Of Elephant Bondage

As an avid reader of your posts, I read this elephant thread; both elephants and you are known for memory.
Post is very informative and analysis incisive.
In interior Tamilnadu it is regular feature for elephants in group to attack near by villages and cane fields due for harvest. Every now and non reads in newspaper elephants and their calves after due medical aid in some cases guided back to their habitats,
Elephant reminds of late mundasu Kavinjar mana Kavi Bharathiraja. Parathasarathy koil Temple elephant mistook him for some other person Nd kicked Bharathi to death. Later it was reported that the elephant realised its mistake and repented & expired.
When I was working in India’s prestigious Atomic Institution, research lab at BARC Anushakthi Nagar, Mumbai (then Bombay), often I met with critics and journalists calling it as India’s behemoth and white elephant.

It is right moment or time to re-think of regulated development in forest areas and afforestation is to be encouraged while deforestation to be curbed.
Elephant reminds me of protracted hearing for very many years in respect of a Kanjeepuram Varadaraja Perumal temple elephant . The priests a mix of sects disputed about Vadagalai & then-Kalai symbol to be painted on temple elephant’s forehead.
A cartoon story with four different persons upon their touch of elephant foot each concludes it is different object and none could view it as a whole big huge animal. In the yore of kingly reigns of Tamilkingdoms, elephants used to select the future king. Panchatantra stories cross My mind. Mighty brawn is no match for a nimble fox.
Tamil adages comes to mind : (1) whether elephant is alive or dead it is equivalent to one thousand sovereigns & (2) before elephant appears, ringing of brass bells tied to its neck reach us first

In African dense forests elephants were hunted by Britishers and American poachers for its Hyde and ivory. The irony is the poachers sat over huge elephant hunting other animals including elephants and its babies. In Hollywood Movie TWO BROTHERS one can watch the poachers on a hunt sitting over semi decorated elephant.

I am at a loss to know the elephants being slaughtered for providing meat to starving millions of Africans while the world over we have animal lovers and committees and wild animal protectors. I wonder some time how mahouts get trained. Do they hv a training school?

 

Dear SLN Sir,

Thank you for this wonderful thread summarizing the bond between the elephants and humanity, how elephants were part of the humanity for a long period of time, and how the humanity is changing the habitats of the elephants and even killing elephants to eat their meat now a days in Africa.

As you said, elephants played a major roles in the army of ancient days and those kingdoms with an elaborate elephant battalion is considered as powerful. Even people used elephants in the paddyfield centuries ago in Tamilnadu when they had water resources to produce rice over 3 seasons. Even today, Kerala uses elephants to transport things and raise them in the households especially near the rivers. Elephants are worshiped in the Temples in almost all the states in the South and play a major role in the celebration on the festival days.

It is unfortunate when Ivory became a precious item in the market, poachers started killing elephants to remove their tusks. It is painful to note that Veerpan was hunted down only after he started kidnapping the famous people to get money from the state governments but left free when he killed hundreds of elephants to remove their tusks to sell it and removed sandlewood trees to make his earnings. He ran an illegal industry for many years.

There are unconfirmed reports that even a famous spiritual center was built in the pathway of elephants. The news about elephant clinics established in various states and orphanages built for the elephants who moved away from their herds is comforting. I thought humanity is only capable of fighting which religious symbol has to be made in the forehead of the elephants without caring how the elephant would feel about it. Hopefully, we will not get to a stage where elephants will become endangered species to be protected by the government.

Viswa

 

Dear Sir

I recently visited Fortworth in Dallas. There is one shop which sells hunted animals stuffed and preserved. I was surprised to see an elephant here. Not the whole elephant but its head with the huge tusks. They had other animals too. I will see if I can upload photo.
But what greed leads us to kill these majestic animals and flaunt them as trophies. Very sad.
Why talk about religious institutions in the elephant corridor. See what has happened in Bannerghatta, Bangalore. So many prestigious buildings. All built with corruption, no thought whatsoever, they build on lakes, they destroy forests. Money can do many things.
Though the elephant is revered, I feel sorry when I see them in temples. Animals need to be in the wild. Not tortured and tamed to do our bidding.
They have an elephant home in Guruvayoor where all the elephants donated to the temple are housed. The elephants are well taken care of.
But I later read that the food we feed to the elephants are not something they eat in the wild.
So sad to see these huge animals helpless in our clutches.
Regards
Uma

 

Very informative article. Thanks.
In Uttarakhand, where I come from, we have Rajaji Forest Park. Years back it was a paradise for elephants. We never heard of any harm done by them. The situation today is so sad for them. The park is shrinking legally and illegally otherwise human habitation is grabbing forest land. The elephants can be seen on the roads, sometimes attacking the moving cars. They are looking for food and water. The same thing is happening in Corbett National Park.