Surus and Dali

Dali’s elephants

Surus the war elephant, as some of you may know, belonged to a much older time frame, and its connection to the artist Salvadore Dali, who was born centuries later is quite interesting, to say the least. Some years ago, many news reports were published about the gifting of an elephant to Dali by Air India in return for the little giveaway sculpture designed by Dali. This article will touch upon that event, and also cover some antecedents, Dali’s preoccupation with elephants, and the events which followed the arrival of the baby pachyderm in Switzerland.

But before we get to the 20^th century, let us get to know the war elephant Surus with a broken tusk. He was believed to be one of the last war elephants, part of the Carthaginian general Hannibal's army. While most people believed it to be a Syrian African elephant, it may have had Indian origins. Many believed, based on the image on a coin stuck during that time, showing the likeness of an African elephant, that Surus had African origins, added to the fact that Surus meant Syrian. However, we also know that the Ptolemies had seized Indian elephants in Syria during their wars, so Surus was most likely an Indian war elephant, who found its way to Carthage, from Egypt. Anyway, as the story goes, Hannibal Barca rode on Surus, during his march to Rome around 218 B.C. His force, which marched from Spain, comprising 100,000 men and some 37-38 elephants, apparently crossed the Alps, creating quite a furor at all the mountain villages they passed.  This legendary crossing of the Alps is still hotly debated as hard evidence of it has not been forthcoming. Nevertheless, that is not our topic for the day, it is Dali.

Salvador Dali (born 1904) was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter born in Catalonia and resident of Madrid, quite popular and considered an eccentric and a dandy. Art lovers mention that he was influenced by several different artistic styles, including Metaphysics and Cubism. Dali’s developing style continued to be influenced by Picasso and Joan Miró. The biggest influence in his life was Gala, whom he met in 1929, and married in 1934. Gala was not only a great influence and his muse but also his business manager. Dali’s surrealist work could appear to be striking and bizarre for many of us, he was outlandish at times and stated once that his “love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes” to an “Arab lineage”, claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors.

It is said that the elephants in his works were inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture based in Rome of an elephant carrying an ancient obelisk. His painting ‘Swans reflecting elephants’ from 1937 projects an intriguing picture - Here, the three swans in front of bleak, leafless trees are reflected in the lake so that the swans' necks become the elephants' trunks, the swans' bodies become the elephants' ears, and the trees become the legs of the elephants. But it was in 1946 that he pictured a few of them differently in his oil on canvas work, The Temptation of Saint Anthony. Here he stretched their legs as if on stilts, much like a giraffe, and pictured them as Space Elephants.

The Temptations painting was made when he decided to partake in a US filmmaker’s contest. The winning painting was to figure in a film taken from the story, ‘Bel Ami’ by Guy de Maupassant. While Max Ernst won the contest, Dalí did not, but his work produced a masterpiece.

Repeating the motif again in 1948, he did the sketch ‘The Elephants’ as a backdrop study for the ballet As you Like it. The collection brochure by Robert and Nicolas Descharnes explains - In the Dalian menagerie, the elephant occupies a preponderant place. For Dali, this tranquil and slow pachyderm lacked aerial grace. In just a few strokes, Dali cured this God-given weakness: what could be more elegant than co graft the legs and hooves of a giraffe onto the greatest animal on earth? His normal behavior of course was completely upset. One could easily imagine Surus, the personal elephant of Hannibal, changing into such a beast, crossing the plain of the Ampurdan to conquer the Alps in a graceful balance with his trunk pointed skywards. This is the majestic representation of the Space Elephant, crowned by an obelisk and appearing to be a twin brother of a richly armored elephant of the troupe painted by Dali in 1946 in the painting, The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

In 1973, he installed a concrete sculpture of an elephant in Gala’s castle at Pubol and in 1980 the Space elephant versions in bronze and various paintings were completed.  The elephant theme appears various times in Dalí ‘s artworks of the 40-70s, and I have tried to collate some of the images I could find. Surely there are more, these are just some examples.

In 1970, Salvatore Dali, fascinated by the Hannibal story and Surus, sketched out The Hannibal crossing. Dalí captures the entire troupe of elephants as they walk along the bank of the river below the Alpine mountains.

But his fascination with the Hannibal story started well before that and is connected to Air India. It all came together when Dali met with the Air India PR manager Jot Singh in New York. Air India wanted an exclusive gift to be designed by Dali and Dali affirmed his interest by stating that he could do a porcelain double image-based porcelain ashtray with a shell-shaped center and a serpent around the perimeter supported by two surrealist headstands--a swan on one side and elephant on the other. Incidentally, the design of the ashtray was based on a work Dali had produced in 1937, the painting called Swans Reflecting Elephants and Dali explained the ashtray design thus: “The reflection of the elephant appears to be a swan and the reflection of the swan appears to be an elephant. That is what I have done for the ashtray”.

When it came to fees, Air India stalwarts mention that Dali asked for an elephant! Why? " I wish to keep him in my olive grove and watch the patterns of shadows the moonlight makes through the twigs on his back," he is reported to have said. Gala promptly added, ‘and $10,000’. Dali provided the concept, and Jules Teissonniere decorated and finished the design, had them manufactured at Limoges in France.  Air India ordered 500 of these Elephant Swan ashtrays, for their top clients!

Now for the payment part – the elephant. Air India’s deputy commercial director, went looking to Byculla zoo for a baby elephant, only to be told that they didn’t have one to spare. She finally acquired one from the Bangalore zoo and Air India flew it to Switzerland, together with its mahout. Dali’s plan was to cross the Alps on his back, Hannibal like, but the more practical Gala put a stop to that idea, and Surus (thus named after Hannibal’s war elephant) was on a flight to Basel in Switzerland.

The next part of the story comes from the Deputy Chancellor, State of Geneva  Mr Claude Bonard, who kindly translated an old article of his for me – He narrates slightly differently, thus – Dali known for his passions and a sense of happening, wanted to repeat the feat of Hannibal who would have crossed the Alps with his army and his war elephants in 218 BC, during the second Punic war led against Rome. It was the airline Air India which, sensing a good move and having ordered ashtrays signed by Dali (pardon me!) for its first-class passengers, offered to provide the elephant to the Master.

