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Eight types of forests:

础谤迟丑补艣腻蝉迟谤补 (Book 2, Chapter 2, v. 15-16)^[1] mentioned elephant-forests (苍腻驳补惫补苍补) of 碍补濒颈峁単补 and 础峁単补谤补蝉 in east, Cedi and 碍补谤奴峁�a, forests in 顿补艣腻谤峁嘺, 础辫补谤腻苍迟补, 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补 and 笔补帽肠补苍补诲补. According to 碍补耻峁璱濒测补 碍补濒颈峁単补 and 础峁単补谤补蝉 of east forest are famous for best elephants, elephants of Cedi, 碍补谤奴峁�a and 顿补艣腻谤峁嘺, 础辫补谤腻苍迟补 are medium in quality and elephants from 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补 and 笔补帽肠补苍补诲补 are lowest in quality. But out of all these 碍补耻峁璱濒测补 declares that perfect training can increase the valour, speed and spirit of the elephants.

骋补箩补艣腻迟谤补 (Chapter 4, v.1-18)^[2] and 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补 (Chapter 3-骋补箩补惫补苍补惫颈产丑腻驳补濒补办峁�a峁嘺尘, v. 171-179) mention the forests which were famous for elephants.

They are eight in number, such as鈥�

1. 笔谤腻肠测补 (Eastern) forest,
2. Cedikar奴峁�aka (or Vedikar奴峁�a峁� in 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补),
3. 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺办补,
4. 膧峁単膩reyaka (or 膩峁単ireyaka of 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补),
5. 碍腻濒颈峁単补办补,
6. Aparantaka,
7. 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补ka and
8. 笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补.^[3]

Treatises cited these forests along with their locations.

骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 gives detailed descriptions of these forests and signs of the elephants dwelling there.

1) 笔谤腻肠测补 forest:

The signs of the elephants in 笔谤腻肠测补 vana:

In the east, the forest of the elephants is the 贬颈尘腻濒补测补, whose caves are filled with the songs of the 痴颈诲测腻诲丑补谤墨 who sits on her beloved鈥檚 lap in the 惭补苍诲腻谤补 gardens, where there are the woods or the bank of the Brahmaputra, where the 驰补尘耻苍腻 meets the 叠丑腻驳墨谤补迟丑墨, where the J膩hnav膩 is reddened with the glow from the jewel on the crest of the serpent on 艢补尘产丑耻鈥檚 head (v. 3).

Brown elephants with bad nails, which are marked by their heads, throats, lips, stomachs, tusks, thighs, lens, cheeks thick dewlaps strong body, knees and limbs. They have wide shoulders and tails; roam about in the 惭腻濒补惫补 country by the saravy膩 (v. 4-5).

They may be seen roaming in the pastures and mountains of the 础峁単补 in 鲍迟迟补尘腻, Magadha, 笔耻峁囜笉谤补, K膩峁�m墨ra and Kosala, as well as 笔腻帽肠腻濒补 and 碍补濒颈峁単补 some of them drink (the water of) the 闯腻丑苍补惫墨 or 骋辞尘补迟墨 (v. 6-7).

In the east in 笔谤腻肠测补, or on the seashore or around the Ganges near the Brahmaputra, elephants roam about by the sacred rivers and Gocaras and other mountains in the beautiful lands of 础峁単补 etc. (v. 8).

The 笔谤腻肠测补 forest elephants have grant necks, heads, thick trunks, wide backs, good tails, they are brown and trumpet pleasantly (v. 9). 笔谤腻肠测补 is in the midst of the Ganges, 笔谤补测腻驳补, the 贬颈尘腻濒补测补 and Brahmaputra. Elephants born there have supple bodies, and are gentle and fiery (v. 10).^[4]

2) Cedikar奴峁�aka forest:

The signs of the elephants in the forests of Cedikar奴峁�aka:

惭别办丑补濒腻 (狈补谤尘补诲腻), 罢谤颈辫耻谤墨 and the land of 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺 and (the land called) Unmattaga峁単a鈥搃n the middle of this is Cedikar奴峁�aka. Some of the elephants there are have ally with high sides, tusks the colour of honey, of quick mettle with good bodies, auspicious feet, tall and brown, and are sometimes ferocious and quick to kick (v. 11-12).^[5]

3) 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺 forest:

The signs of the elephants in the forests of 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺:

惭别办丑补濒腻 is said to be in the middle of 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺, Unmattaga峁単a and Tripura and Rasapu峁璦 in Cardya. 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺 is in between 艢谤墨辫补谤惫补迟补 and 艢r墨bala mountain, by the 痴别迟谤补惫补迟墨. The 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺 (elephant) has auspicious limbs, is speedy, well-disciplined with great limbs and yellowish (in colour) (v. 13).^[6]

4) 膧峁単膩reyaka forest:

The signs of the elephants in the forests of 膧峁単膩reyaka:

Between the mountain 笔腻谤颈测腻迟谤补 and the country of 痴颈诲颈艣腻, by the 搁别惫补迟墨 and the Brahmavat墨 is the 膧峁単膩reya (country); the elephant born there has auspicious eyes and is very powerful, with tender skin (v. 14).^[7]

