Introducing the two Major Texts: Mātaṅgalīlā and Hastyāyurveda

Elephants were not only a significant part of their natural abodes but were a very noteworthy part of civilized human society in early India. Their abundance and multiple usages turned them into a coveted commodity especially for the demand that was created for ivory. Ivory procured from elephants both alive and dead were in much demand both within the country and also abroad. Ivory was used for varied craft items, making ornaments, other luxury items and also decorative items. Ivory carving became a specialized profession. One third of the tusk of a live elephant could be cut every year and this almost became a ritual in places where the animal was found in abundance. However poachers existed throughout and they used to kill the elephants to procure the whole ivory. Elephants were captivated, domesticated and also used for warfare so much so that they were also regarded as wealth or fortune.

In this context it is worth mentioning that the works of classical writers refer to the fact that the army of Alexander was depressed due to the battle with Porus, moreover they were afraid of the Gandaritai and the Praisiai as these armies included cavalry, infantry, war-chariots and elephant forces. The latter have been mentioned specifically as possessing war-elephants up to 6000 in number^[1]. Alexander was perplexed to learn about the large and efficient elephant squad of Magadha. This made Macedonians very reluctant to advance further into India. Classical writers like Strabo, Arian and Plutarch’s account also supply us with the information that Candragupta presented 500 war-elephants to Seleucus, and got Paropamisadei (south-eastern region of Hindukush range), Arachosia (Kandahar, Afghanistan) and Gedrosia (Baluchistan). So, we come across a new scenario wherein elephants became a major element or symbol of royal empowerment.

The position of this animal in everyday life of the civilized society is reflected from the various texts which were composed focusing on varied aspects of elephants like collection of ivory, catching of the animal, their upkeep and also their treatment. Exclusive medical texts concerning elephants prove that it was imperative for human society to keep them in good health. They became a very important part of royal travel. On the basis of the content of the literary works focusing on elephants we may divide them into two categories firstly those which have portions dedicated to elephants and their varied aspects and secondly those treatises which exclusively focussed on the elephants. The first category comprises of the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra (c.4^th-3^rd century BCE), this is one of the earliest books to have had significant proportion of knowledge on elephants though it is a book on polity yet inclusion of such knowledge indirectly reflects the significance of the elephants in the life of royalty. This tradition continued and one can find works such as Kāmandaka’s Nītisāra (c. CE 500-700), Somadeva Suri’s Yaśostilaka (CE 959-966), Mānasollāsa of Cālukyan king Someśvara III (CE 1131), Godāvaramiśra’s Hariharacaturaṅga (16^th century CE). To the second category belong the works like Pālakāpya’s Gajaśāstra, Nārada’s Gajaśikṣā, Gajagrahaṇaprakāra of Nārāyaṇa Dīkṣita, Nīlakaṇṭha’s Mātaṅgalīlā and Hastyāyurveda of Pālakāpya muni and their translations which have been used here extensively. However Gajaśāstra and other treatises have not yet been translated satisfactorily. Along with this we have also taken into consideration related texts like Kalpanāratnam which is mainly on the art of cutting of tusks and procurement of ivory. An English translation of this text was done in 2009 by H.V. Nagaraja Rao. In this category we have also taken into consideration epigraphic material which provides direct primary evidence on the usage of elephants by early Indians.

We have mainly chosen Mātaṅgalīlā and Hastyāyurveda along with epigraphic data as our primary data for analysis in the present thesis. These two are imperative texts which have not yet been used/ explored properly by scholars working on elephants in detail. Most of the scholars have taken into consideration the Arthaśāstra which provides us with very significant knowledge on elephants and their utility for the royalty and common masses. We shall use this knowledge as and where necessary but our prime data will be from the two texts i.e. Mātaṅgalīlā and Hastyāyurveda. The reasons for selection of these two texts is that one is a general text related to elephant sport written by Nīlakaṇṭha based on the available knowledge using the Hastyāyurveda and Gajaśāstra. The second book is based on the treatment of elephants. After a critical analysis of the chosen texts and corroborating the data with what little information we could extract from epigraphic sources we have attempted to situate our findings in the early Indian social context in our concluding chapter.

Among the secondary sources we have taken into consideration the books and articles that directly deal with elephants in early India. This genre does not have much available literature which shows a desideratum and has prompted us to consider this topic for research. We have a book by Vikramajit Ram entitled Elephant Kingdom: Sculptures from Indian Architecture (2007) which is wonderfully illustrated and reflects several aspects of the elephants but is quite sketchy. Though the book has been able to arouse interest and the need to do further research yet not much has been done yet.

A further more comprehensive work is by Trautmann in 2015 which mainly focuses on the relationship of the Elephants and Kings and how the royalty in ancient India used the animal for their benefit. He describes how Indian kings through ages, were procuring elephants from the forests and then training them for utilizing them in several ways for several purposes, especially in warfare. This utility aspect generated a demand which might have compelled ancient Indian kings and rulers to give protection to this wild animal from poachers and also led them to protect the forests. This subsequently made an ecological balance between man, animal and environment. This is an extremely valuable work but there are several aspects that have not been taken into consideration by Trautmann in his work. He focuses mainly on manelephant-environmental relation. He has taken into consideration some treatises which are quite significant but has completely missed out on the epigraphic sources. He uses scanty epigraphic data for this book and hence misses out on the practical aspect behind the ideal and normative texts. Mātaṅgalīlā also remains underutilized in this work. As the focus of his work in on the inter and intra relationship between the royalty and elephants based on environmental factors he concentrates only on elephants” role in warfare but overall a holistic study on elephants still remains a desideratum after this work.

Technical treatises on “elephant-science” i.e. gaja-śāstra have been a very popular genre of literature in early India. The abundance, popularity and demand of elephants and elephant products like ivory have made this animal a most popular subject for composing texts. Texts were composed not only from veterinary angle/aspect but also detailed texts on availability, catching/ procuring; upkeep, variety and many other aspects were also covered in several texts which were composed in early India. The present thesis concentrates on the epigraphic data yet this data has been seen in context of the available contemporary textual evidences on elephants. Epigraphs, sculptural representation and to some extent numismatic sources also provide significant data on elephants and their use in early India. Elephants have been used for comfort and convenience and products like ivory as luxury goods not only in the subcontinent but also outside the Indian subcontinent these have been exported almost in every phase of history. Elephants were used for ceremonial display, for bearing loads and also in warfare. Early Indian literature and epigraphs are replete with such references. The Persians rulers and their army learnt about the use of elephants from their Indian counterparts and passed on this knowledge to the Hellenistic Greeks.

On the basis of Mātaṅgalīlā and Hastyāyurveda, the two imperative texts on elephants we shall discuss the life cycle, behaviour, types, availability, food habits, reproduction, diseases and cure etc. of elephants. Edgerton mentions this as elephantology^[2]. In keeping with the ancient textual tradition these texts also have an origin myth or one can trace the mythical origin of the texts. The origin of this science has been attributed to a mythical sage named Pālakāpya. Like other texts the flow of the knowledge is hierarchical in fashion. It is mentioned that he revealed the elephant lore first to an apparently mythical king Romapāda who is mentioned as the ruler of Aṅga. Like other texts this is in the form of dialogues between two personages.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

H.C. Raychaudhuri. Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1972, p.231.

[2]:

Franklin Edgerton. The Elephant-Lore of the Hindus, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1985 (Reprint), p.1.