One fine day in 1967, the owner of the Meyrin carousel, Alain Jaggi, son of the well-known sculptor Luc Jaggi, received a phone call from an Air India representative in Cointrin who asked him if he would be able to accommodate an elephant in one of the boxes at his riding school. After a few moments of hesitation, Alain Jaggi accepted. This was the start of the problems and questions... how big would the elephant be? Would there be a box high enough to house the pachyderm? How to feed and water it? And above all, what would be the reaction of the horses in the stables......

On D-Day, in front of an audience of journalists and press photographers, we were all a little worried in Meyrin when the convoy arrived in the colors of Air India from which was extracted a gigantic wooden cage carrying an elephant that arrived the day before by plane from Bangalore! Unthinkable today, given animal protection standards!!

Great was the disappointment of the Indian sponsors and the press because Salvador Dali who was to be present was conspicuous by his absence. Anyway, It was important to care for the poor elephant so that he recovered from his emotions and could be led into his box, and event which caused a general panic in the neighboring boxes where the panicked horses neighed and kicked against the doors.

Finally, a bit annoyed, the representatives of the airline took possession of their baby elephant the next day. We learned later that the poor baby elephant had continued its journey to reach Spain and (became) the property of the painter, after which Salvador Dali posed theatrically, perched on his baby elephant.

The Meyrin municipality archives provide additional tidbits, following the above - On September 20, 1967, the baby elephant, baptized Surus in homage to the bravest of Hannibal's elephants, arrived by plane in Basel, Cointrin not having a cargo line from India. In Basel, the wooden cage containing the baby elephant was loaded into a Renault Estafette van driven by Air India driver Camille Yerly, heading for Meyrin, whose carousel has been chosen as a stopover for the night. The choice of this location was made by René Hug, Air India press officer and Surus trip coordinator, on the suggestion of Frédéric Herzig, the company's station manager and mayor of Meyrin.

This "event" gave rise to a small ceremony of which we have a photo (see below) and a few lines in the Journal de Genève of September 21, 1967: "In spite of the late hour [the convoy arrived in Meyrin several hours behind the projected schedule], the directors of Air India International, i.e., MM. Eric Pereira, Director for Switzerland, Marcel Alibrandi, Sales Manager, Frédéric Herzig, Station Manager, and René Hug, Press Officer, gave a cocktail party which took place in the premises of the carousel.

After having taken a little rest, and being honored with a bundle of hay, which was offered to him, with other food, "Surus" then resumed the road, to be transported to Figueras, in Catalonia, where Salvador Dali is domiciled”. During the trip to Figueras, one can imagine the surprise of the employee of the service station where Mr. Yerly had stopped to ask for water which, to his question "is it for your dog?", was answered as - no, an elephant! The arrival of Surus in Figueras and his reception by Salvador Dali was the subject of a public demonstration on September 22, 1967.

Failing to cross the Pyrenees on his back, Dali organized a parade with the baby elephant from a hill to the town of Figueres located below, thus symbolizing the passage of the Pyrenees. Another source added - There was a special parade that was organized at the plaza and a special drink that was prepared with wine and Indian tea, and pink champagne (Dali’s favorite) was served. An Indian astrologer (perhaps a priest) was flown from Bombay to take part in the festivities.

The Castle of Púbol or Gala Dalí Castle House-Museum, the Salvador Dalí House Museum in Portlligat, and the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres, form the Empordà Dalinian triangle. I believe Surus lived thence at the Port lligat residence.

Tim McGirk in his book Wicked Lady thinks it was an Air India publicity stunt and mentions the event so -  Besieged by all the hustlers, Gala’s suspicion of even her friends eventually bordered on the pathological. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse happened to visit Port Lligat when Dali was doing a publicity stunt for Air India. Baby elephants (there was only one) were romping on the beach, with Dali and a dozen Hindu girls (perhaps 2 stewardesses) in sparkling saris: Gala surveyed the spectacle with the loftiness of a maharani as the Morses approached. Was it a publicity stunt? I think a few believed so, Tim included, and it seems likely (befitting both parties), reading about the receptions, the filming etc.

Surus and Dali did not, unfortunately, have a great relationship, it was mutual non-admiration from the start, as one writer qualified it. The mammal grew too large and cantankerous to be kept on the grounds and eventually Dali lost interest. Even though Dali built a concrete likeness in Emporda later, he parted ways with it in 1971, donating the elephant to the Barcelona Zoo from where it was later moved to the Valencia Zoo. The zoo it appears, renamed Surus, as Noi.

NY Times reported - It was the end of a four‐year hate affair between Salvador Dali, the surrealist painter, and an elephant named Surus, given to him for a promotion stunt that failed. They loathed each other at first sight, and ever since the two‐ton beast had been deposited in Dali's keeping, the artist has been trying to get rid of it. Now Dali has turned over Surus to officials of the Valencia Zoo in Barcelona. “Good riddance,” he said, giving the elephant an anything but loving look last week. “This thing did not fit into the garden of my Gothic castle. My wife prefers to have a pair of rhinoceroses, which are the most cosmic animals in the word.” 

Dali’s wife Gala died on 10 June 1982, aged 87. After her death, Dalí moved from Figueres to the castle in Púbol, where she was entombed, and became quite despondent. In November 1988, Dalí entered the hospital with heart issues. On the morning of 23 January 1989, he passed away at the age of 84.

