Cruelty to BIG Gentle (Elephants) animals, the Norm of Sri-Lanka

It looks like two years of my perseverance in highlighting the plight of elephants (both wild and domesticated) is bearing fruit, a significantly a small number, nevertheless, 

is venting their AIR NOW.

 

The majority are on "the cruelty to animals side" in this Buddhist country of ours, openly supporting any cruelty in the name of TRADITION and Buddhism.

 

For a change I watched Day Perehara (to see how many Tiny Tots were there) on the 11th.

There were tears in my eyes, when I saw the smallest of the baby elephants.

This one would have been feeding (breast feeding) from mom, if had been in the jungle.

The baby was cruelty weaned

I imagined myself being a kid given as a slave to a wealthy "Nilame with tusker" in his possession by my care takers to be trained under a mahout.

 Pathetic.

Scenario is no different.

We have become very cruel in the name Dalada Perehara.

I am pretty sure if Buddha was living today, he would NOT have said, Yes to this cruelty.

 

 

Elephants of Sri Lanka

August 12, 2014, 12:00 pm

By T. B. Ekanayake

The sight of elephants is very common to residents of Kandy, as the Dalada Maligawa elephants are tied and fed in stables that are in the premises of Diyawadana Nilame’s quarters now, and they move around in the Town for errands of Maligawa. As I grew up a youngster and an adult I have had experiences of elephants and mahouts. Elephants, however large they are in size, are very innocent. When captured, they have to be with the mahouts until they die. Only a sympathetic mahout treats the creature with kind words or behaviour. 95% of the Mahouts are betel eaters and very often inebriated. When they accompany the animals at Perahera ceremonies only they dress well. If not, wear a sarong and the shirt fully open or bear bodied, with a talisman hanging on the neck. Is it Henaraja Thailaya (Oil to avoid bieng stuck by lightning) inside it? As he had to be with the animal right throughout, we have to sympathise with his behaviour for being different to a normal sane human being.

 They are very scared of the mahouts. For every simple fault of theirs, the goad is being used and injures the animal’s buttocks or legs. I have seen some animals with goad wounds bleeding. Sometimes I wonder, why cruelty to animals do not apply to these pachyderms by animal lovers. Is it because that they are supposed to be looked after well by mahouts or captured animals are being owned by high priests of the Temples or by highly affordable personnel in the country?

Always mahouts have a cane in their hands .The thrashing them very often is very common. When the animals get thrashings they only blink and do not have a way for them to show dissent. Sometimes, you may have heard of ‘Alikaraya’, ‘Aliya wisinma marala’. (Mahout being killed by the elephant). Is it due to the ferocious attitude of the animal? No, a high percentage is due to the callous behaviours of the mahouts.

The ‘Panamure eth rajah’ (leading elephant) at the ‘Panamure Krall’ who had come forward for the defence of the entire elephants in that jungle was shot at. The holding of ‘kralls’ was prohibited in the island thereafter.

Some years back, an elephant had gone berserk at a Kandy Perahera. There was pandemonium, the crowd panicked and some innocent people were trampled to death. The particular elephant was shot at in a lane.

M. D. T. Devendra relates an interesting story under the headline ‘The Pope’s elephant’ In his book ‘A fiery Finale’ about the gift of an elephant to the Pope five hundred years ago by the Sinhala King Buwanekabahu of Kotte. Our elephant was christened Solomon and the name of the Mahout Subaya was dubbed Subbro in that country," possibly easier on Portuguese tongues"

Elephants are shot at when they come to villages in search of salt (Is it?), now. When their habitat is encroached, they intrude into the villages. Shot guns (or ‘galkattas’) that are in possessions of villagers for their safety and in some cases with the ‘Hakkapatas’, the animals are killed. Strap guns too are used by some. Some of them, accidently knocked down by trains along the Jaffna, Trinco or Batticaloa lines.

Unfortunately, infants too have come to the scene in the elephant trade. Some foreigners who had come to the island killed elephants in thousands during the good old days, then one good day, the future generation would remember a species called elephants that had been in existence in the island.

May I be permitted to relate an incident I faced when I was a small boy of about 10 years? An elephant that had come to my village, Narampanawa, (a village about 20 km. from Kandy), was drawing some logs. The elephant was going for a bath to the river with the mahout. My father was known to him (the mahout). He had a friendly chat with my father and said, "Daha Aliya" some words in elephant language to the elephant. Then the elephant raised his left foot. The mahout directed with his stick to me in hand, to climb on to the animal’s back. The elephant started walking along the road with me on his back. I was highly thrilled when I saw my younger brother and my village friends running behind the elephant. A village damsel with a bundle of paddy hay over her head was standing along the road to give way to the animal. The mahout showing a very cordial friendship with her, murmured something, made a grin towards her, and said some words in the elephant language to the animal. The girl put down the bundle. As the elephant bent his front feet to raise the bundle I started to scream. I got into a panic that I would fall and that I would be crushed by the elephant. The mahout tried his best to pacify me.

The Diyawadana Nilame had made a statement recently that he had found it difficult to get local tuskers to parade on either sides of the tusker Indi Rajah (donated by India) that carry holy relics on his back while parading in the Perahera, due to an animosity shown by the either side Sri Lankan tuskers. How can these tuskers know that Buddhism and the Tooth Relic are gifts to us from India?