The Institutes of Akbar 82: AIN 41. · THE IMPERIAL ELEPHANT STABLES.
The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 82
- Language
- English
Contents
AIN 41. · THE IMPERIAL ELEPHANT STABLES.
82.1.1
This wonderful animal is in bulk and strength like a mountain; and in courage and ferocity like a lion. It adds materially to the pomp of a king, and to the success of a conqueror; and is of the greatest use for the army. Experienced men of Hindustan put the value of a good elephant equal to five hundred horse; and they believe, that when guided by a few bold men armed with matchlocks, such an elephant alone is worth double that number. In vehemence on one side, and submissiveness to the reins on the other, the elephant is like an Arab, whilst in point of obedience and attentiveness to even the slightest signs, it resembles an intelligent human being. In restiveness when full-blooded, and in vindictiveness, it surpasses man. An elephant never hurts the female, though she be the cause of his captivity; he never will fight with young elephants, nor does he think it proper to punish them. From a sense of gratitude, he does his keepers no harm, nor will he throw dust over his body, when he is mounted, though he often does so at other times. Once an elephant, during the rutting season, was fighting with another. When he was in the height of excitement, a small elephant came in his way: he kindly lifted up the small one with his trunk, set him aside, and then renewed the combat. If a male elephant breaks loose during the rutting season, in order to have his own way, few people have the courage to approach him;
82.1.2
and some bold and experienced man will have to get on a female elephant, and try to get near him and tie a rope round his foot. Female elephants, when mourning the loss of a young one, will often abstain from food and drink; they sometimes even die from grief. The elephant can be taught various feats. He learns to remember such melodies as can only be remembered by people acquainted with music; he will move his limbs, to keep time, and exhibit his skill in various ways. He will shoot off an arrow from a bow, discharge a matchlock, and will learn to pick up things that have been dropped, and hand them over to the keeper. Sometimes they get grain to eat wrapped up in hay; this they hide in the side of their mouth, and give it back to the keeper, when they are alone with him. The teats of a female elephant, and the womb, resemble those of woman. The tongue is round like that of a parrot. The testicles are not visible. Elephants frequently with their trunks take water out of their stomachs, and sprinkle themselves with it. Such water has no offensive smell. They also take out of their stomach grass on the second day, without its having undergone any change.
82.1.3
The price of an elephant varies from a lak to one hundred rupees; elephants worth five thousand, and ten thousand rupees, are pretty common. There are four kinds of elephants. 1. Bhaddar. It is well proportioned, has an erect head, a broad chest, large ears, a long tail, and is bold, and can bear fatigue. They take out of his forehead an excrescence resembling a large pearl, which they call in Hindi Gaj manik. Many properties are ascribed to it. 2. Mand. It is black, has yellow eyes, a uniformly sized belly, a long penis, and is wild and ungovernable. 3. Mirg. It has a whitish skin, with black spots; the colour of its eyes is a mixture of red, yellow, black, and white. 4. Mir. It has a small head, and obeys readily. It gets frightened, when it thunders.
82.1.4
From a mixture of these four kinds are formed others of different names and properties. The colour of the skin of elephants is threefold: white, black, grey. Again, according to the threefold division of the dispositions assigned by the Hindus to the mind, namely, sat benevolence, raj love of sensual enjoyment, and tam irascibility, which shall be further explained below, elephants are divided into three classes. 1st, such in which sat predominates. They are well proportioned, good looking, eat moderately, are very submissive, do not care for intercourse with the female, and live to a very old age. Secondly, such in whose disposition raj prevails. They are savage looking, and proud, bold, ungovernable, and voracious. Lastly, such as are full of tam. They are self-willed, destructive, and given to sleep and voraciousness.
82.1.5
The time of gestation of the female is generally eighteen lunar months. For three months the fluida germinalia intermix in the womb of the female; when agitated, the mass looks like quicksilver. Towards the fifth month the fluida settle, and get gelatinous. In the seventh month, they get more solid, and draw to perfection towards the ninth month. In the eleventh, the outline of a body is visible; and in the twelfth, the veins, bones, hoofs, and hairs, make their appearance. In the thirteenth month, the genitalia become distinguishable, and in the fifteenth, the process of quickening commences. If the female, during gestation, gets stronger, the fœtus is sure to be a male; but if she gets weak, it is the sign of a female. During the sixteenth month, the formation becomes still more perfect, and the life of the fœtus becomes quite distinct. In the seventeenth month, there is every chance of a premature birth, on account of the efforts made by the fœtus to move, till, in the eighteenth month, the young one is born.
82.1.6
According to others, the sperm gets solid in the first month; the eyes, ears, the nose, mouth, and tongue, are formed in the second; in the third month, the limbs make their appearance; in the fourth month, the fœtus grows and gets strong; in the fifth, it commences to quicken; in the sixth, it gets sense, which appears more marked during the seventh month; in the eighth, there is some chance of a miscarriage; during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh months, the fœtus grows, and is born during the twelfth. It will be a male young one, if the greater part of the sperm came from the male; and it will be a female young one, if the reverse is the case. If the sperm of both the male and female is equal in quantity, the young one will be a hermaphrodite. The male fœtus lies towards the right side; the female towards the left; a hermaphrodite in the middle. Female elephants have often for twelve days a red discharge, after which gestation commences. During that period, they look startled, sprinkle themselves with water and earth, keep ears and tail upwards, and go rarely away from the male. They will rub themselves against the male, bend their heads below his tusks, smell at his urine and dung, and cannot bear to see another female near him. Sometimes, however, a female shews aversion to intercourse with the male, and must be forced to copulate, when other female elephants, at hearing her noise, will come to her rescue.