Now there is always someone out there who would wonder what happened to the original Surus, the majestic single-tusked elephant who wore a red blanket with a red shield– He is mentioned as the bravest elephant in the army by Marcus Porcius Cato, the elder in his book Origines. Aimee Jean LaFon adds - A line in Pliny’s Historia Naturalis mentions Surus, stating that “Cato, in his Annals, while he [had] passed over in silence the names of the generals, [had] given that of an elephant called Surus, which fought with the greatest valour in the Carthaginian army, and had lost one of its tusks. Since Hannibal was eventually blinded in his infected eye, he rode his one-tusked elephant into battle for fifteen more years until Romans captured Surus at the battle of Zama in 202 BCE. Once captured, the Romans gave Surus an honorable discharge, and he lived out his remaining years pastured at an estate outside of Rome.

References
The Elephant of Surprise: An Appraisal of Surus the Military Elephant - Aimee Jean LaFon,
Claude Bonard: When Dali's elephant stayed in Meyrin
Surus, un éléphanteau à Meyrin (1967) - Archives de la commune de Meyrin, 2016
Of Salvador Dali, Air India and Ashtrays – Reema Gehi – Parsi Khabar
You can see the video of Dali and the Surus arrival here

Trivia

African elephants have rounded heads, while Asian elephants have a twin-domed head, which means there's a divot line running up the head? African elephants have much larger ears, shaped a little like the continent of Africa. Asian elephants’ ears are smaller and more semi-circular. The African elephant is the larger of the two elephants, with bulls growing up to 4 meters tall. By contrast, the biggest Asian males reach no more than 3.5 meters. One interesting note on elephant height – the African elephant is tallest at the shoulder, while the Asian elephant’s tallest point is its back. Both male and female African elephants can have tusks, but only male Asian elephants have larger tusks. An African elephant’s trunk has more visible rings on it, and is not as hard to the touch as the Asian elephant's trunk. The end of their trunks is also very different – the African elephant trunk has two distinct ‘fingers’ that they use to pick up and manipulate objects. The Asian elephant has only one ‘finger’ at the end of its trunk, which they compensate for by holding objects against the underside of its trunk. An African elephant’s lower lips are short and round, whereas Asian elephants have long, tapered lower lips. The African elephants’ skin is more wrinkled than the Asian elephants’ smoother skin. African forest elephants: 5 toenails on the front feet and 4 on the back feet, African bush elephants: 4 toenails on the front feet and 3 on the back feet, Asian elephants: 5 toenails on the front feet and 4 on the back feet. African elephants tend to have more ribs than the Asian species, with up to 21 pairs of ribs vs the Asian elephant's average of 20 pairs of ribs. African elephants can live up to 70 years, and Asian elephants can live up to 48 years. (Courtesy Safaris Africana)

General Motors has developed a new autonomous re-configurable system with potential military applications using its fuel cell technology – It is the Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure or SURUS for short. GM envisions SURUS as a system serving the soldier, not unlike Surus served Hannibal!!

Tail note

Those interested in elephants should not miss watching the lovely documentary - The elephant whisperer – an Oscar nominee. Kartiki & Priscilla Gonsalves and Garima tell you the story of Bomman and Bellie, a couple in Mudumalai, who devote their lives to caring for an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu.

 pics - thanks to Claude, Wikimedia 

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The Taj and the Elephant

Strange, you will mutter, reading the title. Well, I had been wondering about elephants in Istanbul after I had finished the research on the embassy of Tipu Sultan to the Rum in 1787. In that large effort, four elephants were sent along as gifts to the Ottoman Sultan, accompanied by a wasteful 700-person retinue. Continuing on with that story, I chanced on the marvelous book (The Architect's Apprentice) written by Elif Shafak, a fictional tale about an albino Indian elephant named Chota in the Ottoman stables and the story of its young Indian mahout Jahan. That book takes you from India to Istanbul and back finally to the Taj Mahal and well, this touches on two of the aspects around whom Shafak, whom I admire greatly, wove her delightful caper. More as we go along, but if you have not, please do pick up the book and give it a read, you will not regret it. Following all that, I visited the elephant stables at Guruvayur with our little granddaughter a couple of months ago and regaled her with the sight of many elephants being tended to. That was indeed a marvelous sight, that too, seeing them up and close.

Shafak mentions that it was a palace painting showing an elephant behind the Ottoman Sultan, which set her mind to the tale. Commencing with Chota’s arrival in Istanbul sometime in the second half of the 16th century, the evocative novel takes you through medieval Istanbul, educating you on the palace intrigues, the scheming of the eunuchs, and Jahan’s collaboration with one of the world’s greatest architects – Mimar Sinan. For me, it struck many chords, simply because I had spent over 5 years in that magnificent city and could follow Shafak through the streets and buildings of erstwhile Constantinople, feel the smells and sounds she wrote about, just like I was right there. I still think often about Istanbul, and in our home, I have two large panoramas of the city, which I look at every time I pass them. Readers, please take note, that this is not a book review, but some aspects of connected history.

In the medieval period, when ships became the camels of the ocean, large objects could thence be moved from place to place. As traders and colonizers came across the elephant in India, an animal that had been a source of amazement since Alexander’s battles with Porus, the desire to take one back to the West became paramount. The indenter of the elephant, usually a king or a sovereign, could now boast of something unique and boast of not only his long reach across the universe but also the extent of his power and wealth with this new ‘larger than life’ acquisition. Many elephants were thus moved across the oceans, and the Indian elephant was perfectly suited for it, as it was the most docile of the lot. Tragically many of them died in transit or soon after they arrived, mainly due to the lack of good attention, bad weather, and wrong diet, as we saw in the case of Suleiman and Hanno. In the initial dispatches, mahouts were also sent with the elephants, but I guess many of them suffered from the same amount of homesickness and perished quickly in foreign lands.

As we read over many articles, the monsoon trade connected India’s south, especially Calicut and Cochin with many Red Sea ports. Egypt became an epicenter for imports, with the establishment of the Mamluk sultanate. Later, when the Ottomans conquered it in 1517, the reins of the Indian spice trade moved to Turkish masters. The Egyptian government was now headed by bureaucratic officials sent from Constantinople and supported by Ottoman troops, though the Mamluks continued to rule as the powerful emirs under them.