5) 碍腻濒颈峁単补 forest:

The signs of the elephants in the forests of 碍腻濒颈峁単补:

碍腻濒颈峁単补 is (the land) in the middle of the Sahya, the Vindhya, Utkala, the direction of Agastya (south) and the sea. The (elephant) there has fine hair, sweet glance, a unique body and is slow-moving.^[8]

6) 础辫补谤腻苍迟补 forest:

The signs of the elephants in the 础辫补谤腻苍迟补 forest:

The 础辫补谤腻苍迟补 is (the country) to the east of the last mountain by the 搁别惫腻, the 碍峁涐梗峁嘺 mountain and the ocean. The (elephant) born there has a beautiful body, is very strong and has tender skin (v. 15).^[9]

7) 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补 forest:

The signs of the elephants in the forests of 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补:

厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补 is in the middle of the 搁别惫腻, 础惫补苍迟墨, the city named Arbuda and 顿惫腻谤补办腻. The elephants born there has short nails and tusks, as short lived and stupid.^[10]

8) 笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补 forest:

The signs of the elephants of the 笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补 forest:

笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补 is the forest on the north, in the middle of the 碍腻濒别测补 forest and the Sindhu (on the one hand) and 贬颈尘腻濒补测补 and 碍耻谤耻办峁�e迟谤补 (on the other). (The elephant) born here is very strong and ferocious (v. 16).This is an account of the forests of the elephants. The elephants that roam in the forests should be judged by their looks, their behaviour and their bodies (v. 17).^[11]

[12. Elephant forests in Early India. According to Bijoya Goswami鈥檚 description based on 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补]

The 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 (Chapter 4, v. 18) gives a ranking of the forests of elephants, such as the 笔谤腻肠测补, 碍腻濒颈峁単补办补 and the 础辫补谤腻苍迟补 are said to be the best. Cedikar奴峁�aka, 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺 and 膧峁単膩reya are medium. 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补ka and 笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补 are said to be the worst forests.^[12] But the 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补 (Chapter 3, v. 178-179) contradicts the ranking of 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 in some respect. According to it except 碍腻濒颈峁単补, Vedik膩r奴峁�a峁�, 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺, replacing 笔谤腻肠测补, and 础辫补谤腻苍迟补, are said to be the best while except 膩峁単ireya, the 笔谤腻肠测补vana degreased from its first position and replacing Cedikar奴峁�aka, 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺 are considered as mediocre. Lastly Aparanta losing its best position considered as the inferior kind of forest along with 笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补, 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补, those are kept their position in worst.^[13] After keen study of ranking of the elephant-forests it is quite visible 础谤迟丑补艣腻蝉迟谤补, 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 and 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补 all the three treatises considered 碍补濒颈峁単补 or 碍补濒颈峁単补ka as the best, 顿补艣腻谤峁嘺 as the mediocre and 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补 and 笔补帽肠补苍补诲补 as the worst according to quality of their elephants. In this context it is worth mentioning that king 厂辞尘别艣惫补谤补 in the 12^th century CE seems to be specially inclined towards the elephants of the 碍补濒颈峁単补 forests (v.194).^[14]

Identification of forests:

These forests may be identified as follows:

1. 笔谤腻肠测补vana鈥揺xtended from Allahabad to Assam, the forest on the Himalayan foot hills.

2. Cedikar奴峁�aka (Cedi and 碍补谤奴峁�a)鈥搃)Cedi and its surrounding region. This region is bounded by Kalisindh and Chaunse rivers in west and east directions, respectively (18 mile northwest of Chanderi and Lalitpur of Bundelkhand). ii) 碍补谤奴峁�a鈥搒outhern region of Shahabad District of Bihar (the region between Shon and Karmanasha rivers).

3. 顿补艣腻谤峁嘺vana鈥�Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, 顿补艣腻谤峁嘺 惭补丑腻驳颈谤颈. The forest between Vindhya and river Betravat墨 (Betwa).

4. 膩峁単膩reyakavana鈥搕he region between Vidisha, Narmada and Pariyatra (Aravalli Mountain ranges in west of Bhopal) and Brahmavardhan.

5. 碍腻濒颈峁単补办补vana鈥搒outhern part of Orissa and northern part of Dravida region. Godavari river flows in south-west and a stream of river Indravati named Gaoliya flows in north-west of this area. It indicates simply the area between Godavari and Mahanadi rivers.

6. Aparantakavana鈥揷oastal region of Konkan and Malabar, south of Narmada.

7. 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补kavana鈥�Avanti (Malwa), Nimar, and adjacent region of Madhya Pradesh. The region between Narmada, Dwarka and Mount Abu.

8. 笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补vana鈥搑egion between Kurukshetra, Sindhu, Himalaya and Kalikakanan.^[15]

According to Blochman, these descriptions specify the habitat of elephants almost all over the Indian subcontinent at least up to 12th century CE.^[16]

Signs of elephants dwelling in these forests

骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 also describes the signs of elephants dwelling in these forests. It refers to eight woods (upavanas) and the marks of elephants dwelling there (Chapter 4, v.19-27).

