Temple elephants

Had a thought wave about elephants at temples. Was wondering the association. Here is what I got, not sure if this is the right version. In olden days machinery were absent and only muscle power was used to accomplish most of the work. Ploughing, construction, fighting and in many areas, man used animals. Out of the domesticated animals, elephant served the most powerful role due to its jumbo size.

It also made sense to own such a beast at a common ground through common funding. This arrangement works out good for everyone because maintaining an elephant is a costly affair. The benefits out of the elephant was reaped by many.

In those days, temple took the 'common ground' role. Each town had a temple and utilized for many a tasks. Elephant also ended up in the care of the temple and the temple fund.

Other theory could be that the upper-class people required the elephant and instead of they pulling the money from their pocket, they divided the burden among all. In order to hide the dirty task, they popularized the belief that seeing/touching/hearing/smelling elephants are good omen.