82.1.7
In former times, people did not breed elephants, and thought it unlucky; by the command of His Majesty, they now breed a very superior class of elephants, which has removed the old prejudice in the minds of men. A female elephant has generally one young one, but sometimes two. For five years the young ones content themselves with the milk of the mother; after that period they commence to eat herbs. In this state they are called dd. When ten years old, they are named pit; when twenty years old, bikta; when thirty years old, kalbah. In fact the animal changes appearance every year, and then gets a new name. When sixty years old, the elephant is fullgrown. The skull then looks like two halves of a ball, whilst the ears look like winnowing fans. White eyes mixed with yellow, black, and red, are looked upon as a sign of excellence. The forehead must be flat without swellings or wrinkles. The trunk is the nose of the animal, and is so long as to touch the ground. With it, it takes up the food and puts it into the mouth; similarly, it sucks up water with it, and then throws it into the stomach. It has eighteen teeth; sixteen of them are inside the mouth, eight above and eight below, and two are the tusks outside. The latter are one and more yards long, round, shining, very strong, white, or sometimes reddish, and straight, the end slightly bent upwards. Some elephants have four tusks. With a view to usefulness as also to ornament, they cut off the top of the tusks, which grow again.
82.1.8
With some elephants they have to cut the tusks annually; with others after two or three years; but they do not like to cut them when an elephant is ten and eighty years old. An elephant is perfect when it is eight dast high, nine dast long, and ten dast round the belly, and along the back. Again, nine limbs ought to touch the ground, namely, the fore feet, the hind feet, the trunk, the tusks, the penis, the tail. White spots on the forehead are considered lucky, whilst a thick neck is looked upon as a sign of beauty. Long hairs on and about the ears point to good origin.
82.2.1
Some elephants rut in winter, some in summer, some in the rains. They are then very fierce, they pull down houses, throw down stone walls, and will lift up with their trunks a horse and its rider. But elephants differ very much in the amount of fierceness and boldness. When they are hot, a blackish discharge exudes from the soft parts between the ears and the temples, which has a most offensive smell; it is sometimes whitish, mixed with red. They say that elephants have twelve holes in those soft parts, which likewise discharge the offensive fluid. The discharge is abundant in lively animals, but trickles drop by drop in slow ones. As soon as the discharge stops, the elephant gets fierce and looks grand; in this state he gets the name of Tufts or Sarhari. When the above discharge exudes from a place a little higher than the soft parts between the ears and the temples, the elephant is called Singddhdl; and when the fluid trickles from all three places, Zaljér. When hot, elephants get attached to particular living creatures, as men, or horses; but some elephants to any animal. So at least according to Hindu books.
82.2.2
The Bhaddar ruts in Libra and Scorpio; the Mand in spring; the Mirg in Capricorn and Sagittarius; the Mer in any season. Elephant drivers have a drug which causes an artificial heat; but it often endangers the life of the beast. The noise of battle makes some superior elephants just as fierce as at the rutting season; even a sudden start may have such an effect. Thus His Majesty’s elephant Gajmuktah; he gets brisk, as soon as he hears the sound of the Imperial drum, and gets the above mentioned discharge. This peculiar heat generally makes its first appearance, when elephants have reached the age of thirty; sometimes, however, earlier, at an age of twenty-five. Sometimes the heat lasts for years, and some of the Imperial elephants have continued for five years in an uninterrupted alacrity. But it is mostly male elephants that get hot. They then commence to throw up earth, and run after a female, or roll about in mud, and daub themselves all over with dirt. When hot, they are very irritable, and yawn a great deal, though they sleep but little. At last, they even discontinue eating, and dislike the foot-chain; they try to get loose, and behave noisily. The elephant, like man, lives to an age of one hundred and twenty years. The Hindi language has several words for an elephant, as hasti, gaj, píl, háthí, &c. Under the hands of an experienced keeper, it will much improve, so that its value, in a short time, may rise from one hundred to ten thousand rupees.
82.2.3
The Hindus believe that the eight points of the earth are each guarded by a heavenly being in the shape of an elephant; they have curious legends regarding them. Their names are as follows: 1. Airávata, in the East; 2. Pundaríka, South-east; 3. Béman, South; 4. Kumuda, South-west; 5. Anjan, West; 6. Pushpadanta, North-west; 7. Sárbhabhauma, North; 8. Supratíka, North-east. When occasions arise, people read incantations in their names, and address them in worship. They also think that every elephant in the world is the offspring of one of them. Thus, elephants of a white skin and white hairs are related to the first; elephants with a large head, and long hairs, of a fierce and bold temper, and eyelids far apart, belong to the second; such as are ...., good looking, black, and high in the back, are the offspring of the third; if tall, ungovernable, quick in understanding, short-haired, and with red and black eyes, they come from the fourth; if bright black, with one tusk longer than the other, with a white breast and belly, and long and thick fore-feet, from the fifth; if fearful, with prominent veins, with a short hump and ears, and a long trunk, from the sixth; if thin-bellied, red-eyed, and with a long trunk, from the seventh; and if of a combination of the preceding seven qualities, from the eighth.
