Having squirmed through Sayyaji Rao Road as if it was an alley of the Devaraja Market parting confronting fruit stalls under siege from shoppers on a festive eve, I was about to absent-mindedly ask "What impels these folks?" Then, I caught a glimpse of the Dasara banner heralding the 403rd edition of the event - the numbers forming the elephant carrying the famed howdah. Every answer does but unlock the door to a new interrogative chamber, and this one echoed with "why was the elephant used to begin with?"
A clue to the answer lay in the fact that the King rode the elephant before Goddess Chamundeshwari was nominated as the heiress to the howdah when Royalty was killed by a legal injection.
Vijayadashami had been the princely state's equivalent of Republic Day. The procession, much like the one in present-day Delhi, allowed the King to show off his military might. The infantry marched, the cavalry cantered and the elephantry clumped, even as the artillery smoked. You could argue that the elephantry was a hold over from nineteenth century warfare, when the artillery was not as widely used, yet pachyderms packed quite a punch in the past.
An early example of employing elephants in endeavors against the enemy involves the eminent commander Hannibal. With a desire to literally take the battle to Rome, the Carthaginian had his army, including a sizable unit of the pachyderm-mounted men, trek the Alps to get to Italy. Though many of the beasts died en route, those that survived overwhelmed the Roman army. You can imagine a herd of goaded elephants charging at the enemy, knocking down and trampling the infantry, and terrorizing horses to tear apart the calculated cavalry formations. The Romans were startled and unsurprisingly routed. With time, however, Romans countered Hannibal's tactic. They realized that the marauding mammoth, owing to its momentum, would not be able to manoeuver itself to instantly change directions. So, the army was drilled to retreat to an arrangement, where in the intruding elephant was allowed to pass between columns of armed entities. They also discovered that despite their size, elephants fear fire. Because it was hard to procure elephants for war, the best suited of them confined to Asia, they constituted a threat that could be dodged.
Alexander's ambition ensured he encountered the elephants in Asia. Porus' resistance of Alexander's assault is reported to have been shouldered mostly by his elephant corps. Although Alexander's army had elephants of their own, the Asian elephants in Porus' force were an obstacle Alexander had to counter by employing radical tactics involving his infantry and cavalry, outpacing some of the largest beasts of the land, apart from resorting to stealth attacks. Alexander prevailed, but the battle had stomped his men's morale. Upon learning, through reconnaissance, of the even more populous elephantries at the disposal of the Mauryans, Alexander's weary warriors vetoed his plans of invading and occupying central India.
Once the cannons and guns began to replace the pikes and swords, they undermined the impact elephants had on battles. A soldier carrying a gun no longer had to brave a tussle with a tusker to try and kill its rider; cannons could wound elephants, even upend them. Yet, elephants, like the horses and camels, aided with logistics till the twentieth century saw the emergence of the auto industry. So, elephants did enjoy a pride of place where the battle wasn't sophisticatedly brutal owing to tardy industrialization. No wonder the Maharaja would have wanted to exhibit his elephants.
Also, war elephants were tamed tuskers, not elephants bred in captivity. Given the temperamental nature of the wild elephant, taming it must have been an obvious visual marker of the courage and perseverance of its rider. More the elephants, greater was the number of death-defying paladins in the King's army. The presence of such men should have accrued advantages to the force, at least in terms of boosting their spirits, while bleeding the opposition of the same.
But, what would Chamundeshawari be proving, and to whom, by riding an elephant? If you are a person of faith, you already believe she represents the supreme energy governing all conscious beings. Thus, her domination of an elephant is hardly a cause of amazement.
Talking to friends, I found that the brouhaha might actually be about the golden howdah. If that is the case, the Government might as well commission a lighter howdah, leveraging the advancements in material science. Exploitation, after all, is something they excel at, as the elephants might be itching to tell you, encumbered with the 750 kg howdah. Given the Wodeyars' penchant for the adoption of modern science and technology, they might have, had they still been carrying the sceptre, eased, if not erased, the elephant's plight.
Vijayadashami had been the princely state's equivalent of Republic Day. The procession, much like the one in present-day Delhi, allowed the King to show off his military might. The infantry marched, the cavalry cantered and the elephantry clumped, even as the artillery smoked. You could argue that the elephantry was a hold over from nineteenth century warfare, when the artillery was not as widely used, yet pachyderms packed quite a punch in the past.
An early example of employing elephants in endeavors against the enemy involves the eminent commander Hannibal. With a desire to literally take the battle to Rome, the Carthaginian had his army, including a sizable unit of the pachyderm-mounted men, trek the Alps to get to Italy. Though many of the beasts died en route, those that survived overwhelmed the Roman army. You can imagine a herd of goaded elephants charging at the enemy, knocking down and trampling the infantry, and terrorizing horses to tear apart the calculated cavalry formations. The Romans were startled and unsurprisingly routed. With time, however, Romans countered Hannibal's tactic. They realized that the marauding mammoth, owing to its momentum, would not be able to manoeuver itself to instantly change directions. So, the army was drilled to retreat to an arrangement, where in the intruding elephant was allowed to pass between columns of armed entities. They also discovered that despite their size, elephants fear fire. Because it was hard to procure elephants for war, the best suited of them confined to Asia, they constituted a threat that could be dodged.
Alexander's ambition ensured he encountered the elephants in Asia. Porus' resistance of Alexander's assault is reported to have been shouldered mostly by his elephant corps. Although Alexander's army had elephants of their own, the Asian elephants in Porus' force were an obstacle Alexander had to counter by employing radical tactics involving his infantry and cavalry, outpacing some of the largest beasts of the land, apart from resorting to stealth attacks. Alexander prevailed, but the battle had stomped his men's morale. Upon learning, through reconnaissance, of the even more populous elephantries at the disposal of the Mauryans, Alexander's weary warriors vetoed his plans of invading and occupying central India.
Once the cannons and guns began to replace the pikes and swords, they undermined the impact elephants had on battles. A soldier carrying a gun no longer had to brave a tussle with a tusker to try and kill its rider; cannons could wound elephants, even upend them. Yet, elephants, like the horses and camels, aided with logistics till the twentieth century saw the emergence of the auto industry. So, elephants did enjoy a pride of place where the battle wasn't sophisticatedly brutal owing to tardy industrialization. No wonder the Maharaja would have wanted to exhibit his elephants.
Also, war elephants were tamed tuskers, not elephants bred in captivity. Given the temperamental nature of the wild elephant, taming it must have been an obvious visual marker of the courage and perseverance of its rider. More the elephants, greater was the number of death-defying paladins in the King's army. The presence of such men should have accrued advantages to the force, at least in terms of boosting their spirits, while bleeding the opposition of the same.
But, what would Chamundeshawari be proving, and to whom, by riding an elephant? If you are a person of faith, you already believe she represents the supreme energy governing all conscious beings. Thus, her domination of an elephant is hardly a cause of amazement.
Talking to friends, I found that the brouhaha might actually be about the golden howdah. If that is the case, the Government might as well commission a lighter howdah, leveraging the advancements in material science. Exploitation, after all, is something they excel at, as the elephants might be itching to tell you, encumbered with the 750 kg howdah. Given the Wodeyars' penchant for the adoption of modern science and technology, they might have, had they still been carrying the sceptre, eased, if not erased, the elephant's plight.
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