Trade with Malabar did not suffer and continued, with the marked regularity of the monsoons. Goods arrived at Egypt after being initially unloaded at Red Sea ports and branched either towards the spice bazaars of Istanbul or Westwards to Venetian ports for disbursement into Europe. To get to the finer details, one may peruse this study of mine covering the final years of the Mamluk era. (See link). There were powerful forces vying to wrest this trade away from the Arabs and so, Western interlopers from Spain and Portugal, as also from Easterly China, were viewing the scene with keen eyes. Spices, textiles, and gems traveled westwards, while horses moved East to buyers in the Sultanates of Deccan as well as the Mughals. Space in the small dhows which traversed these oceans was always at a premium and therefore only prized animals found occasional charter. Transporting elephants was particularly difficult as they needed huge amounts of food and water to be carried along during the voyage, and this took away cargo and crew space. They could as you can now understand, only be afforded by very rich buyers, typically sovereigns.

The first notices of Elephants in Turkey, date way back to the 6th century at Cappadocia and at Constantinople (Pre Ottoman-Istanbul) as well as the menageries at Fustat in Cairo during the 9th century. Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX paraded an elephant during the 11th. These reached their new destinations via Egyptian emirs, as gifts. There were several elephant stables in Byzantine Constantinople, from which the animals were brought to the Ottoman court, on special occasions. Several of these stables were converted into mosques after the Muslims finally captured the city in 1453.

After the 1517 sack of Egypt, the Ottoman capital of Constantinople got itself directly linked to the Indian Ocean trade. Tigers, monkeys, rhinos, birds, and of course elephants were in demand, especially for the menageries in Constantinople. These menageries were located near the great Topkapi palace and curiously, within an ancient church, the St Johns Church near the Hippodrome. Pierre Belon du Mans a visitor, mentions that larger animals were located within the palace grounds. It seems reasonable to assume that a mahout (elephant handler) accompanied elephants on their journey from the subcontinent and then remained in Istanbul for at least some time to care for the creatures. There is, moreover, some evidence suggesting that elephant handlers were in demand in Istanbul since Ottoman authorities occasionally sought them out and paid for their travel to and maintenance in the city. The gifting of elephants continued as a diplomatic practice in South Asia and as a sign of power and prestige. Mentions continue through the 16th century of elephants heralding battles and gracing palaces. 16th century Istanbul exhibited two skilled elephants, the sight of which was recorded by European envoys. By the 18th century, there was always at least one elephant in the royal stables and large budgets were allocated for its upkeep as well as its mahout. By all accounts, being a mahout accorded meant a comfortable life, and by 1742, there were as many as fourteen men tending to a single elephant.

But we now zoom to one of the two elephants possessed by Sultan Suleyman. He used them for his 1521 campaign, and we can also see mentions where these elephants accompanied his army in the 1526 campaigns. Kemalpasazade mentions them walking like graceful clouds before the Sultan as he marched out of the city on 23 April 1526, and so do Bragaddin and Luigi Bassano.

Melchior Lorck was one such artist who did many sketches of Istanbul. N Westbrook writing about Lorck’s panorama explains - The artist Lorcks, who departed the city in 1559, traveled widely, and spent his time in Istanbul making many drawings that recorded Ottoman costumes, customs, and monuments—an elephant and its driver, a funeral procession, women of a harem, and others depicting building structures. It is not known whether he was commissioned by the sultan to make his portrait, but there are several engravings of the Sultan based, presumably, on drawings he made in Istanbul, and which Melchior Lorck included in his book of views of the city. Lorck did in his portraits of Suleiman, while his panorama of the city of Constantinople, was more than 11 meters long. He is also recorded as having painted twelve portraits of the Sultan, though they were later destroyed in a fire.

Marina Warner reviewing a Lorch book (A view of a view) states - Lorck had a brief audience with the sultan, which he re-created afterward in two different prints, both extraordinarily impressive, revealing his underused capacity for psychological insight: a head and shoulders portrait, and a full-length figure positioned in front of the Suleimaniye mosque, completed in 1557 (Lorck was in Istanbul for its opening). In the full-length portrait, Suleiman is standing with his right hand extended in a gesture that admonishes all those who are present to remain alert; everything about him is grave, and imposing; he appears to be 12 feet tall, erect and majestic, with a curved sword reaching down to the floor, his frame flowing with gleaming silk, dwarfing an elephant which is entering the palace through the archway behind him. The painted version, which Lorck sent to the emperor Maximilian II, seems to have vanished.

The engraving of Suleyman II, (the Sultan shown standing, with an elephant with the Süleymaniye mosque in the background, a print of 1574, thought to be based upon a drawing of 1559), was again altered in 1688 to represent Ibrahim I. This above painting, which you can see above is the one that Shafak Elif observed. She explains - Inside the book - Gülru Necipoğlu’s - The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire, one particular drawing caught my eye: it was a painting of Sultan Suleiman, tall and sleek in his kaftan. But it was the figures in the background that intrigued me. There was an elephant and a mahout in front of the Suleimaniye Mosque; they were hovering on the edge of the picture, as if ready to run away, unsure as to what they were doing in the same frame as the Sultan and the monument dedicated to him. I could not take my eyes off this image. The story had found me.

So much for the elephant, and though I could gather nothing about its antecedents, I would assume that like many who preceded them and many after, they too had been captured near Nelliyampathy or the Anamalai forests near Palghat, and shipped through a port in Malabar, usually Calicut or Ponnani.

Now we come to the second part which deals with the fictional involvement of Jehan and his dome-building skills being put to test in building the greatest edifice at Agra, the Taj Mahal. But let us see what that story is about. I won’t spill the beans on what Jehan did in the fictional account, but he arrived at Agra in 1632. The draftsman in charge of construction Mir Abdul Karim takes him in, after seeing the seal of Mimar Sinan the great, with Jahan (Mimar Sinan- The son of Greek or Armenian Christian parents, Sinan entered his father’s trade as a stone mason and carpenter and rose to become the most celebrated of all Ottoman architects, whose ideas, perfected in the construction of mosques and other buildings, served as the basic themes for virtually all later Turkish religious and civic architecture) takes him in. Jahan Khan Rumi is then appointed by Shajahan to contribute to the building of the Taj Mahal. Jahan invites his favorite student Isa and they set about designing the magnificent edifice and what the Turkish craftsmen were in those days famous for, building the dome. If only, the story is as pat as Shafak puts it, though the Taj part of the book is hurried through with an aging Jehan, becoming a family man.