82.2.4
The Hindus also make the following division into eight classes. 1. Elephants whose skin is not wrinkled, who are never sick, who are grand looking, do not run away from the battle-field, dislike meat, and prefer clean food at proper times, are said to be Déw mizáj (of a divine temper). 2. Such as possess all the good qualities of elephants, and are quick in learning, moving about the head, ears, trunk, forelegs, hind legs, and the tail, and do no one harm, except they be ordered to do so, are Gandharba mizáj (angelic). 3. If irritable, of good appetite, fond of being in water, they are Barhaman mizáj (of a brahminical temper). 4. Such as are very strong, in good condition, fond of fighting, ungovernable, are said to have the temper of a Khetri, or warrior. 5. Those which are of a low stature, and forgetful, self-willed in their own work, and neglectful in that of their master, fond of unclean food, and spiteful towards other elephants, are Súdra mizáj. 6. Elephants which remain hot for a long time, and are fond of playing tricks, or destructive, and lose the way, have the temper of a serpent. 7. Such as squint, and are slow to learn, or feign to be hot, have the temper of a Pishácha (spectre). 8. Those which are violent, swift, and do men harm, and are fond of running about at night, have the qualities of a Ráchhas (demon).
82.2.5
The Hindus have written many books in explanation of these various tempers, as also many treatises on the diseases of the elephants, their causes and proper remedies. Elephants are chiefly found in the Súbah of Agrah, in the forests of Bayáwán and Narwar, as far as Barár; in the Súbah of Ilahabás (Allahabad), in the confines of Pattah (?), and G’horág’hát, and Ratanpúr, Nandanpúr, Sargachh, and Bustar; and in the Súbah of Málwah, near Handiyah, Uchhod, Chandérí, Santwás, Bíjágarh, Ráisín, Hoshangábád, Garh, Haryágadh; in the Súbah of Bahár, in the neighbourhood of Rahtás and Jhar-k’hand; and in the Súbah of Bengal, in Orísá, and Sátgánw (Húglí). The elephants of Pattah (?) are the best. A herd of elephants is called in Hindí sahn. They vary in number; sometimes a herd amounts to a thousand elephants. Wild elephants are very cautious. In winter and summer, they select a proper place, and break down a whole forest near their sleeping place. For the sake of pleasure, or for food and drink, they often travel over great distances. On the journey one runs far in front of the others, like a sentinel; a young female is generally selected for this purpose. When they go to sleep, they send out to the four sides of the sleeping place pickets of four female elephants, which relieve each other.
82.2.6
Elephants will lift up their young ones, for three or four days after their birth, with their trunks, and put them on their backs, or lay them over their tusks. They also prepare medicines for the females when they are sick or in labour pains, and crowd round about them. When some of them get caught, the female elephants break through the nets, and pull down the elephant-drivers. And when a young elephant falls into a snare, they hide themselves in an ambush, go at night to the place where the young one is, set it at liberty, and trample the hunters to death. Sometimes its mother slowly approaches alone, and frees it in some clever way. I have heard the following story from His Majesty.—‘Once a wild young one had fallen into a pit. As night had approached, we did not care to pull it out immediately, and left it; but when we came next morning near the place, we saw that some wild elephants had filled the pit with broken logs and grass, and thus pulled out the young one.’ Again, ‘Once a female elephant played us a trick. She feigned to be dead. We passed her, and went onwards; but when at night we returned, we saw no trace left of her.’ There was once an elephant in the Imperial stables, named Ayás. For some reason, it had got offended with the driver, and was for ever watching for an opportunity. Once at night, it found him asleep. It got hold of a long piece of wood, managed to pull off with it the man’s turban, seized him by his hair, and tore him asunder.
82.2.7
Many examples are on record of the extraordinary cleverness of elephants; in some cases it is difficult to believe them. Kings have always shewn a great predilection for this animal, and done every thing in their power to collect a large number. Elephant-keepers are much esteemed, and a proper rank is assigned to such as have a special knowledge of the animal. Wicked, low men see in an elephant a means of lawlessness; and unprincipled evildoers, with the help of this animal, carry on their nefarious trade. Hence kings of former times never succeeded in suppressing the rebellious, and were thus disappointed in their best intentions. But His Majesty, though overwhelmed with other important matters, has been able, through God’s assistance and his numerous elephants, to check those low but haughty men; he teaches them to desire submission, and bestows upon them, by wise laws, the blessings of peace. His Majesty divided the Imperial elephants into sections, which he put in charge of honest Dāroghahs. Certain elephants were also declared khāṣah, i. e., appointed for the exclusive use of His Majesty.