Elephant abuse / Elephant polo

[Guest guest]

A division Jaipur bench of Rajasthan High Court comprising Chief Justice Jagdish

Bhalla and Justice M N Bhandari on Friday directed the state authorities to use

the guidelines issued by principal chief conservator of forests and chief

wildlife warden of Rajasthan as a norm for housing and upkeep of elephants in

the state. The court banned the use of sharp-edged iron ankushes to control

elephants.

The directives of the high court came on a public interest litigation (PIL) by

Naresh Kumar Kadyan, chairman of the People for Animals (PFA) Haryana filed in

2006 calling attention to the cruelties committed on elephants by the mahouts

during pregnancy such as running them on hard surfaces, using sharp edged

'ankush' to control elephants. The court has then asked the state government

about the death of elephants, action taken for the health and safety of

elephants, atrocities committed on them, and the use of sharp-edged iron weapons

called ankush.

 

" The court order was passed because there is no legislation on the upkeep of

elephants and the only available material was the detailed guidelines which have

been directed by the court to be used as a strict rule to be followed

religiously by the mahouts, " said Ajay Kumar Jain, counsel for the petitioner.

 

Therefore, now the mahouts will be allowed to use only wooden ankushes to

control elephants in emergencies. Also they will now not

use the female elephants which are in their 12th month of pregnancy for safaris.

Further, no elephant having a suckling calf below the age of six months be put

to work.

Abhishek Kadyan, Media Adviser to the International Organisation for Animal

Protection - OIPA in India.

[Guest guest]

Dear Mr Kadyan,

Congratulations and keep the good work. Please

convey my regards to Abhishek.

 

Maybe you will be interested in the following article published in Times of

India on 27th February, 2010 :

 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/union-budget-2010/The-elephant-and-india-Tusk\

er-tales/articleshow/5622542.cms

The

elephant and India: Tusker talesPraveen Dass, TNN, Feb 27, 2010, 06.17am IST

 

Halid haathivala is used to curious onlookers, as are his wards. Basking in

the winter sunshine by the Yamuna, recovering from a long night of

ceremonial work at Delhi weddings, his three elephants are being gawked at

by children from a nearby school. Minders warn them to behave, as Khalid and

his colleagues go about feeding the beasts.

 

A special sight for most Indians still, these majestic animals appear to

have fallen out of favour in more elite circles. Many critics now routinely

carp at India being commonly characterized as a 'lumbering elephant'.

 

This label may be traced to media reports from the late 1970s, when several

South East Asian nations began rapidly industrializing, and China began its

ascent to economic superstardom. Experts soon began conjuring up an entire

menagerie of beast metaphors.

 

Booming East Asian 'tiger economies' were contrasted with a 'slow' Indian

'elephant', hobbled by its infamous 'Hindu rate of growth'. Thirty years

later, much is now made of competition between a roaring Indian economy and

the mighty Chinese 'dragon'. Many feel a tiger would now be a better symbol

for a new India.

 

Such angst is misplaced. For a nation vast in every way, the elephant

metaphor is apt. Besides, while the elephant is a substantial reality, the

dragon is a mythical creature — an appropriate comment on some of China's

economic statistics?

 

Jumbo Presence

Unlike the larger African elephant, fiercer and notoriously untamable, the

Indian elephant (elephas maximus indicus) — distinguished by its smaller

ears and prominent forehead — has always been easier to domesticate. That's

largely why it has had a special hold on the subcontinent's collective

imagination. Mythology, religious tradition and history here positively

abound with distinctive elephant motifs — usually representing divinity,

strength and fortitude.

 

One strain of divinity leads to Ganesha, elephant-headed destroyer of

obstacles and lord of good beginnings. Pot-bellied with a taste for sweets,

and granted a rat as vahana, Ganesha's symbolism is as diverse as his many

depictions. The elephant and the rat denote the overcoming of opposites — a

richly meaningful theme in Hindu tradition. Not surprisingly, Ganapati is

one of India's most popular deities.

 

Elephants are everywhere in other Hindu myths too. Lakshmi is often depicted

with elephants, hence Gajalakshmi. Airavat, Indra's winged white,

four-tusked vahana, was one of eight ashtadikpalakas created by Brahma from

a ball of mud to guard various celestial realms. In one account, crimes of

passion — involving the usual mix of comely apsaras, angry sages and guilty

gods — led to a fall and the elephant's arrival on earthly planes.

 

The Mahabharata, greatest of Indian epics, is stuffed with the elephant

motif. Ganesha, legend holds, played scribe to Vyasa — using a pen fashioned

from his tusk. Mighty Bheema's strength is often compared to many elephants.

And, in Indian literature's most infamous instance of distortion of fact, it

is the death of an elephant named Ashvathama that enables the slaying of

Dronacharya, leaving an indelible blot on Yudhishtira's legendary

truthfulness.

 

Buddhism greatly reveres the elephant too. Tradition has it that the Buddha

was conceived in a dream in which his mother was pierced by a white elephant

with six tusks. Previous incarnations of the Bodhisattva were also born as

elephants — a major reason Buddhist literature and art frequently depict

elephants as symbolizing wisdom, steadfastness and strength. Grey elephants

are said to symbolize an aspect of the untrained mind, unfocused and quick

to anger; focused minds, trained in the dhammic tradition, are akin to white

elephants.