In reality, the architecture of the Taj Mahal is still a hotly contested topic. For such a prominent monument, there are no clear records of its architect, and the general conjuncture is that it was the effort of a huge team (1,000 - 20,000) that worked for 10-22 years from 1632 AD, on land/structure purchased from Raja Jai Singh, with even the emperor Shahjahan contributing to its design.

Arguments fly, not without sparks, from some who say that it was a temple complex retrofitted into a mausoleum, with others contesting it stating that the Taj looks like no other temple, while some experts chime in saying it cannot be a retrofit (old structure re-laid with marble, with a single door and decorative minarets around) as there are no clear clues of an earlier construction in the design or in its structure. Then there are comments that the dome is based on the Lotus canopy (bulbous dome) - an old temple concept, and that this dome is unlike any Turkish mosque dome (true, it does look more like most Samarkand domes), especially Mimar Sinan’s Blue Mosque.

P. N. Oak in his book "The Taj Mahal is a Temple Palace” opines that it was originally a temple in the 12th century AD, which fell to Rajput kings during the period of Humayun and was later used as a palace by Raja Man Singh of Jaipur. This according to him, was then commandeered by Shahjahan from Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur and converted into a mausoleum. Proponents of this thinking add further that it does not accurately align (off by 15 degrees) to Mecca, as most Muslim monuments do. Then there is the Aurangzeb letter of 1652 which records that the master architects had no solution to dome leaks, suggesting they were washing their hands off something they had nothing to do with, in the first place. Yet others state that Samarkand domes were in the first place, actually built in the lotus style by Buddhist architects taken as prisoners by Timur, the lame. Nevertheless, neither side present clinching arguments or evidence.

After some pottering about, trying to get to the bottom of this, I realized that I would find no clear answer and that the surviving legends had taken deep root. Strange also is the fact that the Mughal court had so many European emissaries and none recorded details of this massive construction effort – barring a few sparse mentions by Peter Mundy the EIC man in town, Tavernier, the French gem trader, F Bernier, and also Thevenot, thereby raising questions as to whether it was a 1,000-person effort spanning 10 years or a 20,000-person effort spanning all of 20 years. The deeper one went, the more the questions he ended up with, suggesting that the real truth may be somewhere in the grey zone.

Two names however stand out to support the traditional argument that it was built from scratch on Hari Singh’s land – Ustad Isa (Discounting names such as the Italian Geronimo Veroneo, the Frenchman Bordeaux, and Persian Ali Mardan) and Ustad Ahmad Lahori. There are even mentions of Shahjahan having drawn up the design, but then again, in those days like in the case of some musical compositions, the credit for a building's design also went usually to its patron, rather than its architects.

There are draftsmen, masons, goldsmiths, and so on named in palace accounts, and Prof Nath in his books, provides details. For example, there are - Mukrimat Khan and Mir Abdul Karim from Shiraz, chief supervisors and administrators, Ismail Effendi (Ismail Khan Rumi) who had worked for the great Ottomans in Turkey as a designer and builder of the dome, Mohammed Hanif, Chief mason as well as other master masons from Iran, Central Asia and India. The list goes on, naming many artisans and craftsmen, but nobody as a chief designer. The world heritage monument register # 252, Oct 15, 1982 states - The monument, begun in 1632, was finished in 1648; unverified but nonetheless, tenacious, legends attribute its construction to an international team of several thousands of masons, marble-workers, mosaicists, and decorators working under the orders of the architect of the emperor, Ustad Ahmed Lahori.

There were mentions, from no lesser an authority than James Fergusson (supported by Dr Burgess) that Ali Mardan, the Persian refugee was the designer of the Taj Mahal, perhaps based on the similarity between the Shalimar Gardens and the Taj’s Garden. This never found any acceptance among Taj historians. Those in support of Ustad Isa’s name believed the British explanation, which is considered flawed. One Carlo Basil suggested that Ustad Isa was actually Geronimo Veroneo! This was echoed by Rev Heras and Vincent Smith, but contemporary writers also failed to support the theory of a European designer. As it turned out, Ustad Isa Khan was a draftsman in the team, not a mimar.

Sometime in 1930, a work in Farsi, named Diwan I Muhandis was discovered by a scholar in Bangalore, a work penned by Lutfullah Muhandis which went on to mention that one Ustad Ahmad Lahori from Lahore designed both the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. The record which also praised Dara Shikoh (Shahjahan’s son and Aurangzeb’s enemy) was held in secret as Lutfullah was his follower. Fearing retribution from Aurangzeb the family went into hiding and died in penury, survived only by the book. It turns out that Lutfullah was Ustad Ahmad Lahori’s son and he states in the book that his father was the king’s chief architect who built the Mumtaz Mahal mausoleum and the Delhi fort. This was formally presented in a paper by Dr. Nadvi and has been accepted as fact by most historians.

Fergusson, the pioneer in the field of Indian archaeology and an authoritative historian makes this brief but startling remark about the Taj Mahal, "When used as a Baradhari, or pleasure palace, it must always have been the coolest and loveliest of garden retreats, and now that it is sacred to the dead it is the most graceful and the most impressive of the sepulchers of the world" making it clear that he too had doubts about its origins.

Prof R Nath is steadfast in his works that there may not have been any chief architect (other than perhaps Ustad Isa), and decries the naming of Lahori, stating that a verse of a son praising his father’s work, in a private diary cannot be considered factual, without additional corroborating evidence.

