KAMALIKA PIERIS

REVISED 12.10.21

When the Portuguese captured the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka they found a flourishing export trade in elephants, developed   over the centuries by the Sinhala king. The Portuguese  , who had never seen an elephant before,  found that the Ceylon elephant was superior, compared to elephants from other countries, and traders were prepared to pay twice or even up to four times for them. The Portuguese quickly got involved in the elephant export trade. They established a special unit called the Elephant Hunt for the capture and export of elephants. When the Dutch defeated the Portuguese in 1655, the Elephant Hunt had nearly 3 000 men in its employ.

The elephants were caught in two kraals. The person in charge was called the Gajanayake. The Portuguese maintained an annual demand of 37 elephants for export from the kraals. Elephants were led, tied to tame ones, to the Jaffna peninsula and to Kayts for export. The Portuguese used Kayts for the export of elephants.  The elephants were driven into the Jaffna peninsula by a shallow ford that separated it from the mainland. This was later bridged and given the name Elephant Pass.  It is most unlikely that the Portuguese would have created this route. This would have been the existing trade route.

In 1507 the Viceroy of India sent a gift of a small elephant, imported from Ceylon, to King Manuel of Portugal. After seven years in Lisbon this elephant, named Annone, was presented to Pope Leo X and moved to Rome. Annone, lived in Rome for three years but died after developing stomach trouble due to the variety of food given to it by visitors and admirers. There is a memorial in Rome to Annone the first elephant in the Vatican (Hulugalle, 1969).

The Dutch  who    also had never seen an elephant before   found, in their turn,  that the elephant trade  was a lucrative one. They too latched on to it. They increased the size of the Elephant Hunt so as to increase their income through the export of elephants (Jayewardene, 1994).

The Ceylon elephant continued to be greatly desired in India for war and as draught animals. Bengal and Golconda Muslim merchants  came along to purchase them. The sales took place in the port of Kayts , reported the Dutch .

During the colonial occupation of the country, elephants are known to have been captured in the Avissawella, Negombo, Mannar, Kalutara, Matara, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Buttala area.  During the Dutch period, an elephant had even found its way into the Colombo Fort. This shows that the elephants were in a habit of moving down from the thick forested hills in search of food and water. Elephants were usually captured when they ventured into the forests in the lower plains. 

The Dutch had to obtain permission from the  Udarata king to capture elephants which were within the Udarata kingdom. The king agreed to the Dutch capturing 20 to 30 animals each year, but the Dutch constantly exceeded this figure, capturing around 150 each year and 200 in one year.

Considering the 100 year duration of  Dutch  rule, the possible total number of elephants exported is a staggering 11,250 specimens in their prime, said Ashley de Vos.. The trade brought in an average of 100,000 Guilders per year. 

Elephants were caught in kraals, in the Matara Dissawa area and Udawalawe. A group of persons known as Baddenas were sent into the jungles to look for suitable herds of elephants to be captured in kraals .When the herds were sighted, the Dissawa of the area was informed, and he in turn gave instructions to hold a kraal.

The kraal was an elaborate and specialized  operation which was carried out by a caste of people  whose occupation it was”. There was  a Master of the Hunt who was responsible for the whole organization. Those engaged in capturing and training elephants held land  in payment for their work.

A very large stable had been built to house the captured elephants, , with a Gajanayake in charge, in Matara. These stables  were at the site of the present Kachcheri. In 1697 there were 97 elephants in these stables.  The animals were bathed twice a day in a nearby river, very likely the Nilwala.

The animals  that were for sale, were marched northwards to Jaffna by land along the coastal road to Mannar or Kayts. They were marched tied to tame elephants. This route had a special problem, many rivers  had to be crossed. This was a problem. The elephants were shipped in large flat bottom wooden barges, ten at a time, to the  Coromandel Coast in India. The elephants were often sold before they were properly trained.

The elephant caravan  had to pass through the Udarata Kingdom on their way and special permission had to be sought for this transit.   One notes that under Sinhala rule, elephants would not have had to    do  this long trek from Matara to Jaffna. They would have been captured higher up.

Johann Wolfgang Heydt was a German who worked for the VOC in Sri Lanka . He spent over two years in Sri Lanka. Heydt has  given a detail description of how the Dutch elephant trap” works. Near the gates, on which entrance they have ready some tame elephants, which must as if show the way, and must enter first.  These then the wild ones follow, until they are brought into an open space provided with 2 or 3 drop-gates, on which men sit hidden. As soon as these see that the wild elephants have been brought through by the tame ones, they cut the Rottangs (rattans) which hold up the gate, so that they fall and enclose the place. Then they take again the tame elephants and let them show the way to the wild ones, until they lead each into a very long and narrow path, so that he cannot turn around unless he is very small: and so he goes along this passage until he comes to the end of it, and as soon as he is there, they quickly push in some tree trunks behind him, so that he cannot now go backwards.

Then they try to tie him up, and bring him slowly forward, between two tame elephants. If now he will not go forward, they set a third behind him, which must belabour him with his trunk in a most pitiful manner, so that he begins to weep and to cry out: and afterwards they bring him into a place destined for this purpose, and look after him well, and seek daily, now with kindness, now with beatings, to make him tame, seeing that they have a quite extraordinary intelligence, more than other beasts”.

Heydt has an equally interesting account of what happens to the elephant after capture and the need to partially train them prior to export. He refers to Matara fort as being full of trees, bushes and coconut gardens, which are very abundant, not only inside the fort but outside as well, creating the impression of a forest totally hiding the buildings .a large number are brought to Matara yearly, or at least every 2 years. The elephants are placed for safety between trees, which are planted 4 by 4 conveniently for this, where they can be better disciplined than in the stables.

Heydt then goes on to describe how animals are measured, examined and priced for the international market and then escorted tied to tame elephants to the point of shipment. While I was still in Colombo, there came thus (tied) beside tame elephants yearly 50 – 60 which had been taken here, to be sent from there to the Coromandel Coast and Bengal: since the Kings there buy them from the Company to use them for their pomp. They remained usually for 3 to 4 weeks near Colombo before they went further, and first must be measured, according to the custom there, both in height and length.

At this measuring attention was given also to the tail, whether it were complete; and had also its tufts complete, on which are hairs, very thick which are about 4 or at the most 6 inches long, hanging down on both sides of the tufts .When selling or purchasing these beasts one also looks very closely at the ears, seeing that in the case of many these are highly torn. Those  which have good ears and tails, and no visible defects, are highly valued:

The impression given by  such description, specially for gullible readers is that the  Dutch,  due to their innate superiority, were able to improve on the elephant capturing methods used for  centuries by the Sinhalese. This is most unlikely. The Dutch were not familiar with elephants and knew nothing about  capturing them  and shipping them. What they did was to latch on to the  trade established by the  Sinhala kings,  use the  methods developed by them, use the  trained groups who  were traditionally engaged in this work and take the profits.( continued)