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Apollo · 03-07-2015, 12:15 AM

KHEDAA OPERATION

The Khedda was a method of capturing wild elephants that was evolved in the North - Eastern states of India. Unlike other methods like Mela Shikar and the Pit method , whole herds could be captured by khedda.

In Mela shikar induvidual elephants were isolated from the herd and lassoded with the help of trained domestic elephants called Kunkis. A mahout needed an extraordinary degree of skill to lasso a wild elephant and such men were called Phandes. Not all Phandes were men. Parbati Barua the daughter of the legendary Lalji Barua, Raja of Gaauripur , is a Phande. Lalji Barua specialised in the capture of wild elephants and is a revered figure in the elephant lore of the north-east.

The pit method widely practised in the south was a simple and straight foward method. A conceled pit with a trap door was dug and a wild elephant was trapped in it.This was not a very deseirable method as more often than not the trapped animal would sustain a lot of injuries.

With the khedda whole herds were driven into a stockade with the help of human beaters and trained elephants. At first a herd of elephants would be located and its habits studied. A suitable site many miles away would be located and a large stockade built. Human beater would then surround the herd from far away and slowly tighten their noose around the herd without alarming them. The herd would be slowly driven unknowingly towards the stockade. And then with a final push would be driven into the stockade. All this could take weeks or sometimes months but the sheer numbers of elephants captured made it very cost effective.Once in the stockade the elephants would be isolated and domesticated.

Once the elephants were in the stockade mahouts on trined elephants would enter the stockade to isolate induviduals. This was an extremly dangerous part of the entire operation and usually involved extremly brutal methods.

A British Forest Officer in Assam called A.J.T.(Gaon Burra )Milroy was insrumental in stopping the mahouts from using brutal tactics. He laid down certain methods to be used and his works are became a standard for handling and mantainance of domestic elephants.

G.P.Sanderson another englishman introduced the khedda to the Mysore State and carried out several succesfull operations after a few initial setbacks. In fact the khedda came to be identified with the Mysore State.

The Mysore Khedda was a spectacle witnessed by various digniteries of the Raj with special grandstands being ereted for them to sit. The last Mysore Khedda was conducted in the 1970s at the Kakankote State Forest, now part of the Nagarhole National Park.

Special poojas would be offered at the Mastigudi temple before the start. The temple and the site are now submerged by the Kabini dam and are only exposed when the waters recede during the summer.

History and art have shown evidences of this practice from Chandragupta Maurya’s period in the records of the Greek Ambassador, Megasthenes. He writes about how female elephants were used as decoys to lure male elephants into enclosures or deep trenches.

The Mysore Khedda, however, enjoyed royal patronage, and had the attraction of a river drive as well. About 36 kheddas were done in the Kakanakote forest and the river drive was started by a Briton, GP Sanderson, in honour of the visit of the Duke of Russia in the 19th century. The Kheddas, which lasted for an entire century, ended in 1971, and were a visual fest like the earlier operations.

“I had tears in my eyes,” says Kamakshi Ananthakrishna, wife of the former Additional Chief Secretary of the Karnataka Government who saw the last Khedda. The drummers drove all the wild elephants into the water as the domestic elephants surrounded them. They were subsequently driven into an enclosure, and were caught using ropes. It was distressing to hear the cries of the elephants that fell into the pits. Today, the Khedda site, interestingly, is submerged under water after the construction of the Kabini dam. The elephants now enjoy a clear path to travel from the Nagarhole forest to the Bandipur stretch.

Kabini has also been known for its Khedda operations, where trained mahouts drove wild Elephants into stockade traps known as Kheddas for domestication. Seen here is the Khedda operation of 1913.