S.V.U.O. Journal Vol. XVHI - Texts and Studies - Off Print No.

General Editor : Prof. S. SANKARANARAYANAN, M.A., Ph.D.,

Director, S.V.U.O.R.I.

GAJASIKSA
by
NARADAMUNI

With the Commentary Vyakti of Umapatyacarya

Edited with Introduction
by
Prof. E.R. SREEKRISHNA SARMA, M.A., Ph.D.,
Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit
S. V. University, Tirupati

PUBLISHED BY
VENKATESWARA UNIVERSITY
SRI
ORIENTAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
TIRUPATI
S.V.U.O. Journal Vol. XVIII - Texts and Studies - Off Print No. 5

General Editor: Prof. S. SANKARANARAYANAN, M.A., Ph.D.,

Director, S.V.U.O. R.I.

GAJASIKSA
by
NARADAMUNI

With the Commentary Vyakti of Umapatyacarya

Edited with Introduction
by
Prof. E.R. SREEKRISHNA SARMA, M.A., Ph.D.,
Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit
S V. University, Tirupati

PUBLISHED BY
VENKATESWARA UNIVERSITY
SRI
ORIENTAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
TIRUPATI
1975
fll'
l*h

1
 PREFACE

Elephant Is the most powerful member of the animal king-

dom and hence it has always attracted the attention of mankind,
particularly the Indians, since the dawn of history. According to the
ancient Indian thought, the elephant is one of the Important consti-
tuants (angas) of the army and the strength of an arm} and its success
in an expedition, depend on the number of the
brave, mighty and well-
equipped elephants led by the able mahouts. The great epic Maha-
bharata gives pictures how different heroes riding on elephants fought
heroically in the Kuruksetra war. The epigraphical records also bear
witness to the fact how different kings won several battles by the intelli-
gent use of their elephant-force and how many have lost tjneir battles
by the unintelligent use of the same. For example, by using the
elephant force indiscriminately, the Yisnukundi king Ii drabhattaraka-
varman of the South (c. 527-55 A.D ) lost his battle against the Maukhari
Isaoavnrrnan of the North (c 550-16 A.D ) and the great Pusyabhuti
emperor Harsa\ardhana too of the North (606-46 A.D/ lost a war
against the Calukya Pulakesi 11(610-42 A.D,) of the Sooth. On the
other hand by using the elephant army intelligently Pulakesi II won
many a battle, especially in his Andhra campaigns. The elephant war-
fare seems to have been well developed in the South 3 particularly in
Andhra since the sixth century A,D. Daring this period many raon-
3

archs styled themselves, as having won spectacular victories in the

fierce battles of four-tusked elephants. Here, we hear the classification
of the elephants under the name^ Suprailka. Kumuda etc. The
Western Ganga king Bhuvikrama (c. 635-79 A.D.) assumed the title
Gajapati (Lord of Elephants) and the same was the dynastic appelation
of the Suryavamsi dynasty of Onssa founded by Capilendra Gajapati
in 1435 A.D The Cola king Rajadhiraja I (1018-54 A.D.) is described
to have died on the back of an elephant in a pitched battle at Koppam
against the Kalyam Calkuya king Somesvara I (1042-68 A.D.). Examples
of similar nature can be multiplied* Besides, the elephants have been
always looked upon as an inevitable royal insignia in India. Moreover,
they have been used, as beasts of burden too down the ages,

In view of but natural that books have been written on

all, it is

elephants. A few among such works that are well-known in the field
may be mentioned here. The
Arthasastra of Kautilya (c. 4th century
B.a) speaks of the Hastivana and the Nagavana (Royal elephant-
sanctuaries) and stipulates how the elephants are to be looked after*
An Asokan edict too speaks of the Nagavana. Gajayurveda has been
11

considered to be a special branch of Indian veterinary science. The

famous Brhatsamhita by Varafaainihira of the Gupta age allots one small
chapter to the Hastilaksanas (characteristic marks of different tpyes of
elephants). The Western Ganga king Durvinlta (8th century A.D.) is at
times credited with a work on the GajasSstra. The encyclopedic work
Abhilasimrthacintamani, attributed to the Kalyani Calukya king
Somesvara I*T (1126-38 A.D }
enumerates the different forests having
elephants, and describes the methods of catching and training them. In
the Hariharacaturangam of Godavara Misra, a court poet of Prataparudra
Gajapati (1497-1541 A.D.), the very first chapter, consisting of as
many as 313 verses, is devoted entirely to the various aspects of the
elephant science. The Sivatattvaratnakara attributed to the Keladi
chief Basava or Basappa Nayaka (1694-1714 A.D ) of the Kannada
country, describes at length, various types of the elephants.

In 1968, the Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Research

Institute, Tirupati, brought out a book entitled Gajagrahanaprakftra as
the Institute's Text and Study Series No. 1 in its Journal, Volume VII*
Now, I am happy to introduce to the world of scholars another book of
similar nature bearing the title Gajasiksa. It is composed in the form
of the teaching imparted to Indra-Vasava by Narada, the sage famous
in Indian mythology, The work has a brief commentary written by one
Urnlpatyacarya. The book is included in the S.V.U. Oriental Journal,
Volume XVIII, for the year 1975, as the Institute's Text and Study Series,
No. 5. Both the above mentioned Gajagrahanaprakara and the present
work viz., Gajasiksa, unlike other works mentioned above, mainly deal
with the catching of the elephants by kheddah and with training them.
Both these works have been ably edited by Dr. E.R. Sreekrishna Sarma,
who is the Professor and Head of the Department of Sanskrit, S.V, Uni-
versity and who is well known to the world of scholars both in India
and abroad I am extremely thankful to him for this pains-taking
work of this kind in the midst of his multifarious engagements.