But it should be noted that construction work in the Mughal dynasty was usually executed under the supervision of a senior mimar. The term normally denoted a mason but was also used for the chief of works or its supervisor. Ustad Ahmad and Ustad Hamid, were both expert mimars, so one or both of them may have been in charge.  

A rather pessimistic Robert Chisholm had this to say in a 1910 paper - In regard to its architectural merits, buildings can be found in India surpassing it (The Taj Mahal) in every direction: thus, for size and boldness of construction, the Taj falls far below the Gol Gombez at Bijapur. In his paper he details at length the various architectural flaws and explains - It is as if the man with the idea (the so-called chief architect) had been allowed to experiment with white marble in Shahjahan's time on Humayun's tomb, and that while he worked, the idea of the Taj grew and became perfected; that he worked only on those features which he intended the Taj to possess - the great dome and the facade. That a successor, knowing Humayun's tomb to be his source of inspiration, but not understanding the principle on which his predecessor worked, constructed the four smaller domes and the lighthouse-looking minarets at the angles of their platform after the man with the idea left.

It will certainly be a never-ending effort to determine if it was once a temple, just a Baradhari, or built as a sepulcher, but we do know it turned out to be a lovely building, and certainly each argument has its merits and demerits allowing us to reach no firm conclusion. For now, we can conclude that it was a mammoth effort that took many years and many men to complete, and the result is as we all agree, a lovely edifice, and one which we are all proud of, irrespective of who designed it.

References

The Architect's Apprentice - Shafak, Elif
Islamic Culture, Vol 48, 1974 - Ustad Ahmad Lahori – H I S Kanwar
Eastern world, Jan 1958 - Designer of the Taj – H I S (Hari Inder Singh) Kanwar
The Taj Mahal and its incarnation – Dr R Nath
Taj Mahal – An illuminated Tomb – Begley & Desai plus review/ rejoinder by Dr Nath
The Taj Mahal, Agra, and its relations to Indian architecture - Robert F. Chisholm
The Myth of the Taj Mahal and a New Theory of Its Symbolic Meaning - Wayne E. Begley
The Question of the Taj Mahal - P. S. Bhat and A. L. Athawale
Constructing Melchior Lorichs's Panorama of Constantinople - Nigel Westbrook, Kenneth Rainsbury Dark and Rene van Meeuwen
The Animal in Ottoman Egypt by Alan Mikhail

Also read – Maddy’s Ramblings, Historic alleys

A Pope and an Elephant

Tipu’s delegation to Istanbul 

 

 

 

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The story of Sabu, the elephant boy

Sabu Selar’s trip from Mysore to Hollywood

Some months ago, I saw the latest version of the Jungle book film in IMAX 3D hoping it will be a great experience, and came away with the conclusion that I liked the 1967 Disney cartoon film better. But if you have watched ‘Jungle Book’ an even older non animated version, you’d have seen an Indian boy acting as Mowgli. Americans of the 40’s and 50’s would recall him, but hardly any of you would have come across this name in India. For a long time he was a popular actor, India’s cultural ambassador in Hollywood, the first and perhaps only Indian to figure in the Hollywood walk of fame. That was Sabu, the person enacting Mowgli in ‘Jungle book’ and as Sabu in the film ‘Elephant boy’. He hobnobbed with nobility, was President Reagan’s friend and for a while a very well to do actor in Hollywood. The story of the boy’s travel from the jungles of Mysore to Hollywood, his exploits as an American turret gunner during WWII are all legends that will remain in American minds for a long time. He is the subject of books, movies, numerous articles and even a doctoral thesis. I had mentioned him in my Elephantine caper story where I had mentioned that Senator Don Kennard was called Sabu, the elephant boy in jest. 

Don’t you think it is time to get to know this interesting character?

A number of mature Indian actors ventured into Hollywood after him, Om Puri, Nasiruddin Shah, Saeed Jaffrey, Kabir Bedi, Irfaan Khan and so on, but the story of Sabu started right at his childhood. It was a time for extravaganzas and the lure of the orient was just getting its due exposure in the Americas. Silent movies of the 20’s were making waves in Europe, WW1 erupted, but filming continued as usual in Hollywood and soon, the era of regular motion pictures with sound a.k.a ‘talkies’ had started becoming popular. Color in movies were just about to make a splash. There is a curious story as to why artistes and filmmakers flocked to Hollywood and it involves Edison. Edison, brilliant man that he was, was also one who liked to protect his turf and used the legal process as much as possible to benefit him and his business. On one side he was having his tussles with the father of alternating current transmission systems – the brilliant Nikola Tesla while on the other he was fighting with filmmakers arguing over his motion picture patents. To escape Edison’s legal forays, many filmmakers moved to the tinsel town in California where those patents could not be enforced.

And it was into this showbiz world that the little boy from Mysore arrived, as a representative of his exotic Eastern land. The western press then went on to showcase a rags to riches route which the little boy undertook and his pursuit of the American dream. And as you can guess, the root cause of Sabu’s good fortune was Rudyard Kipling and his jungle book stories. One story in the Kipling collection was ‘Toomai of the Elephants’. Kipling, if you did not know, was introduced to the elephant by his father Lockwood who was fascinated by the animal in India and wrote about it. Now there was a naturalist who worked in the Mysore irrigation department named George Sanderson and his novel efforts at catching numerous elephants fetched him the nickname Elephant King (Sanderson’s book covers his trips to Malabar). This was the character named Peterson around whom Kipling wrote his Toomai story.

Anyway Toomai, the mahout’s son is a boy attached to his elephant (strangely called Kala Nag) and this was the story which Flaherty the film maker wanted to showcase (whose rights were later purchased by Kroda) for America. He wanted to make the film ‘Elephant Boy’, tracing the story of a little boy and his big animal friend. To do this he collaborated with Alexander Kroda and set out in 1935 to commence filming in India. Within a year they had spent a colossal amount and completed the movie, though not quite to Flaherty’s satisfaction. But let us get back to Sabu.

