanni:)
its an elephant eating a cow!!!
REPLY
KAUKAU
Is it just me??? I can see a seal too….
REPLY
Bulle48
At rst all I could see was the elephant head, but if I turn my head 45 degrees to the right all I see is the
cow’s head (which looks more like a dog face than a cow).
There are many aws in this image such as the cow’s head being disproportionate compared to the
body, the missing ear/horn and the relative size of the 2 animals. Nevertheless it’s still a great illusion!
REPLY
Sven
its an Elephant because cows cant look up.
REPLY
Richard Haviland
I think it was intended to be both depending on who the person was praying for. Some people believe in
the worship of certaim animals…..Amen…..
REPLY
Care Bear
A cow swallowing an elephant’s head perhaps? Guess they just got tired of hanging out with each other.
Great pic. Love the colors.
REPLY
Sarah-Jane
the rst one i saw was the elephants head :) I couldn’t see the cows head at rst but i looked a little
harder and i saw the cows head. Now i think it is most likely the cows head because if it was the
elephants head it would have a strange squiggle on his forehead which is supposed to be the cows nose
;)
Love it ;)
REPLY
Gil Pinheiro
I think it’s meant to be both since both an elephant and a cow are holy symbols in the indian culture.
REPLY
qwertyuiop
i think that its an elephant head because why would a cow have a random swirling lump in its back (the
end of the elephants trunk)
REPLY
Nina
I bet to the elephant. Use logic the cows neck doesn’t connect to the head
REPLY
Bubbaloo
Are you sure it is the two political parties trying to eat each other?
REPLY
chris
it looks more like an elephant because the head is more apparent, and the tusk is visible (even though it
is basically conjoined to the cow’s back)
REPLY
Brianna Marcy
I see both of each animals bodies. when one looks at it, and continuing to view it u see the face of the
cow and when looking a second time because you already know both animals are being shown one way
or the other then do you see the head of the elephant appear. The answer to any present question is:
both animals.
REPLY
a person
maybe its both but the elephant wuz shot, and the cow has sum kind of plant growing out of the back of
its head.
LOL
REPLY
essayn
*yawn*
REPLY
Roy
Its actually pretty cool – if you have some additional insights into hindu mythology – the image at the
back is also of 2 morphed deities, on the right is shiva who always has a bull ( you can google Nandi Bull)
for company, and on the left is Vishnu, the creator – while not directly associated with the elephant –
does have all kind of creatures with him in mythical pics – the best part is how the horns of the cow are
also the tusks of the elephant ! Very very cool…
REPLY
Johnny C
Well, if you see either an elephant or a cow, ( actually, a bull, as the hump on the back is clearly a male
feature, as is another slight, decidedly male, clue ), that is not surprising as that was obviously the
artist’s intention. However, am I the only viewer who sees a plump little bird, complete with rounded
head, beak, wings and tailfeathers?
REPLY
Rick
It’s a elephacow..The holiest of holy.
REPLY
Falon
Elephant. Cows don’t have horns. (:
REPLY
Sitroentje
Elephant, You can clearly see the trunk of the elephant, and I can’t imagine what a cor could do with a
curl on his back.
REPLY
Sonu
That is a Elephant on Left and OX on Right Side …. if you see Holy Gods above they are also presenting
two personalities … Left side is Lord Vishu and on Right side it is Lord Shiva … Lord Vishu rides on
Elephants and Lord Shiva rides on OX as per Hindu religious holy books …
REPLY
Hink
it’s a hefffalump
REPLY
Mars
its a two bodied monster
aye, that’s what it must be. obviously.

