Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v1.c8.s2.44

v1.c8.s2.44

It will be interesting to see something in detail about these animals, which figure so prominently in the designs of the Vijayanagara architects. The elephants were caught in the following manner in the days of 'Abdur Razzāq. "The manner in which they catch the elephants", says he, "is this: they dig a pit in the way by which the animal usually goes to drink, which they cover over lightly. When an elephant falls into it, no man is allowed to go near the animal for two or three days; at the end of that period a man comes up and strikes him several hard blows with a bludgeon, when suddenly another man appears to drive off the striker, and seizing the bludgeon, throws it away. He then retires, after placing forage before the elephant. This practice is repeated for several days; the first lays on the blows, and the second drives him away, until the animal begins to have a liking for his protector, who by degrees approaches the animal, and places before it the fruits which elephants are partial to, and scratches and rules the animal, until by this kind of treatment, he becomes tame, and submits his neck to the chain".¹ In the skillful practice of catching and taming an elephant, the Vijayanagara people did not introduce a new art. So far back as the times of Chandragupta, the importance of the elephant in the life of the people was seen in the institution of a law by which "the killing of an elephant was visited even with capital punishment."²