Thus now we have sufficient material for a critical study of the

elephant lore in ancient India. And in this respect the present work
may be of immense value.
I am beholden to the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar of the
Sri Venkateswara University for their generous grant for the publication
of the present book and I express my gratitude to the Director of Publi-
cation, Sri Venkateswara University and the Press Manager, S.V Uni-
versity Press, for printing the same.

TlRUPATI,
1st March, 1979. S. SANKARANARAYANAN
 INTRODUCTION

In 1968, Gajagrahanaprakara, a metrical work dealing with the

catching and training of elephants edited by me, appeared in this Series.
Now this work called Naradiyagajasfksa, almost of the same nature as
the previous one is placed in the hands of the scholars. While the for-
mer one was mainly dealing with the methods of catching the elephants,
the present one, as it is obvious from the intended to serve the
title, is
main purpose of describing the methods of training the elephants. But
unfortunately this main objective is not fulfilled as the work breaks off
in the middle.

I took up the editing of this work on the following considerations:

K There is only one manuscript of the work known to us and this

is in the S.V.U.O.R. Institute,, Tirupati, So this Institute has an obli-
gation to bring out this work which is not available elsewhere*

2. Several treatises in Sanskrit on technical subjects deserve to be

brought to fight, irrespective of their being very significant or otherwise,
3* There may be a new point of information in this work which is

not available in the known works on elephant lore.

Like the Gajagrahanaprakara^ this work is also edited from a

single transcript, the source of which is unknown* The codex bears the
stock No, 6709 of the Institute. The material is modern ruled paper
(20 crn. by 16.5 cm.) and the script is Gramtha. It contains 76 folios

written on both sides and 20 lines per page, Neither the date of tran-
scription nor the date of acquisition of this manuscript is recorded.

Unlike the Gajagrahanaprakara, which is in the Arya metre, this

work is in Anustup verses. It has commentary
a called Vyaktitippaqi by
one Urnlpatyacarya. Really there is no need for a commentary as the
work is written in an easy Puranic style. But the commentary summa-
rises the contents of each chapter in a readable prose. The commen-
tary is also printed here and appended to the original metrical work, as
it was thought that nothing should be allowed to remain in the manu-

script form when the text is printed*

The work divided intopafafas. The first patala commences with

is

the statment of Devala haw the sage NIrada visited the court of Indra
and how on the request of the latter Narada proceeded to teach him the
Thereafter the patala deals with the mythological origin
IV

of elephants. They are created by the Creator by singing the Samaveda.

Originally they had wings and used to bring unexpected damages to the
world. Hence 5 the God made them incapable of moving in the air and
thus they became the largest, intelligent and beautiful animals, called
elephants, oa the land.

The second chapter enumerates and describes the characteristics

of twenty-eight varieties of elephants found on earth. Among them the
sixteen varieties are called noble (uttamd) ones, as they are born with
the characteilstics of gods, semi-gods and human beings. Their height,
colour, the places where they are generally found and their dispositions
are elaborately dealt with. They are those that bear the traits of the
gods Iadra a Agni, Yama, Varuna, Vayu Kubera, Sankara, Visnu,
3

Brahma and Candra; of the semi-gods Yaksas, Gandharvas and Kinna-

ras and of the ascetics., kings and ordinary human beings. The elephants,
belonging to the middle class are those having the traits of the man es, the
fish, the birds, creepers, flowers and cows. The elephants having tht
traits of Rakfasas, Asuras Pisacas, lions, tigers and monkeys belong to
5

the low class.

The third, fourth and

fifth patalas deal with catching of the ele-
phants. For this purpose, the places, of where the good varieties of them
are found in India, are described in the third patala, while the fourth
gives an account of the movements of the elephants and the good omens
that predict an easy catch for the adventurers. The fifth describes the
four methods of catching the elephants and they are all in general agree-
ment with the contents found in the Ga/agrahaKaprakarapupli&htd earlier.
The methods enumerated here are (lj durgabandha (catching the animals
b> putting bairicades on their wa> and driving them into an enclosure);
(2) vanbandha (blocking the escape of the elephants when they enter
a lake or large pond for drinking and sporting in the water); (3) karinl-
bandha (enticing the males by the trained females), and (4) gartabandha
(making the animals fall in the artificially dug ditches). The sixth
patala is devoted to describing the methods of bringing the elephants,
caught in the forest, to the city of the king. The desirable qualities of
mahouts are also described here.

The subject matter dealt with in the seventh paiala is the con-
struction of abodes, where the newly caught elephants are to be housed.
An elaborate description of the various kinds of sheds for the animals
and the quarters for the mahouts finds a place here. This matter is not
found in any other work so far published on elephants. The eighth
patala throws light on the various traits, features and behaviour ojf
elephants when they are in the first years of their growth and arc in love.
 V

The ninth paiula first

gives an account of the growth
and be-

haviour of the This

elephants from their second to the tenth year,
is

followed by the details of the various phases of training in their course,

The training to be imparted to the elephants is divided into seven

phases, The first is

prarmbhasikw (initiation in training), and the

second klid&nasha (training in sports), These two trainings are to be

given upto the end of the fourth year of their age. By the beginning

of the fifth
year, training must be given to them in running, Unfortu-

nately the manuscript breaks off in the middle of the description of this

dhMnasM. We do not know what are the other four kksis contained

in the work.

It is
hoped that the work will be useful for those who are interested

in the technical information from the past and especially in the elephant

lore,

TIRUPATI

J9A ftterj, 1979 E.R, SREEKRISHNA SARMA

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