I think, though, its hindu, and I remember that theres a god whos symbols are the elephant and the
cow… the whole univerality thing.
REPLY
John
Holy cow! It’s an elephant!
REPLY
Manav
i think its a cows head
REPLY
hello
both
REPLY
me123987645
the one on the left is an elephant but on the right it’s a cow
REPLY
tom
I don’t think it’s an “either-or” situation … it’s “both” … that’s sort of the whole point …
REPLY
J Aurora
Hi,
rst of all, it’s not a cow, but a white bull called Nandi. If you notice, the picture of deity above is also
combination of two deities. They are Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Lord Shiva had a white bull called
Nandi according to Hindu Mythology. The elephant must be related to Vishnu or one of his several
incarnations. Maybe he is the Airavat elephant that is considered by many Hindus as incarnation of
Vishnu.
The Union of these two gods is signi cant as Vishnu is the preserver of life, while Shiva is the destroyer
and restorer.
REPLY
Raman Sharma
This image shows both Elephant and a cow. Though Cow is sacred in Hindu Religion but it’s elephant. I
Think this pictures has no intentions being an illusion but it’s a complicated creation of both animals.
REPLY
Mary Beth
It’s both. Clearly both.
REPLY
kezza53
It’s both. The cow is a brahman and yes both equall importance
REPLY
Julia Schaffer
Uhh Lil Smily… A cow has two ears. Sorry if I ruined your dreams of a cow with either one ear or more
that two ears.
REPLY
Lil' Smily
i ment that it dont have 2 ears on one sideee
ZL123
So cool!
An in India, an elephant is very common, but a cow is very holy and you cannot kill it :D
I’ve been told…
REPLY
Rickford
It is both. The elephant’s head is fairly obvious. The cow’s head is looking up at an angle that would
block the elephant head except for the ear. Very clever.
REPLY
Jani T
Actually, it’s both. In the Hindu religion, both elephants and cows are signi cant. That’s why the
painting has been drawn that way, to portray the signi cance of both animals.
REPLY
Lunar
People need to stop saying it’s de nitely one or the other.
The fact there are two bodies and only one interchangeable head shows it’s MEANT to be an illusion
and is therefore BOTH.
REPLY
Sophia
September 23, 2011 at 8:24 am
I really liked this. Simply awesome. Nice and informative replies by Dr.Prasanna, prabuddha, dr
sonam, Rajesh, ramu.
Shobhit
September 28, 2011 at 4:30 pm
It is both cow and an elephant.
In order to kill a demon both Lord Shiva And Goddess Parvati have to combine their body.
When their body combine their animals also gets combine.
Shub
this is a cow head, you can see an elephant never had a dump on its head.
REPLY
funkyskunk
LOL “a cow doesnt have 2 ears”! Since when??
The left one is an elephant and right one is a cow. It’s obvious if you look at the legs and feet.
me likes
REPLY
BlindCupid
LOL at Lil’ SMily’s grammar ^
REPLY
rkrules
I’m from India and I know that both animals are equally holy. I guess whoever painted was lazy and
decided to cheat :-).
REPLY
Mattbazooka
I seen an elefents head the rst time i looked, than a duck, than the cows….
REPLY
Mattbazooka
actualy it might be a baby duck or seal..
Voigt
Niiiice. I agree that it is both.
REPLY
Ouida
Maybe it’s just meant to communicate the opinion that both animals are equally holy?
REPLY
Ashley
January 4, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Or perhaps the key lies in the god’s face above. Note that one side seems to be one deity and the other
side the other. Perhaps the elephant is sacred to one god and the cow to the other, and the indication
with both the face and the animal(s) is that the two gods are merged?
REPLY
K-Chan
January 9, 2011 at 2:44 am
It’s both and it’s used to represent both the gods in saying that they are in a sense all the same and
interconnected.
REPLY
bg
January 15, 2011 at 12:18 pm
I can see a bird too on the top of the cow face
REPLY
Dr.Prasanna
January 21, 2011 at 8:57 pm
I am myself Hindu. The above picture is not an illusion. It is just representing the combination or union
of two things or concepts. Can u see the rst picture of faces. Well it is actually union of two half faces-
The right hemiface belongs to Lord Vishnu & left one belongs to Lord Shiva. Similarly the animals
below, important in ancient Indian culture, are shown to be united in their bodies predominantly in
their heads. Each animal or God is representing a particular behaviour or way of life. The picture shows
that ideal life should have union or balance of these things.
REPLY
kali charan
September 18, 2011 at 10:06 pm
i am totally agree with Dr.Prasanna says on 21 jan 2011, that is both our gods Lord Vishnu & left
one belongs to Lord Shiva.
nepal tour
February 23, 2011 at 9:27 am
it’s combination of two head cow and elephants, but it’s we can elephant is straight and com is moving
it’s head up..
REPLY
prabuddha
March 12, 2011 at 5:26 am
ha ha .. what a debate over such issue…

it nepal rightly mentioned its combination of both head.. cow and elephant. boty of them have their
own value and both are equally holy. Please scan through the links you will clear your doubts..
http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~kbroom/Lectures/gestalt.htm
(decribes gestalt theory)
http://www.adityarudraksha.com/images/lord/ARDHANARISHWAR%202%20MUKHI.jpg (pic of God
at eh back Ardhanarishwar)
their elephant headed (elephant considered wise.. etc also story behind this) son ganesh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha
and improtance cow..
http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/things/cow.htm
hope this will clear up the doubt..
I am a Hindu from India and graphic desiger by profession so refering to gestalt theory also.
regards
Prabuddha.
REPLY
dr sonam
March 22, 2011 at 5:06 am
this is picture of “HARI-HAR”

HARI means vishnu and HAR means shiva
REPLY
nando
March 28, 2011 at 12:10 am
ts quite clear that its an elephant on the left and a cow on the right.You can guess it by looking at their
legs
REPLY
RAJESH KUMAR
April 1, 2011 at 10:27 am
its amazing but i think the people did not realise the this a bull instead a cow.bull presenting LORD
SHIVA.
REPLY
Saina Sharma
April 8, 2011 at 11:20 am
I really liked this. Simply awesome. I agreed with Rajesh thats bull.
REPLY
ramu
April 30, 2011 at 9:00 am
THIS IS REALLY INTERESTING
THE PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSATION IS THAT ‘SHAKTIH SA SHIVASYS SHAKTHI’
MEANS SHAKTHI= THE OPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

