KAMALIKA PIERIS
REVISED
12.10.21
There was a strong elephant culture in ancient Sri Lanka. Sri
Lanka has had a long association with elephants and as a result a lasting
affinity has developed between the two, observed Jayantha Jayewardene . Knowledge of elephants” was one
of the skills listed in the medieval Sinhala literature. . The variations in
physical appearance amongst elephants were noticed and recorded in ancient
Sinhala manuscripts. There are ten such groups or ‘castes’ noted Jayantha
Jayawardene.
Elephants are
mentioned in the Sinhala literature. D.V. Seneviratne has written on Elephants
in Sinhala Literature. (Sri Lanka
Wildlife Bulletin No. 27-30. 1973.) Dhanesh Wisumperuma has written on
Elephants in “Sandēśa Kāvyas”. (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka New Series, Vol. 57 (2011), pp. 71-94.)
Due to Covid restrictions I have not been able to look at these two items and
convey their contents.
The elephants
lived in the forests of Sri Lanka. There were special forest reserves for them.
Ptolemy identifies the area between Sri Pada that includes the Walawe Ganga
basin and the Rakwana hills to the sea, as being ‘Elephantorum Hic Sunt’, an
elephant feeding ground. Merlin Peiris,
former Professor of Western classics, had brought this to the attention of
Ashley de Vos. The first description of the capture of elephants is by Pliny in
40 AD. The information was provided by
the Sinhalese ambassador to the court of the Emperor Claudius.
.In the ancient period Sri Lanka had an extensive area under
forest cover and elephants were widely distributed from sea level to the
highest mountain ranges. They were found
in all parts of the country except in the southwestern coastal belt from Chilaw
to Matara, and in the Jaffna Peninsula in the north. They were in the dry
zone, in the lowland wet zone as well as in the cold damp Montane forests. Elephants were captured when they ventured
into the forests in the lower plains.
Elephants were very important in ancient Sri Lanka. They were used
in a variety of ways and were greatly valued and protected. D’Oyly writing in 1809 said that All elephants are
considered the property of the Crown. There were laws designed to protect these
animals. Killing an elephant, specially tuskers and large elephants was
considered a despicable crime.
The elephant
was a royal animal. The king rode on an elephant, presumably in processions.
The elephant on which the king rode was known Mangalahasthi. This elephant was
always a tusker and had a special stable called the Hasthisala. The post to
which it was tethered was called Atheka (Seneviratne, 1973).
There were elephant stables in the palace during the Anuradhapura
period. The Mahavamsa speaks of the ‘chief elephant
of the king’s stable’ in the time of King Devanampiya Tissa. An inscription
at Navalar Kulam in Panama Pattu in the Eastern Province, dated to 1 BC refers
to Ath Arcaria or Master of the Elephant establishment. The Elephant establishment
was called the Ath panthiya.
The tradition continued. The palace of the Udarata king had an
elephant stable. In 1706 king Narendrasinha had over 300 tuskers in his
stables. The elephant stable in the Palace was under the Gajanayake Nilame. This
was a high ranking position.
Some
of the chieftains who helped the Sinhala kings to capture elephants were
allowed to keep an elephant or two for themselves. The Portuguese and the Dutch
continued this practice. This is how the long Sri Lankan tradition of private
ownership of elephants started, observed Jayewardene.
Elephant fights called Gaja Keliya were staged for the
entertainment of nobles. An inscription
on a stone seat at Polonnaruwa records that King Nissanka Malla sat upon it while watching elephant fights.
Elephants
were given as gifts to the kings of countries that had friendly relations with
the Sinhala kings and with whom they traded. Elephants
were used on all important ceremonial occasions, especially where pomp and
pageantry were required. Gaily caparisoned elephants went in temple peraheras.
The Ceylon elephant
was an important item of trade in ancient Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka elephant was
highly regarded abroad. Onesicritus (360- 290 BC) said the elephants in Sri
Lanka were bigger and more warlike,
than those found in India. Aelian (175 – 235 AD) records that the
elephants in Sri Lanka were physically stronger and bigger in appearance than
those in India, also more intelligent.
Cosmos Indicopleustes (d.550 AD) said that the elephant from Sri
Lanka was highly priced in India for its excellence in war. The Ceylon elephant
was highly prized in India for its special docile qualities, said another
commentator. Aelian said that they were exported to India in
special boats. Ptolemy said Mantota was the main port
for the export of elephants.
The Russian traveler Athanasius Nikitin (1470) who visited India
in 1466 and Add-er-Razzak (1442) Persian ambassador in India also spoke of the
trade in elephants between Calicut and Ceylon.
Elephants
were used in building construction. The Mahavamsa records the use of elephants
to stamp down large stones for the foundation of the Mahāthūpa. The elephant’s feet
were covered with leather to prevent injury from the stones. Elephants transported materials to
construction sites. The giant stones used in the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa
consecutions would have been moved into place by elephants.
