Doomdooma: Assam continues to face human-elephant conflict. A new study examining India’s centuries-old knowledge of elephants suggests that understanding elephant behaviour could complement modern ways of managing such conflicts.
Historical research says the manuscript was based largely on observations of elephants in Assam’s forests.
The commentary, “Gaja-sastra: India’s Forgotten Elephant Science”, by Ramesh Kumar Pandey of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, was published in the Journal of Wildlife Science. It traces India’s systematic knowledge of elephants to at least the third century BC and examines five major texts on elephant behaviour, health, temperament, training and welfare.
For Assam, one of the key texts is the Hastividyarnava, an illustrated elephant treatise compiled in 1734 under Ahom King Siva Singha and Queen Ambika Devi. Written by Sukumar Barkaith, the work recorded observations of elephants found in Assam and included sections on their characteristics, behaviour, training, ailments and treatment.
The study examines how ancient texts described changes in elephant behaviour. These included changes in posture, movement, gait, vocalisation, appetite and temperament, which were associated with fear, stress, illness, fatigue or aggression. The study suggests that such observations could be examined for their possible use in identifying stressed or agitated elephants before encounters escalate.
For Assam, behaviour-based early-warning measures could combine such observations with GPS collars, camera traps, field trackers and rapid-response teams. Local communities could also be trained to recognise behavioural cues and avoid actions that may provoke elephants.
The manuscript tradition also recorded local ecological conditions, including forests, grasslands, wetlands and changing river landscapes. These features are relevant to elephant corridors in Assam.
Pandey cautions against treating ancient practices as modern conservation methods. He says their value lies in the observations they preserve and their potential to complement contemporary science.