PRAKRITHI= ABILITY TO CREATE SOMETHING
THE PAINTING ABOVE SHOWS THE ARDHANARISHVARA MEANS SHAKTHI IS THE FORCE OF
SHIVA, the word prakrithi is not equavalent of nature
PRAKRITHI COMPRISES THREE GUNAS ie., satva, raja and tamas. IN SHORT THE PAINTING
STRESSES THE UTILITY VALUE AND THE EXISTENTIAL VALUE OF ALL THE ATOMS IN THIS
UNIVERSE, Which clearly shows that all the atoms are the re ections of the same consciousness.
shakthi is the force of shiva
REPLY
?
June 23, 2013 at 10:50 pm
Okay, I’m really confused with all of the complicated Indian gods and principles. You lost me at
ardhanarishvara.
Abbey
July 19, 2011 at 2:13 pm
its weird becaise i see them both at time- am i crazy?
REPLY
Mayank
August 2, 2011 at 2:28 am
but here one is elephant and other one is bull.
REPLY
MAhesh
HInduism is not only a religon, it is a styl of living.
REPLY
Bharathi
October 20, 2011 at 12:53 pm
The above drawing is to represent that the gods both The Hari and The Shiva are equal….It is done in
that image by combining the two rides(animals) of those gods….This should have been drawn during
when the Shaiva and vaishnava ght was at it’s peak……..
REPLY
narencz
November 5, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Mayank says:
but here one is elephant and other one is bull.
Yes. Its a bull(male).
Lord Siva means the Cosmic force in the universe. Its the Yang energy of the universe.
Lord Krishna is also positive energy.

In my opinion Lord Krishna is planet Jupiter.
Here positive or male cosmic rays of planet Jupiter is being combined with the Yang energy of the
universe(Lord Siva )
Please note that Goddess Parvathy is not present. She is the yin energy of the universe.
what will be the outcome of the combination?

Pure yang energy.
REPLY
bobi
February 29, 2012 at 8:55 pm
i havent read all the comments but from where i am looking at this, it is both i saw the elephant rst and
then the cow lol
REPLY
Princess
April 20, 2012 at 3:14 pm
It is an elephant because cows don’t have curls on their backs!
REPLY
SDS
July 21, 2012 at 4:11 pm
It’s meant to be both, to appear as both, but not either or. It has to do with the religion, or can’t you see
the lady with the half blue face above it?
REPLY
Kiz
October 9, 2012 at 4:05 pm
This painting is of both animals an elephant/bull. After Lord Shiva beheaded Ganesh he swore the next
living thing he saw he would behead he saw two animal mating an elephant/bull after mating the
elephant was exhausted so he behheaded the elephant.
REPLY
BMani
June 6, 2013 at 3:34 am
This is a painted reproduction of a famous sculpture at Darasuram Temple (12th c.) in Tamilnadu
(http://www.pazhs.com/gallery/darasuram/bull-elephant.jpg), discussed in Maheśvarānanda’s
“Maharthamanjari v. 28 and its commentary.
REPLY
sargfdfgju
June 23, 2013 at 10:46 pm
I can only see the elephant head.
REPLY
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26/01/2021 Elephant's Head or a Cow?

Mighty Optical Illusions

 DECEMBER 22, 2010  BY JAMES DEAN

Elephant’s Head or a Cow?

 Facebook  Twitter  Pinterest

Published by James Dean

95 Replies to “Elephant’s Head or a Cow?”

i think its a cow head…

cows are also sacred animal to Jainism, Zoroastrianism too.

December 23, 2010 at 1:15 am

its elephants head..as cow is on the other side of the image..

you need a dictionary…

ohh okk thxx

I like it. Duality.

Johnny Jack Pompolla

WOW… this type of illusions existed so many years ago!!

It is an elephant head. Everyone knows that cows cant look up.

its an elephant eating a cow!!!

Is it just me??? I can see a seal too….

its an Elephant because cows cant look up.

It’s a elephacow..The holiest of holy.

Elephant. Cows don’t have horns. (:

its a two bodied monster

aye, that’s what it must be. obviously.

Holy cow! It’s an elephant!

i think its a cows head

December 23, 2010 at 5:10 am

It’s both. Clearly both.

i ment that it dont have 2 ears on one sideee

I’ve been told…

People need to stop saying it’s de nitely one or the other.

It is both cow and an elephant.

When their body combine their animals also gets combine.

LOL “a cow doesnt have 2 ears”! Since when??

LOL at Lil’ SMily’s grammar ^

actualy it might be a baby duck or seal..

Niiiice. I agree that it is both.

I can see a bird too on the top of the cow face

ha ha .. what a debate over such issue…

hope this will clear up the doubt..

this is picture of “HARI-HAR”

THIS IS REALLY INTERESTING

THE PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSATION IS THAT ‘SHAKTIH SA SHIVASYS SHAKTHI’

MEANS SHAKTHI= THE OPERATIVE PRINCIPLE

its weird becaise i see them both at time- am i crazy?

but here one is elephant and other one is bull.

HInduism is not only a religon, it is a styl of living.

Yes. Its a bull(male).

Lord Krishna is also positive energy.

what will be the outcome of the combination?

It is an elephant because cows don’t have curls on their backs!

July 21, 2012 at 4:11 pm

I can only see the elephant head.

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