 

Worship has also made special place for elephants throughout much recorded

history. Temple elephants are an old tradition in South India, where they've

long been an integral part of everyday life. They may still be spotted on

occasion, gently walking down old city lanes, offering blessings and

receiving alms. In Kerala, annual displays of gloriously bedecked temple

elephants are now a prominent tourist event. Mysore's famous Dasara

procession invokes a lineage that stretches back to the heyday of

Vijayanagara.

 

In addition to all the heavy lifting, elephants were also put to more

martial work. Suited equally to the hunt and to most forms of warfare, they

famously served virtually every major Indian ruler.

 

The Western world first encountered real war elephants, famously, in 326 BC,

when Alexander of Macedon waded across the Indus to fight Puru at Hydaspes.

Those beasts left quite an impression, even in defeat. The tale goes that

the Greek refusal to march on owed much to the prospect of facing more

elephants in Magadha. The Greeks duly spread the word in Asia Minor and

Europe.

 

Indus Valley seals depict elephants, as do the Vedas, in dazzling verse.

Ancient scholars, including Kautilya, wrote about their utility and majesty.

A medical treatise, Palakapya's Hastayayurveda, became a must-have user

manual of sorts for ancient operators. Artists accorded the elephant a

cherished place in Indian iconography, a tradition that continues till

today.

 

In battle they proved influential until, as with all weapons, technology

overtook them. One skirmish in particular, at Panipat in 1526, brought about

their slow retreat from Indian frontlines. Babur, shrewd general and

ambitious conqueror, faced down a few hundred of Ibrahim Lodi's elephants by

scattering them with new artillery — a tactic he would use repeatedly.

 

His descendants would do the same, even as they took to these noble animals

and relished sport with them. Akbar so loved one of his pet elephants,

Hiran, that he built for it a monument outside Fatehpur Sikri. Legend has it

that Shah Jahan shifted Mughal India's capital back to Delhi because his

elaborate elephant processions could not wend their way through Agra's

narrow streets.

 

That motif, of the elephant as a symbol of power in India, was an old and

potent one that all invaders cottoned on to pretty quickly. They didn't all

ride elephants just to hunt tigers.

 

It was a fact carefully noted by diligent English empire builders too. As

one paladin after another swayed down boulevards in newly-built Indian

cities, seated on elephants elaborately caparisoned in the local style, this

motif was made amply clear to Indian masses: the British Raj was the new

power astride the behemoth that was India. It was to be the last time such

symbolism was invoked.

 

Hathi Pull

Independent India muted this motif and turned to regarding elephants as

merely lovable beasts. The only major state-sponsored processions that take

place today are at the Republic Day parade in Delhi. Children honoured for

acts of bravery march down Rajpath on elephants, waving away.

 

The 1980s were a good decade. TV brought wildlife programming into our

living rooms, even if it was on DD. The IAF inducted the giant IL-76

transport aircraft and named it 'Gajraj'. And Appu, a Guruvayur temple

elephant, was chosen mascot for the 1982 Asian Games. His depiction as a

cute dancing figure became a fond memory of that sporting event. Appu died

in 2005, recalled in misty-eyed reports.

 

Such elaborate symbolism is now in need of being recalled, since much

appears to have been forgotten in western-inspired fussing about 'slow' and

'lumbering'. Praised by Aristotle as " the beast that passeth all others in

wit and mind " , a remarkably social animal, and justly venerated for its

utility, the elephant is badly in need of an image makeover. Besides, as

another Greek pointed out, slow and steady may not be such a bad idea in the

long run.

 

Naysayers may also look to this newspaper's crest, where two elephants

gently prop up a shield. The crest, for long, featured a pair of Britannic

lions. Independence called for change. Elephants were probably an easy

choice.

 

Khalid haathivala couldn't agree more. Such symbolism is not lost on him.

" Sabse solid, " he smiles. His wards keep munching their fodder, their calm,

stoic gaze firmly focused on the next bale.

 

On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 12:14 PM, nareshkadyan <kadyan.ipfa wrote:

 

>

>

> A division Jaipur bench of Rajasthan High Court comprising Chief Justice

> Jagdish Bhalla and Justice M N Bhandari on Friday directed the state

> authorities to use the guidelines issued by principal chief conservator of

> forests and chief wildlife warden of Rajasthan as a norm for housing and

> upkeep of elephants in the state. The court banned the use of sharp-edged

> iron ankushes to control elephants.

> The directives of the high court came on a public interest litigation (PIL)

> by Naresh Kumar Kadyan, chairman of the People for Animals (PFA) Haryana

> filed in 2006 calling attention to the cruelties committed on elephants by

> the mahouts during pregnancy such as running them on hard surfaces, using

> sharp edged 'ankush' to control elephants. The court has then asked the

> state government about the death of elephants, action taken for the health

> and safety of elephants, atrocities committed on them, and the use of

> sharp-edged iron weapons called ankush.

>

> " The court order was passed because there is no legislation on the upkeep

> of elephants and the only available material was the detailed guidelines

> which have been directed by the court to be used as a strict rule to be

> followed religiously by the mahouts, " said Ajay Kumar Jain, counsel for the

> petitioner.

>

> Therefore, now the mahouts will be allowed to use only wooden ankushes to

> control elephants in emergencies. Also they will now not

> use the female elephants which are in their 12th month of pregnancy for

> safaris.

> Further, no elephant having a suckling calf below the age of six months be

> put to work.

> Abhishek Kadyan, Media Adviser to the International Organisation for Animal

> Protection - OIPA in India.

>

>