KHEDDA — CAPTURING WILD ELEPHANTS IN MYSORE
With a surplus of time gifted by the Coronavirus, I found myself reorganising old photos and papers, many of them from my late father’s collection. A slim twelve-page booklet titled “Khedda in Mysore January 1971” caught my eye. It had photographs on every page with a brief caption describing the “Khedda” Operation that had just taken place in the forests of Mysore. Most folks of my vintage would be familiar with that term, a phrase synonymous with the taming of wild elephants with methods that were cruel and inhuman. It had a kind of a perverted romance about it, much like the tiger shikar that elevated an unequal battle between a defenceless animal and a well armed human into a badge of heroism.
Before sharing the rest of the contents of the booklet let me give a brief history of the “Khedda” operations. The taming of wild elephants in India to help human endeavours is perhaps older than recorded history. Alexander the Great defeated King Porus and his huge army of war elephants in the Battle of Hydaspes in 326 B.C. on the banks of the River Jhelum. Elephants, usually found in the forests of Northwest foothills of the Himalayas, Northeast India, Bengal, Orissa, and the Western Ghats of South India, were captured, tamed, trained and then put to work, either in battle or as haulers. The usual way of capturing elephants was to dig a deep narrow ditch or pit (the Khedda), camouflage it, and drive the elephants towards it and let them fall into the ditch. With no way to come out, the elephants, many with injuries sustained by the sudden fall into the ditch, would be starved of food, and then with their spirits broken with hunger and injury would be dragged out of the ditch by captive and trained elephants called Kumkis to be domesticated over a period that could take anywhere upto six months. This method was also followed in the forests of the princely state of Mysore to capture elephants for royal service.
However, this practice was soon to change. George P. Sanderson was born to a Methodist missionary in India in 1848 and went to school in England before returning to India in 1864 at the age of sixteen. He found employment in the irrigation department of the British Government and was first posted to the town of Hunsur in the state of Mysore as Assistant Channel Superintendent. Sanderson gradually rose up the ranks to eventually head the department with responsibility for over a thousand kilometres of canals in the state. He was attracted to big game hunting of animals — tigers, elephants and gaur (Indian bison) — that he encountered in the forests of his jurisdiction, and became something of an expert on the forests and its denizens, especially the elephant. Concerned about the destruction caused by roaming herds of wild elephants, he proposed to capture some of those, and the government appointed him to carry out the task. He found the prevailing practice of capturing elephants by means of the pitfalls cruel and wasteful and devised a new method of using a stockade to capture the elephants. This was the beginning of the ‘Khedda’ system of Mysore. It was first tried out in 1873 and was a resounding success — 54 elephants (16 males, 29 females and 9 calves) were captured — and the Maharaja’s exchequer was richer by £4000. Sanderson himself was rewarded with £200 for his innovative and daring exploits. He gives a detailed description of the operation in his immensely readable book, “Thirteen years among the wild beasts of India” published in 1879, perhaps one of the earliest books dealing with the wildlife and the peoples of the forests of South India and the hunting of big game in the wild.
The Khedda operation that Sanderson pioneered took place thirty-six times over the next century in the forests near Mysore through which flows the Kabini River. The photos from the booklet show the Khedda as it took place for the very last time in January 1971. The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 effectively banned the practice of Khedda in order to protect the endangered elephant.
Above — ‘Operation Khedda’ is the rounding up and cornering the roving herds of wild elephants and driving them from their habitat to the stockade. The Kakanakote Forest, about 49 miles from Mysore, is the area of these operations. The operations commence with an invocation to the village deity (left) at Mastigudi.
Above — As soon as a wild herd is sighted by the watchers on the trees, the operation party consisting of trained elephants called the ‘Kumkis’, and hundreds of men with clappers and drums await in silence for the signal to march.
Above — The march starts with the blowing of a bugle followed by the beating of drums and the noise of clappers. The shrill voice of the whistles pierce the silence to signal that the way is clear and so to march. The party divides into small groups and marches on to surround the area infested by wild elephants.
Above — The surround is closed up. The herd is also kept within bounds and surrounded by trained men by raising clouds of smoke.
Above — The River Drive — The surround is closed up gradually by stages and the elephants are thus compelled to plunge into the Kabini river.
Above — In the Stockade — The wild elephants are enticed into the stockade. The massive wooden gate provided with trapdoor is closed when a sufficient number gets into the stockade.
Above — Roping Operations — The roping operation commences with the help of ‘Kumkis’. The Mahouts and Kothals with the help of the kumkis put the hemp noose around the neck and tie up the legs with ropes.
Above — Taming the Wild — Wild elephants being led out of the stockade for training.
Above — Captive in Water — crossing the River Kabini.
Above — Captured elephants are taken out for training
Above — The captured elephants are fed, but are not free to move.
Above — Map showing the Kakanakote forest on the bottom left hand corner. A significant portion of the forest was submerged when a dam was constructed across the Kabini in 1974.
Sanderson’s moment of glory came in 1889 when Prince Albert Victor (grandson of Queen Victoria and son of the future King Edward VII) visited Mysore on his tour of India and witnessed the Khedda on 26 and 27 November 1889 accompanied by Sanderson. A photo taken on the occasion shows a walrus-moustachioed Sanderson beneath a wide brimmed hat sitting on a bullock cart with the Prince. Sanderson, beset with ill health, got married to a Miss Carter on 11 May 1892, but died on 25 May at Madras enroute to Cairo. While we may today castigate people like Sanderson for killing animals as a sport, we should nonetheless appreciate them for the immense effort they expended to gather, document, and disseminate the knowledge of the wild. In this, Sanderson joins the other great shikaris of India such as Jim Corbett and Kenneth Anderson who, though hunters, perhaps contributed significantly more to the science of natural history of those days.
Above — Sanderson (left) with Prince Albert Victor at the Khedda.
The erstwhile location of the Khedda operations is today located in the Nagarahole National Park on the banks of the Kabini. It is a popular place to see wildlife, especially tigers, elephants and gaur, as well as the smaller mammals and birds. A boat ride along the river just before sunset is an incredible experience — one can see herds of wild elephants along the banks. While the elephants today maybe safe from the ‘Khedda’, humans continue to be their primary destroyers with the greed for ivory fuelling a hugely profitable poaching trade. There is no sight more thrilling in an Indian forest than an angry tusker; our forests will cease to be wondrous without their magnificence.
Above — Elephant herd by the banks of the Kabini.
Above — A magnificent tusker.
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Sources:
1. Thirteen years among the wild beasts of India by G.P. Sanderson. W.H. Allen and Co., London, 1879.
2. Times of India archives
