No Country For Wild Elephants
This long-form article
covers roughly 500 years of history of wild Asian elephants in the central
Indian highlands – a history that is still being written. It is an excerpt of a
larger piece on central India I am working on. Given the recent happenings on wild
elephants in India – and particularly central India – it is time we revisited
our history to see how far we have come and where we’re headed.
No Country For Wild Elephants
That is no country for old men. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
– Those dying generations – at their song,
The salmon‐falls, the mackerel‐crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
-- Sailing to Byzantium (1928) by
William Butler Yeats
This article is a part of a book on Central India, titled Our Roots Run Wild. It is available on Amazon India: https://amzn.in/d/cvF8d60
Have been reading about the ingress of elephants and them staying back in Bandhavgarh. This is the first detailed account of the background of that event that I have come across. Thank you for providing what the news media unfortunately does not.
ReplyDeleteThe article ends on a pessimistic note. I would agree. But for the moment I do see this event as a silver lining. These stressed out elephants have found a safe harbour to breathe in. Down the line, of course, the dark ominous cloud will come into play. The local human population is not familiar with the mitigation measures to avoid human-elephant conflict and are likely to suffer once the elephants expand their feeding range to incorporate the adjacent agricultural fields. Neither the local forest department authorities, nor the local NGOs are likely to be any wiser. Let us see whether a balance is achieved, or these elephants are driven off from here also to ultimately join their domesticated brethren. Hope we learn to live with them and a new dynamic is introduced in wildlife interactions within Bandhavgarh. This homecoming does not promise to be smooth.
Thank you, Mahendra ji. I did indeed struggle to not end it on such a note, but that year we saw things so differently that I felt a sense of hopelessness, this finest animal to walk earth claim back its territory, no matter the reason, being looked upon as a problem than a part of the ecosystem - no matter the reason, but things are looking brighter than ever as there is more and more acceptance of accommodating this giant, and this is very hopeful. The history is still written, but this is no short of a win for all the conservation efforts in Madhya Pradesh. On a personal note, I may have been pessimistic but I was always rooting for optimism that I see now, a silver lining.
DeleteI have just read this article forwarded by a friend and found your comprehensive background and historical perspective on the elephants of central India fascinating and instructive. I live in Bandhavgarh and have had a house here for over 30 years. And as a resident I agree with your comment that for the first time I am wary of wandering through these forests - due to the presence of elephants. Especially the wandering young bulls who could be anywhere. It has been said that we love and revere elephants as a species but not as individuals in our backyards. A thought that came to me as I contemplated the ruins of my fence after an elephant reconnaissance party had come through to check out the village. It seems inevitable that the forests of Vindhyachal and Eastern Maikal are going to witness expanding elephant populations. And unless we create some fair and just system to deal with HEC, these elephants could well prove to be the straw that breaks the historic tolerance of local people to wild animal depredations.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading, Hashim ji. Since I wrote this piece, several elephants have forayed into Madhya Pradesh - even Vidarbha of Maharashtra, most have been bachelor elephants or displaced herds. Even as we saw their 'homecoming' into MP, I lost count after 11 elephant deaths - tragically due to manmade causes - during the first wave of the pandemic, and you may have also heard about the tragic end of Ram and Balram, two bachelors whose friendship ended close to Bargi dam when the elder one died due to a live wire trap laid for wild pig, the other now is likely to become like Rama from Bandhavgarh that I speak about here. HEC - both ways, needs to be addressed urgently.
DeleteAniruddha very comprehensive historical background provided, as I personally have interest and on behalf of our NGO ( SAGE Foundation) is working in Sanjay TR and Kotma in MP as well as in Gadchiroli on HEC. Infact when Maurya empire was increasing and Chandragupta Maurya had the biggest Elephant regiment of 9000 elephants, with increase in territory the requirement of elephants too increased, earlier it was the jungles of Magdha and later the Jungles of Kundina also provided the elephants. EVen rock paintings in Bhimbhetka have elephants which proves presence in the area in 10000 years BCE. From my practical experience the pachyderms movement will happen more west wards and MP and Maharashtra will have more of them. With decreasing habitat in CG and a stable forest cover in MP & Eastern Maharashtra bordering CG the migration will increase. The current herd of around 23 in Gadchiroli has almost made the jungles of Malewada their home as of now, the next 2 months are important to ascertain that. Various factors are making the elephants move westwards, mining, habitat loss and a irrigation canal across CG border by Odisha to stop the migration back. The pachyderms are having a tough time in the coming years ahead.
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to visit my blog, Sagnik! Yes, I have missed a big chunk of info from the Mauryan times which I plan to fill-up in the formal publication. As for the present times, only three years have passed till the first herd stayed in the state of MP, since then, many have come and gone - my heart especially goes out to Ram and Balram whom I was keeping a track of through the news of their travels. I am not surprised, however. While we do call it migration, it is really a forced migration, and such migrations, under stress, lead to negative interactions the people have never experienced before, and are hard to manage. Elephants really do need an interstate effort, no state can work in isolation - coordination, cooperation and partnerships are paramount, it is nothing like tiger conservation - this is what this migration teaches us.
DeleteBhimbetka is unique, it has paintings of extinct Paleoloxodon - one of the largest elephants to exist - as well as modern Elephas, a whole history of two species of elephants. It just blows my mind how deep the history of central India and elephants is, yet we know so little about them and so little about what to do: do we welcome them or do we treat them as uninvited guests? I wish you the best for your work in MP and CG, the more the people engage in HEC mitigation, the better it is for coexistence.
Hi Aniruddha, Today out of curiosity, I was searching for the historical records of Asian Elephants in Central India..Going through many articles and books (especially written by Dr. Vivek Menon and Dr. Sukumar), I found your blog and it is actually very useful information for understanding historical distribution of elephants in Central India, especially Chhattisgarh and MP. Looking forward for more details regarding elephant migration and settlement in Madhya Pradesh in recent 3-4 years. Elephants are equally important as tigers, and we need a lot of good studies and management recommendations for them in Central India.
ReplyDeleteHi Neha, I am glad you found this information useful! You are right in thinking that a lot has happened in the last 3-4 years since I first wrote this. We're having more elephants while the earlier herd has almost localised itself. I've not seen enough papers especially from CG but hoping the data from radio-collared elephants is published soon.
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