Elephants
were also used for the construction of the large reservoirs. They were used for
transport and haulage, too and for logging operations and to clear jungles. They
were also sometimes used for ploughing the land.
Elephants were also used in battle. Being built like a tank,
elephants were used in war not only as a means of transport but also as a war
weapon. Ives observed “in time of war, they now and then fix a heavy iron
chain to the end of their trunks, which they whirl around with such agility, as
to make it impossible for an enemy to approach them at that time”.
Elephants were used to ram barricades. Dutugemunu used the elephant Kandula to break
down the wall around Vijitapura. Initially he was not put into protective gear
and the enemy poured boiling tar on him. Then the Sinhala forces put armor on
Kandula, with
a well softened buffalo hide underneath the armor and sent him back. Kandula
broke down the wall. In the final battle Dutugemunu and Elara faced each other
on elephants, Dutugemunu on Kandula.
The use of elephants in battle did
not end there. In 1586, Rajasingha I led an army which included a force of 2,200
highly trained elephants for fighting and for other services, and laid siege on
the Portuguese fort in Colombo. This number may not be accurate, but the records
confirm that elephants were used in this battle.
The elephant was used for capital punishment In
the Udarata kingdom. Robert Knox (1681) said that “that
the King makes use of elephants as executioners: they will run their teeth
[tusks]
through the body, and then tear it in pieces, and throw it limb for
limb. They have a sharp iron with a socket with three edges, which they put on
their teeth at such times. Henry Charles Sirr (1850) also said that elephants
were used as executioners of criminals in the Udarata kingdom.
Sri Lanka had a reputation for skilled elephant management.The Sinhala kings had special elephant
trainers. In the Udarata kingdom the capture and training of elephants came under the supervision of the Kuruwe
Lekam. The Kuruwe trained elephants both for
peace time purposes and also for war. They trained the mahouts too. Kuruwe clan had their own Muhandiram. Kuruwe
was not a high caste group. In the 20th century, the Kuruwe were
living in Kegalle. A brass model of an elephant with a number of movable joints
was used in the training of the mahouts.
There was also the ‘Ath-bandina-vidane’,
master of the hunt, ‘Ath- Panthiya-Aratchies’, Overseers, the ‘Ath-Bandina
Rala’, who supervised the ‘Badinno’, noosers ‘Vel-Kareya’, cutters of lianas,
‘Vaga-kareyo’, scouts who located the herds, ‘Panikkayo’, officers over the Kurunayake’ mahouts, ‘Dureyo’, who assist in
tying the tamed animals, ‘Pannayo’, foragers, ‘Diyakum- kareyo’, suppliers of
water, ‘Gaja-Pattiya’ or elephant veterinary officer, ‘Oli’, who collect
ingredients for medicines, ‘Thundugattene Hulavalliyo’, Headmen of the Rodi
caste who were the rope makers or ‘Thondugattene Hulavalliyo’, Headmen of the
Rodi caste who were the rope makers or ‘Thondu-gattene-karayo.
There was a
specific body of knowledge relating to elephant care. Status of elephant
medicine in ancient Sri Lanka was very high due to the value placed on
elephants. King Buddhadasa appointed medical practitioners to
attend to his elephants, his horses and his army”. Physicians for elephants, horses as
well as humans, accompanied the king and his convoy to war.
Ancient Sinhala palm leaf manuscripts describing the veterinary
aspects of elephant management are preserved in the Colombo Museum. The
National Museum of Ceylon has placed on permanent record, a national science,
which had reached a high level of development under the Sinhala kings, although
it is but little known today even among the mahouts, said P.E.P.
Deraniyagala (1952)
The manuscripts
held in the National Museum included
i Hasti
Yoga Satakaya” and Hasti Silpaya” (a Sanskrit work with a verbatim
translation in to Sinhala), describes the medicines, their preparations and the
diseases they cure; remedies for eye diseases, gastric, bowel and bilious
disorders, skin diseases, ointments, conditioning medicines and cautery;
prescriptions for oils, ointments, pastes, powders, pills, etc.; sores and
ulcers; a glossary of medical terms.
ii The Ath Veda Pota”,
a Sanskrit work with a verbatim translation in to Sinhala, describes medicines
for adults as well as calves.
iii Thun
Alinta Vedakam” and Gaja Yoga Ratnaya” describes medicines administered to
ensure affection and fidelity.
iv Ali Torana
Pota” describes ophthalmic medicines.
v Sri Yoga Sataka”
describes diseases, their symptoms and treatment.
vi Hasti Cikitsava” describes
various medicines, drugs, pills used in the treatment of elephants.
According to these manuscripts, the type of diseases and
conditions that existed in elephants in ancient Sri Lanka include, skin and
foot conditions (wounds, ulcers, abscesses), wounds on genital organs, worm
eating” of tusks, worms in ulcers, eczema, gunshot wounds, eye diseases,
gastric, bowel and bilious disorders, said Asoka Dangolla and Indira Silva. (Continued)
