The ancient trade of the 'mahout' or elephant driver gets a boost as a dedicated school opens, reports Rahul Bedi
A MAHOUT or elephant driver training school has opened recently in India's southern Kerala state, to make up the shortfall in this rather esoteric guild.
Launched by the Guruvayur Srikrishna Hindu temple, some 70km (44 miles) from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram that has a stable of 64 revered elephants, the two-year curriculum at the mahout training school features theory and practical courses on animal health for some 30 novitiates.
Possessing elephants is a prestige symbol for temples in southern India where the caparisoned animals are frequently taken out in procession, especially during religious festivals and are the principal attraction for devotees.
Many individuals across Kerala own elephants - one family owns 12 magnificent tuskers - but, over the years, many found the gluttonous beasts a financial burden and were handing them over to temples that remain duty bound to look after them. A handful of elephants are also employed by the forest department to clear jungles and help with logging.
The mahout school syllabus provides for practical training on mounting and demounting elephants, ministering them First Aid and, most importantly, learning how to tackle the animals when they are musth or in sexual heat. This frenzied state invariably renders male elephants uncontrollably violent and highly destructive, resulting in them being heavily sedated and chained for weeks, till their ardour has cooled.
Musth elephants have killed around 19 people in Kerala this year and claimed another 100 lives in 2007, in addition to laying waste their immediate environments.
"This is largely because mahouts have little knowledge of the animals in musth," elephant training expert A Maheswaran said. We hope the training school will help them deal better with this serious problem, he added.
Panicky and inexperienced mahouts often physically abuse musth elephants, leading to serious injuries and the breakdown of the crucial bond between animal and keeper.
The first batch of 30 trainee mahouts aged between 18 and 20 was selected from a large number who applied to join, but only after they passed the entrance examination following six months of theory and practical lessons.
The massively wealthy temple, attended daily by tens of thousands of Hindu devotees, many of who make unbelievably generous offerings, has earmarked an annual outlay of 5.4 million rupees (€85,424) for the mahout school.
The temple spends about 30 million rupees for its elephants' upkeep each year in addition to 2.5 million rupees for animal insurance premiums and mahout salaries.
A handful of local insurance companies provide cover to about 600 privately-owned elephants in Kerala which includes giving more than 25,000 rupees to cremate the animal after it dies - normally at at least 100 - and an equivalent sum to deal with them in their musth non-productive state.
"This (the training school) is a great initiative because we didn't know a lot of things about elephants," said Anandan, a mahout. If we can read their minds better, we can, perhaps, treat them better, he added.
The mahout shortage is in inverse proportion to the burgeoning elephant population that has crossed 30,000 over the past two decades following strict anti-poaching and heightened preservation measures.
Till the early 1980s, the eldest son of a mahout would be apprenticed to his father at a young age and, for a decade, be taught the intricacies of controlling the huge beast pushing and nudging it with his knees and feet.
Experts say elephants have 120 vulnerable points, 64 of which are used by experienced mahouts to control the animal.
But the mahouts' number has dwindled alarmingly due primarily to low salaries - monthly wages of just around 2,000 rupees - and limited job prospects.
Besides, the sons of mahouts no longer want to pursue their fathers' calling, with the majority opting either for a faster mode of transport by becoming drivers or seeking alternate employment across affluent Kerala.
Animal conservationists say so poorly are the mahouts paid and so wretched is their work environment that they are driven to consume the elephant's ration of sugar cane, flour and bananas or alternately sell them to buy food for themselves.
But since elephants have long memories and rarely ever forgive a slight, there are many instances of hungry beasts trampling their greedy keepers to death.
However, the mahout who manages to earn the trust of his elephant has a loyal, lifetime friend.
Subedar Ali is one such legendary mahout at the Jim Corbett National Park, 350km (220 miles) east of New Delhi, who, after being mauled by a tiger, was carried to safety by his beloved elephant with the bloodthirsty beast in pursuit for several miles.
While elephants are an integral part of Hinduism and Indian culture, mahouts too feature in ancient scriptures, occupying a not entirely lowly status in an intensely hierarchical society.
They were classified into three types. The first was reghawan or one who controls elephants through love, friendship and understanding. The second was and yukthiman or those who use ingenuity in outsmarting this highly intelligent beast.
The third and least prepossessing was the balwan category that uses brute force and harsh words and frequently ends up being attacked by the anguished animal.
Without doubt, the mahout school alumni will strive to emulate the first grouping and spawn a generation of professional elephant-minders and minders and keepers.