Dhaka elephants that now exist only in place names
When Shah Jahan, then known as Khurram, rebelled against his father King Jahangir and won, the spoils of his victory included a retinue of 500 elephants.
While an impressive number, it paled in comparison to what his grandfather, Akbar the Great, commanded.
According to Jahangir's biography, Tuzuk-i Jahangiri, the third Mughal emperor Akbar had 35,000 elephants. Even in the 15th century, the upkeep for these elephants was an eye-catching Tk4 lakh per day.
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Jahangir wrote, "No emperor of the world could and will never collect so many elephants."
Akbar's fascination and relationship with his elephants was well known. The Akbarnama, or the Book of Akbar, is dotted with stories of Akbar and his elephants.
A famous illustration that appears in the book shows Akbar mounted on Hawai'i – an elephant known for its wild and uncontrollable disposition – to fight the equally fierce elephant Ran Bagha.
Jahangir also mentioned a giant elephant named Indra. "I have never seen such a big elephant. It took a fourteen-step ladder to climb on to its back. It could outrun even a speeding horse. Every day it drank around 14 litres of water, and each morning and evening it consumed 56 kilograms of rice, 28kgs of mutton or beef and 14 litres of oil or ghee."
Of course, the emperors weren't the only ones who had developed an affinity with the large mammals. The animals' ties with the people are as old as time and have even endured to this day.
Dr Sharif Uddin, former professor at the Department of History of Dhaka University, said the low-lying country blessed with abundant rainfall and innumerable water bodies had always been a fertile region for wildlife.
Though unimaginable today, Dhaka, the capital trapped in concrete, was once home to tigers, elephants and snakes.
Archaeologist Sufi Mostafizur Rahman's excavations at Wari-Bateshwar tell us about a prosperous settlement called Gangaridai thousands of years ago. The heroism of Gangariddhi was already known to the Greek hero Alexander.
One of the reasons for him to suspend his conquest was Gangaridai. According to historians, Alexander The Great abandoned his attack when he heard of the elephant army of Gangaridai. His army, mounted on horseback, would prove to be no match for the elephants, the astute military tactician believed.
An intimate bond
Dr Sharif Uddin said that taming an elephant was an art form and the mahouts - elephant riders - were masters of this art.
"They understood the elephants' feelings, needs and complaints and gave solutions accordingly. So, elephants obeyed the mahout's orders in passenger transport, in war, or in transporting goods," he said.
The Mughals also established the neighbourhood known as Mahuttuli in Dhaka alongside Pilkhana. Pil meant elephant and khana the home of elephants.
Pilkhana was a forested area where the mammals owned by the Mughals used to graze.
The mahouts who trained the elephants in these locations were so good that the animals barely ever got into any accidents. More than one person may have been involved for each elephant.
A wild elephant was caught using a Kumki elephant - a trained elephant which could seek out its wild counterparts. A kumki had to go through extensive training before being deployed.
The Mahuttuli area was known for manufacturing howdas, which were basically saddles for elephants, alongside coarse ropes. The area derived its name from the fact that it was a place just for mahouts!
Just as technology is making manual labour easier for humans, elephants also played a similar role in those days. This animal was a great friend of man due to its intelligence and strength.
The giants were used to transport heavy goods and cross difficult roads. They would also serve as vanguards during ancient battles, often said to sacrifice their lives to protect others.
The commercial use of elephants began during the British period. They used the beasts to transport goods from Tejgaon to Dhaka. The path then was covered in trees and plants and made for quite a foreboding undertaking. Elephants made the people involved in the journey feel safer, Dr Sharif Uddin said.
The school of elephants
In 1793, many small zamindars were created due to the building of permanent settlements. Instead of hereditary Nawabs, their employees became zamindars or titular nawabs.
They, too, started taming elephants.
"When I was studying in the Dinajpur school in the 1950s, I saw many elephants on a field in front of a Raja's house. Elephants were as important to landlords as Mercedes Benz or Rolls Royce are today," Dr Sharif said.
The English saw an opportunity here and established a school of sorts for elephants in Pilkhana, where the Mughal emperors would let their elephants graze, Sharif said.
Ninety acres of land were acquired for this purpose. Many zamindars used to send their elephants here to be tamed and trained for a fee.
The British government also leased two jheels for bathing the elephants - the Sat Masjid Jheel for Tk1,300 and the Kuripara Jheel.
There was also the Buriganga for the purpose, but traders said they had to bear losses to get there.
Following complaints, present-day Hatirjheel was established for the elephants. The road through which the elephants used to go from Pilkhana to Hatirjheel is called Elephant Road. A pool built for the elephants nearby also became known as Hatirpool.
The government used to get good revenue from the venture, appointing a superintendent or surgeon. Pilkhana housed around 250-300 elephants at once.
Around the 19th century, the elephant population began to decline. The average number of elephants captured began to fall and elephant trade was almost on the verge of extinction.
Friend turned foe
While elephants were still being killed in the hilly district in the 1940s and 1950s, their utility had declined due to the advent of motor vehicles.
Elephants were no longer needed for heavy work, to project nobility or to travel long distances. Population growth and urbanisation also pushed the elephants into the fringes.
The elephant is no longer venerated, its glory only recorded in the annals of history. Artist Alam Musawar painted 39 pictures of Eid and Muharram processions in Dhaka which are kept at Dhaka Museum. In those pictures, several elephants, adorned with the finest fabrics, are visible at the forefront of the procession. But these are just for the history books.
Today, the mammals can sometimes still be spotted in Sherpur, Teknaf or Longadu, but they are quickly driven away.
Humans, once an elephant's best friend, have now turned into their biggest foes.
In 2005, I went to Longadu in Rangamati as part of the Bangladesh Tourism Expansion Forum to see elephants.
We heard that a herd of elephants comes from the mountains of Mizoram to eat paddy. In the afternoon, I also saw elephants on top of a hill above the paddy fields. But the elephants understood that we who were outsiders did not like them, so after two days they ransacked the place where we had spent the night.
Locals said if the elephant isn't turned away and is affectionately called mama, it could still be tamed somewhat.
The relationship between man and this animal in the subcontinent has also been explored in pop culture.
The movies Hathi Mere Sathi in 1971 and Hathi Amar Sathi were hits at the time. China has also made a number of movies about the magnificent mammals.
In the recent blockbuster Baahubali, elephants had a great role.
Elephants are social creatures, with around 25 living together in a herd as a family led by a matron.
Older elephants have more influence in the family. The animals are also known to engage in humour and sympathy, or even use tools. There are many proverbs and stories about elephants in the subcontinent.
Today, while many areas sport the word elephant - Elephant Road, Hatir Jheel, Hatirpool - the mammals no longer exist.
"Human affinity with elephants is strange and surprising. But now there is no place for elephants in our country today. Human settlements have also been formed in the elephant's paths. Why would there be elephants?" Dr Sharif Uddin said.
