Khedda
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A khedda (or ''Kheddah'') or the Khedda system was a stockade trap for the capture of a full herd of
elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
s that was used in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
; other methods were also used to capture single elephants. The elephants were driven into the stockade by skilled '' mahouts'' mounted on
domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...
elephants. This method was practiced widely in North-east India, particularly in the state of
Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
, mostly in
South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...
, and in particular in the erstwhile
Mysore State Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later India, Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's c ...
(now part of
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
) state. The khedda practice and other methods of trapping or capturing elephants have been discontinued since 1973 following the enactment of a law under Schedule I of the
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted for protection of plants and animal species. Before 1972, India had only five designated national parks. Among other reforms, the Act established scheduled pr ...
, declaring the Indian elephant to be a highly endangered species. In the case of elephants which cause extensive damage by encroaching into human habitations and damaging crops, the forest department has the authority to capture them.


Etymology

Khedda is a word in the
Hindi language Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
meaning a "ditch", which was used as a trap to capture many wild elephants. Prior to introduction of this system the method used to trap wild elephants was a pit system.


History

An early description of a khedda was written by the Greek explorer and ambassador to India,
Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; grc, Μεγασθένης, c. 350 BCE– c. 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, diplomat and Indian ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but ha ...
(ca. 350 – 290 BC), on which Strabo based his account in '' Geographica''. The description was similar to the modern technique. Female elephants were used as bait. When the captured elephants were worn out by famine and combat with tame elephants, their legs were tied. Finally their necks were lacerated, and leather straps inserted in the cuts "so that they submit to their bonds through pain, and so remain quiet." Man-elephant conflict is a major factor in either capturing them or hunting them for economic purpose. Four methods of trapping them have been practiced. These methods are: by trapping them in pits; by kheddah operations for capturing a herd of elephants, by driving into kheddas or enclosures, or driving the herd through the river-drive method; by noosing them with the help of mahouts sitting on the backs of trained elephants, mostly adopted to capture single elephants; and using decoy or lure by tamed female elephants and then spearing them.


In Mysore

In Mysore, the khedda system was first introduced by G P. Sanderson in 1873–1874 at Kardihalli. The venue of such events was the Kakanakote forest on the banks of the
Kabini River The Kabini River is one of the major tributaries of the river Cauvery in southern India. It originates near Kavilumpara in Kozhikode district of Kerala state by the confluence of the Panamaram River and the Mananthavady River. It flows eastw ...
. This was organized by the forest department at frequent intervals, usually coinciding with the visit of a dignitary to the state. Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, had failed to capture elephants.
Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...
and his father
Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the at ...
were not successful in trapping wild elephants in spite of using their army. The first attempt to capture the elephants by Colonel Pearson, a British Army Officer, had also failed. However, G.P. Sanderson, who worked for the government of Mysore in the forest department, in his book titled ''Thirteen Years Among The Wild Beasts of India'' has noted: "Hyder made a trial, a century before, in the Kakanakote Jungles, but had failed and had recorded his opinion that no one would ever succeed, and his curse upon any one that attempted to do so, on a stone still standing near the scene of his endeavors.” The term “game” is used to denote wildlife hunting as an official royal sport, which was practiced by the erstwhile
Maharajas Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...
of princely states of India like Mysore in which British officers also took keen interest. Such games were specifically arranged as an entertainment to visiting
duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...
s and
viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...
s. One such khedda operation was arranged by Sanderson by the river-drive method through the Kabini River in honour of the Grand Duke of Russia when he visited Mysore, in 1891. Following the successful operation of the first khedda by Sanderson, this system, started in Kakanakote became very popular in Mysore. Over the next century 36 khedda operations were held till 1971 when it was legally banned under the
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted for protection of plants and animal species. Before 1972, India had only five designated national parks. Among other reforms, the Act established scheduled pr ...
as it was considered a crude and gruesome method perpetrated on animals.


In Assam

In Assam which is reported to have the largest population of elephants in the country, the practice followed to catch elephants was by the khedda system, also known as
Mela Shikar Mela shikar ( as, 'মেলা চিকাৰ) is a traditional method of capturing wild elephants for captive use. These methods get employed in Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and in Assam in India. The process involves lassoing a ...
kheddas are further classified as the ''Pung Garh'' and the ''Dandi Garh''. In Bengal also the practice followed was khedda and this operation was performed by the Government of Bengal to capture elephants for its use.


In other states

In the
Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and ...
, now
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
, and in
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, the practice followed to capture a small number of elephants was by the pit method during the monsoon months of July to September. The elephants were captured and tamed to meet the demands of temples and to move timber in the forests. Noosing, using the trained elephants backs, is the practice adopted in Bengal and also in Nepal. In this method three or four fast moving tamed elephants, each with three mahouts as guides were used in this method with the rope tied to the tame elephants body with the other end used as a noose.


Khedda system

The composition of the team for the khedda system to trap elephants comprised drum beaters, mahouts, security men, assistants and trained elephants known as '' kumkis''. After locating a herd of wild elephants to be captured it was encircled by the team of the hunters sealing all routes of escape. A fenced circuit of area was created and cordoned around the herd; this was stocked with adequate supply of feeds and water and well camouflaged. To prevent elephants from going astray, big fires were lit, shouting done, drums beaten and gun shots fired to scare the elephants and keep them confined. Following this activity of keeping the elephants within the confined space, building of the enclosure was carried out. This enclosure, located in a camouflaged area along one of the main paths of the elephant, was built to dimensions of about diameter raised to a height of . The enclosure was fortified with slanting buttresses and ties. A highly secure entrance gate fitted with spikes was built. The entrance path to guide the elephants was done through two palisades. The herd of wild elephants, scared by din and sound and fire, were forced to go through the "funnel-shaped" route into the enclosure and then the gates were shut. Following the capture in the trap, elephants were denied food, forced to starve and were even injured, which made them weak. Thus confined into the khedda the wild elephants were then approached by the mahouts with the trained elephants to pacify them. Then the mahout with the assistance of a helper prodded the wild elephant with an iron rod to lift its one leg so that it could be noosed with ropes. Using the same procedure, the other three legs and the neck of the elephant were noosed, and wild elephants subject to the discomfort and being immobilized would become easier to control. Once tamed they were trained.


References


Bibliography

* * * {{Karnataka topics Elephants in Indian culture