Matanga Lila is a treatise in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

dealing with the life and behaviour of elephants. The title has been translated as Elephant-sport. It is a treatise in 263 stanzas divided into twelve chapters of varying length. In the treatise, the author's name has been mentioned as Nilakantha, but nothing more is known about the author. From the popularity of the text in the region now comprising the modern state of

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 ...

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 ...

, it is thought that the author might have lived there. Also, nothing definite is known about the date of the work. Matanga Lila is a text about the

Indian elephant The Indian elephant (''Elephas maximus indicus'') is one of four extant recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild pop ...

science, which is a technical science dealing with the taming and training of elephants, and also the

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

and

zoological Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and dis ...

features of elephants.

Franklin Edgerton Franklin Edgerton (July 24, 1885 – December 7, 1963) was an American linguistic scholar. He was Salisbury Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at Yale University (1926) and visiting professor at Benares Hindu University (1953–4 ...

, who published a translation of the text to English, has argued that the content of the text represents the codification of orally-transmitted traditions of practical knowledge. In support of this contention he noted that the "signature texts such as the Matanga-Lila" contain over 130 technical words, for which there are no clear Sanskrit etymologies.

Outline of contents

The book is divided into 12 chapters. The first chapter describes the mythic origin of elephants. It also contains a description of the various `castes' of elephants. Chapter 2 describes favorable marks of elephants. This chapter also describes the different sounds produced by elephants. Chapter 3 describes the unfavorable marks. They include the number of nails, presence of external testes, undesirable marks on the trunk, on the penis, on the tail and on other parts of the body. Chapter 4 deals with longevity of elephants and Chapter 5 describes the various stages in the life of an elephant and also gives names of the various body parts of elephants. Chapter 6 deals with measurements of elephants. Chapter 7, consisting of only three stanzas, deals with the prices of elephants. Chapter 8 is on marks of character. This chapter also contains a classification of elephants based on their varying sensitivity to stimuli. Chapter 9 deals with the state of ''mast'' and Chapter 10 with catching of elephants. Chapter 11, the longest in the whole work is titled "On keeping of elephants and their daily including seasonal regimen". The 12th and last chapter deals with the character and activities of elephant managers. Various commands including visual signs, oral, percussion, and prodding are given. There is a section describing how and when these commands are to be used so that the elephant will obey the mahout.

Some other Sanskrit books on elephant-science

There are a few other well-known texts in Sanskrit dealing with the science of elephantology. *(Sanskrit text only; edited by Sivadatta Sarma) * (Edited with translation in Tamil by K.S.Subrahmanya Sastri. Summary in English by S. Gopalan) *

References

{{reflist Elephants in Indian culture Elephantology in India