Nature trail

Kraals...

How our ancestors captured elephants

Elephant, the largest mammal on Earth, never fails to fascinate us. We’ve been featuring these majestic pachyderms many times in Nature trail recently because there is so much to learn about them. They’ve always been a part of our cultures, pageantry, folklore and life.

The stockade built for the capture of elephants.

Even though these wild animals could be dangerous, man has somehow mastered the art of capturing and taming them to do various things such as carry logs, go in processions during peraheras, perform various acts at circuses and zoos, and even play polo. So, how do you think people succeeded in taming them?

In today’s article, we’ll enlighten you briefly as to how people managed to capture these huge wild animals in the past.Elephants have been hunted from ancient times mainly for their tusks, for sport, and also to be domesticated and used for work and as a mode of transport.

This has been happening from time immemorial all over the world. It happens even today even though the world elephant population is fast dwindling. History records that in ancient times people hunted elephants with bows and arrows. But today modern weapons and techniques are used to hunt and capture them.

However, when it comes to capturing elephants for work and other purposes, measures have to be taken to ensure that the animals are not harmed in any way. Injuries, even minor ones need to be minimised.

During British rule a large number of elephants were killed with the permission of the government, mostly when huge areas of land were cleared for plantations such as tea and rubber.

Wild elephants were also killed as a sport and for their tusks by the British. In fact, the AGA of Badulla, Major Thomas William Rogers (1834-1845) is famed as one of the greatest elephant hunters of that time. He is reported to have shot and killed more than 1,400 of these giants of the jungle. Major Thomas Skinner and Captain Galleway are also well-known for their expertise in hunting elephants.

Major Skinner is reported to have killed around 600 wild elephants during his time. The period between 1840-1850 is recorded as a time when the most number of elephants were killed by the British. Even Sir Samuel Baker is said to have been a great hunter during that era.

According to historical documents, our ancestors began domesticating these giants more than 3000 years ago. But the traditional techniques used then were very primitive and more often than not caused injury to the animals.

The elephants were captured by noosing them, setting various traps such as large pits where the elephants fell into or by feeding intoxicating medicines. However, due to the high incidence of injuries, these methods were prohibited and better techniques introduced.

According to the Secretary of the Elephant Owners’ Association, Dhamsiri Bandara, during the reign of the British, a highly skilled band of able-bodied men had been employed to capture the elephants. Even the legendry Raja had been caught by such a specialised elephant hunter.

Now, let’s find out how our ancestors succeeded in capturing not one, but many elephants in one attempt during those days.

Documented reports reveal that our ancestors adopted a method known as the Kheddahs or Kraal(Corral) system to capture large numbers of elephants. It is believed that the word kraal may be a corruption of the Sinhala word gaal by the Portuguese and Dutch.

Between the period 1820 and 1900 alone, more than 50 such kraals are believed to have been held in various parts of the country. The first kraal is recorded to have been held in 1820 at a place called Galkadawata near Kala Oya. Dhamsiri explained how this mammoth operation was carried out in the past....

He said that a kraal is organised by the disawe of the area or another such high ranking official with the permission of the government, sometimes purely for the purpose of obtaining elephants for domestication or even in honour of various foreign dignitaries.

Hundreds of able-bodied men and at least half a dozen tame elephants to control the captured wild cousins are needed to conduct a kraal.

Initially, an area which is densely populated with elephants is demarcated for this purpose. Then with the use of heavy logs the triangular shaped stockade covering a large area of land into which the elephants are chased, (sometimes from about a 30 mile distance) is built according to facts given in the book Ali-Eththu. Holes as deep as four feet are dug up along the boundary of the selected area and 10 foot high logs are placed as posts. These are tied up to build the strong fence with horizontally placed logs, three-feet apart.

The fenced up area or the stockade is divided into cross sections, leaving a narrow but large enough passage at the tip of the triangle for the elephants to enter. This fence is called the ravul weta in Sinhala. At the end of this passage is a small gate through which the elephant enters the main area and this is called the Kangula.As soon as all the elephants come through this gate, it is fenced up and so the elephant hunters call it the evelema bandina weta (the fence that is built instantly.)

All the elephants that come through the kangula enter an area called the rahas gala (the hidden or secret kraal)which is located in the centre of the fenced area. From this section, the elephants are driven into another section known as the kelinagala (playing kraal) through yet another opening such as the kangula.

A water hole is necessary bait in a kraal and it was usually located within the kelinagala. The elephants are not kept here for long. They are once again chased into another section called the hira gala (prison kraal).

In kraals elephants were not tied up like this. They had some freedom of movement.

The exhausted, but ferocious elephants that enter this section in file formation (one behind the other) through a passage are eventually tied up one by one using strong ropes made of madu or jungle creepers in a special area called the anda with the assistance of two tamed elephants to control the wild one.

How the elephants are lured into the kraal.

A band of able-bodied men entrusted with the task chase the elephants from three or four directions shouting continuously, beating drums and hitting at trees with long sticks. At night, fire-torches are used to drive the elephants towards the stockade.

“So no matter in which direction the elephants ran, all they heard were the deafening sounds of beating drums and people shouting,” said Bandara.

The ‘beaters’ line was known as the rekma (watch), the longer sides of the area from which the elephants were being chased as the diga rekma (long watch) and the shorter sides as the haras rekma (transverse watch).

The elephants trapped within this area had no choice but to run into the fenced section of the kraal where they were finally tied up and domesticated. Many who were not submissive had been either shot or freed into the jungles. The whole operation of chasing or driving the elephants which lasted over a period of two months was known as kele gaseema, said Bandara.

-Asha Senevirathne

The infamous Panamure kraal

Where it was held:

The infamous Panamure kraal was carried out in August 1950 in Kolonna in the Ratnapura district. About eight acres of land from the 54,000 acres of jungle which belonged to then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sir Francis Molamure had been cordoned off for this operation. Around thousand villagers had been recruited and 12-14 female elephants had also been brought in to control the wild elephants in this major elephant kraal.

In order to prevent any elephants dying from exhaustion after being chased a long distance by the villagers, a huge waterway too had been built within the compound of the kraal.

It is said that the villagers succeeded in capturing 17 elephants at the end of this huge operation. They had succeeded in noosing all except one stubborn elephant which revolted violently furious that its herd was caught; the elephant had reacted strongly, making it virtually impossible for the men to bring it under control.

Even though Sir Francis Molamure had ordered that it be set free, the elephant had refused to escape leaving behind its herd. As a result it had eventually been shot down raising a huge public outcry over its death and the inhuman manner in which elephants were being captured. This eventually led to the banning of such operations in the country.The last kraal is said to have been held in 1952.

Today only for very special purposes, permits are issued by the government to capture elephants and that too is done using modern methods, such as drug immobilization minimising any form of injury to the animals.

A programme conducted by the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and also the Elephant Owners’ Association helps meet the country’s requirements of tamed elephants.

In fact, the Association helps to protect these captured elephants, train them and also their mahouts.

The President of the Elephant Owners’ Association. Diyawadana Nilame, Nilanga Dela Bandara and the Secretary, Dhamsiri Bandara are the officials responsible for conducting these programmes.

The Zoological Garden and various religious institutes are provided elephants from Pinnawala. At times we also present elephants to other countries, explained Dhamsiri Bandara.