Flaherty was clear about one thing, he did not want an established actor for the film, so he asked his photographers to keep an eye out for young boys especially one who was around 14 years old, with personality and character in his face and one who knew his way around elephants. The requirements were advertised by the Times of India and the film makers even checked out some aspirants in Malabar (alas! No Kerala firsts here, seems they looked too thin and weary). The Mysore maharaja Wodeyar offered one of his palaces, the Chittaranjan Mahal and his elephants for the filming. It was in these stables that Borradale, Flaherty’s cinematographer spotted the alert, smiling, strong and forthright little boy among the elephants. From one story, it appears Sabu had come to Mysore to collect his late father’s 30 cents pension from the Maharaja’s office, but from another he was caught hiding from the casting interviews. It appears that his uncle or head stable keeper kicked him out from his hiding place and into Kroda’s sight!

July 1935 - The 10 year old Sabu was auditioned together with three others over a period of time and soon it became clear that he was the potential actor. Sabu was relatively assertive, free in front of the camera and a natural. The Times of India promptly proclaimed him a rival to the reigning child star, Shirley Temple. The filming progressed quickly but the two makers Flaherty and Kroda kept fighting over its direction methods, the former who wanted to enhance the poignant relationship between the boy and the animal shown on screen, while the latter Kroda wanted to stick to Kipling’s story. The other parts were shot in Britain with British actors interspersed with the Indian footage, somewhat crudely, to today’s standards. As you can imagine, Flaherty’s Indian shots stood out compared to Zoltan’s (Kroda’s brother) work from Denham. Anyway the movie was released, was a success though not a money spinner for the producers and won a few awards. Sabu got noticed and became a member of Kroda’s human stable. He was a star and settled down to live in Britain…

Reviews were good – One states, First performance honors go to Sabu, the Indian stripling who brings to the part of Toomai a childish simplicity and directness which are strongly convincing. His work should be viewed a dozen times by child prodigies of Hollywood and by Hollywood producers who debauch juvenile talents with an eye to the box-office.

Soon Sabu-ware was launched, like elephant teapots and he went on to lend his face and body to various advertisements and dug in to even more filming in Britain, mainly animal based movies while also obliging zoos and cultural events, riding the obligatory elephant. This was the period when the west, as they said, went on to civilize this native boy rescued from the jungles and taught him new tricks – his passage from loin cloth to suits and luxury!

Born Selar Sheikh to Sheikh Ibrahim (and an Assamese mother) from Mysore, he was brought up in the Kanakpura jungles initially by his father after his mother died. Later it appears his uncle Hussain became his guardian when his father died as Sabu turned three. When Sabu left India, he was accompanied by his older brother Sheikh Dastagir a taxi driver, who served as his guardian and two others from Mysore. Kroda seeing the potential, insured the boy’s life for £50,000. It was clarified (Philip Liebfried) that a British Customs officer wrongly recorded his name as Sabu Dastagir perhaps borrowing the name of his brother as his last name.

Can you believe it, a Times story even went on to add further ridicule by stating that he was named Sabu after the Hindi word for Soap, signifying that the British tried to make him an acceptable western product after washing the dark boy with white soap. But he moved in style, when formally presented at occasions, he was dressed as a maharajah or a prince (sometimes bare chested) at times in an opulent sherwani and a red turban, leather shoes and a whip! In 1937 he was even presented a midget car (as it was one of his ambitions to drive). He was enrolled in a prestigious school in Middlesex where he went on to become a popular student, a favorite of the teachers and excelled in tennis and football. He was homesick of course, once writing to the Mysore stable keeper, asking how Ayrawatha the elephant (the one used for filming) was faring.

Kroda released a number of Technicolor movies set around oriental themes and Sabu starred in some of these new and unusual releases where his skin tone was a notable asset. He had become a star by now and made a lot of money for his producers, He kept his physique well-toned physique and his skin clear, and to top it, his long hair and charming smile were considered his greatest assets. The ‘Thief of Baghdad’ a film which followed had Sabu cast as Abu, and this filming took him to Hollywood.

By 1942, Sabu had moved to Hollywood under a contract for Universal studios and was part of a number of not so great movies, but ones that showed off mostly his half naked physique. Film roles were written for him, big names feted him and by the age of 17, he was leading the glamorous, fast life of a regular Hollywood star. The Jungle Book was then completed in 1942. But with the world at war, Sabu had decided to settle down in the US and try to become a U. S. Citizen. But the path was not easy.

In September 1943, at the age of nineteen, Sabu enlisted (his brother did too, a little later after sorting out some of Sabu’s financial issues ) in the U. S. Army Air Force mainly because of immigration requirements which would have otherwise made him ineligible as a non-white to apply for US citizenship. After training in California, he became a heavy bomber gunner. Being one of smaller build, he was placed to man a B24’s nose turret gun. He was deployed to the Pacific theater to join the 307th Bomb Group, a.k.a. the Long Rangers who saw action all over the Pacific theater and the Far East, operating in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, Philippines and in the defense of China.

Sabu flew forty two combat missions (425 combat hours) in the dangerous position of ball-turret gunner, and when he was discharged in 1945 he was the proud recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross (sinking six Jap freighters), four battle stars, three Oak Leaf Clusters, Philippines liberation ribbon, The American Campaign Medal, and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal. As they reported, the sky was his jungle, the B24 was his pachyderm, the Japanese were his game and the hunting was good. By all accounts, he did well and was naturalized in Jan 1944.

At the time of his leaving the air force he had been a resident of the United States for five years and had served two of those years in the armed services. He then graced the face of an American stamp and supported the war cause by selling war bonds travelling through 25 cities with a baby elephant, and parading his celebrity status. When asked whether he was either Indian or American in a Hollywood press conference in 1944, just days after returning to the United States from WWII, Sabu’s reply was, “I’m from India, but I’m American, of course. It sure is good to be home.” Sabu's favorite movie actors were Mickey Mouse, Freddie Bartholomew, Charlie Chaplin, Shirley Temple and Carole Lombard.