They are:

1. Upavana in 碍颈谤腻迟补 country (east of the Himalaya),
2. 膧驳苍别测补 (south-east) upavanas,
3. southern upavanas,
4. 狈补颈谤峁泃补 (south-west) upavanas,
5. western upavanas,
6. 痴腻测耻 (northwest) upavanas,
7. northern upavanas and
8. I艣膩na (north-eastern) upavanas.^[17]

Elephants are particularly judged according to the signs of the woods they are born in.^[18] 础谤迟丑补艣腻蝉迟谤补 and A艣okan inscriptions both mention elephant forests or Hastivana where elephants were kept in captivity post capture for training. 碍补耻峁璱濒测补 places the elephant forests much as much superior to the material forests. Elephants are principally responsible for destruction of the enemy鈥檚 force (Book 7, Chapter 11, verses 13-16).^[19] Under the measures taken by ministers for state鈥檚 foreign policy especially at the time of pact for an undertaking 碍补耻峁璱濒测补 mentions the usefulness of the elephant forests. According to the ancient teachers there were two types of elephants in forests prior to their usefulness i.e. 鈥榦ne with many but dull elephants and one with few but brave elephants is preferable; for, on the brave depends the fight; the few brave rout the many dull, and those routed become the destroyers of their own troops.鈥� But according to 碍补耻峁璱濒测补 many dull elephants are preferable for their use in the army as they carry out many tasks, become the refuge of their own troops in battle and unassailable and frightful to the enemies. Where as to the many dull elephants, bravery can be imparted by means of training, but numerousness cannot be generated at all in the few brave (Book 7, Chapter 12, verses 8-12).^[20] Elephant forests are the source of elephants for war (Book 7, Chapter 14, verse 25).^[21]

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

R.P. Kangle. tr. The Kau峁璱l墨ya 础谤迟丑补艣腻蝉迟谤补, Part II, pp. 68-69.

[2]:

Shri Mantramurti K.S. Subrahmanya艣膩stri. ed. &tr. (in Tamil), 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 [Gaja-艣膩stram] of 笔腻濒补办腻辫测补 muni with extracts from other works and Coloured Illustrations, pp. 32-36.

[3]:

Gajanan K. Shrigondekar. ed. 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补, Vol.1, pp. 44-45. The 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补 arranges this forests likewise鈥摫拾�腻肠测��, 膧峁単ireya, 碍腻濒颈峁単补办补, 顿腻艣腻谤峁嘺办补, Aparanta, 厂补耻谤腻峁ａ弓谤补, 笔腻帽肠补苍补诲补, Vedikar奴峁�a峁�.

[4]:

Shri Mantramurti K.S. Subrahmanya艣膩stri. ed. &tr. (in Tamil), 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 [Gaja-艣膩stram] of 笔腻濒补办腻辫测补 muni with extracts from other works and Coloured Illustrations, pp. 32-34.

[5]:

Ibid., p. 34.

[6]:

Ibid.

[7]:

Ibid., p. 35.

[8]:

Ibid.

[9]:

Ibid.

[10]:

Ibid., p. 35.

[11]:

Ibid., p. 36.

[12]:

Ibid.

[13]:

Gajanan K. Shrigondekar. ed. 惭腻苍补蝉辞濒濒腻蝉补, Vol.1, p. 45.

[14]:

Ibid., p. 136.

[15]:

I am deeply indebted to Professor Bijoya Goswami, Former Professor of Sanskrit Department, Jadavpur University, who gave her unpublished work on 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 with English translation and permit me to refer the matters and use the map from it. The work will be soon published.

[16]:

Nalini Sadhale & Y.L. Nene. 鈥極n Elephants in Manasollasa-1.Characteristics, Habitat, Methods of Capturing and Training鈥�, Reproduction from Asian Agri-History, Vol.8, No.1, 2004, p. 23. According to the Ain-i-Akbari, the supplies of elephants from regions of Agra and Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, central India and Bihar to the Mughals, especially in the reign of Akbar, in the late 16th century CE; however by the end of 19th century CE, Watts shows, the scarcity of elephants habitation in these regions. And Daniel displays the present days鈥榚lephant habitats in India are in (i) Northwest: Dehradun, Bijnor, and the Nainital Tarai; (ii) South: Western Ghats in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu; (iii) Central: southern Bihar, southern Bengal, and Orissa; and (iv) Eastern: northern Bengal, Assam, and other states of North-East.

[17]:

Shri Mantramurti K.S. Subrahmanya艣膩stri. ed. &tr. (in Tamil), 骋补箩补艣腻蝉迟谤补 [Gaja-艣膩stram] of 笔腻濒补办腻辫测补 muni with extracts from other works and Coloured Illustrations, pp. 36-38.

[18]:

Ibid, p. 39.

[19]:

R.P. Kangle. tr. The Kau峁璱l墨ya 础谤迟丑补艣腻蝉迟谤补, Part II, p. 412.

[20]:

Ibid., pp. 415-416.

[21]:

Ibid., p. 426.