During the ‘Songs of India’ shooting in 1948, he met Marilyn cooper and they were soon married. Two children were born, Paul and Jasmine. Sabu continued to work in Hollywood, but the public’s appetite for eastern themes were waning. Though the 1950’s showcased many animal and orient themed movies, nothing distinguished Sabu as an actor.

His later period in America proved to be somewhat sedate. Initially he dabbled in real estate, building apartments and homes in LA’s San Fernando Valley. But misfortunes followed one after another, first a robbery and arson attack on his home in 1950, during a widely reported court case in England when a ballet dancer Brenda Marian Julier Ernest sued him in a paternity suit which was eventually settled. In addition to all this, insurance companies sued him for causing fires to his own home, which he contested on the basis that he and his wife were never at home when it happened. Subsequently, this ended with the conviction of one Andre Prez, upon his own confession. Then came the shooting, at the furniture store in Van Nuys which he and his brother managed, where his brother was killed by an 18 year old James Shields. Shields admitted that he tried to rob the recently divorced Dastagir of the money bundles he carried and in the scuffle shot him, a tragedy Sabu took a long time to come out of.

When Hollywood’s “Walk of Fame” was inaugurated in 1960, Sabu was one of the first to receive a star on the famous boulevard alongside other Asian American actors including the Chinese American starlet, Anna May Wong, and the Japanese actor, Sessue Hayakawa. A large remainder of Sabu’s life was spent in Los Angeles playing eastern sidekick roles onscreen while trying to project a rich and fancy American life off screen. His fascination for cars made him an owner of a rare Ferrari built 340 MM Vignale Spider which can be tracked even today, passing hands for many millions. African American musician JR Redd a.k.a. Korla Pandit was a high profile friend of his.

His Muslim identity was quite important to him, and he was quite miffed being termed a Hindu by the Hollywood press. Columnist Louells Parsons took it upon herself to correct the record in 1940: Sabu, the dark-skinned Mohammedan boy, yes, he is a Mohammedan and not a Hindu—who has been with us every day, has grown into our hearts on this personal appearance tour. He is a darling and the only thing that irks him is to be called a Hindu. He looked so grave about it and so sad, I asked his tutor Austin Menzies, why Sabu disliked being called a Hindu – “he is afraid”, said the tutor, “that they will tear him limb from limb when he goes back to India, for there is a great rivalry between the Mohammedans and Hindus”.  She continues "You speak English so much better now than you did when I first met you," I told him. "Yes," he smiled, "I studied very hard when I made 'Elephant Boy for Mr. Korda. I learned the words, but I didn't know what they meant. Each day I spoke English the way they told me how to say each sentence. It was very funny, so different from my native tongue." Everything Sabu does he does well even to composing a charming Indian song (Democrat and Chronicle Oct 20, 1940).

Such was the situation post-independence.

When Mother India was to be shot as a film in India, Director Mehboob Khan wanted to cast Sabu as Birju. In fact the movie was to be a bilingual and titled ‘This land is mine’. However, Sabu, who had become an American citizen, failed to get a work permit from India (there is even a dubious mention that he claimed Pakistan as his motherland, was he miffed or was that the reason?) and the role went to Sunil Dutt. Seems Mehboob Khan put him up at Bombay's Ambassador Hotel, a posh hotel, paying him Rs 5,000 a month, an astronomical sum those days.

In 1953, Sabu eventually came back to visit India, and filmed at Chalakkudi in Kerala for the film Sauda with Sashikala. The press ravaged the ‘American returned clown’ who was his ‘master’s boy, ‘a pet of the west’ riding about Chembur in his imported American car. Later, his off screen romances with Shashikala and Nimmi were splashed on tabloids. The movie Sauda was in the end, shelved. All reporting about him in India during his time in Hollywood can be seen as uncharitable, mainly frustration about the poor depiction of the eastern cultures in films. 

Caliph’s FilmIndia review stated - As for acting, there is nothing much to write home about. Sabu, who plays the title role, throughout wears a loin-cloth which is something unheard of and unseen in any part of Arabia. As the thief, looks as ugly as ever, it could not be an accident that the only Indian actor tolerated in Western films should be a dark-skinned South Indian stable boy, but acts with a certain amount of boyish vivacity.

Later on his marriage - Sabu hails from Mysore and plays roles to feed the Yankee notion of Indians being elephant boys, tiger hunters or snake charmers. His marriage makes Sabu an American citizen now. Let us hope some more stable lads cross the Atlantic. We have so many of them here.

Another report said- At the International Dance Festival held in New York. Ram Gopal with his ballet of talented girls gave performances which gave the Yankees a peep into our art of classical dancing. After all they are not all Sabus in India, eh, Sam!

His death in 1963, a fortnight after Kennedy’s assassination (or according to one news report - at the restaurant he was managing and running in Los Angeles) was sudden. He died of a heart attack aged just 39 and shortly after completing his first Disney film (A Tiger Walks). He was buried in Hollywood's famous Forest Lawn cemetery. He was always a very visible character and sported his signature turban for occasions, so much so that even his death announcements mentioned ‘elephant boy dies’.

Philip Libfried said it fittingly – No actor ever enjoyed a role more than Sabu did his in The Thief of Bagdad, and his enjoyment is infectious. In truth, he was a youth, living a fantasy and knew it, so he reacted, rather than acted. Though the young Indian boy who charmed his way around the world is gone, his film legacy keeps him alive, proof that "All things are possible when seen through the eyes of youth."

Marilyn Cooper his wife, passed away in 2009. Jasmine Sabu became a writer and trainer of Arabian hybrid horses, and passed away in 2001.Paul Sabu who started as a recording engineer now heads a very successful rock band and is an Emmy-Winning Singer/Songwriter, Producer & Guitarist.

References

Sabu – Michael Lawrence

Kipling, Sabu, and Goldie Hawn: Reflections on Elephant Boy, a Forgotten Film of Robert Flaherty’s - Paul Hockings

India in Britain – Sushila Nasta (Civilizing Sabu of India)

Sabu - Philip Leibfried (Films in Review - October 1989) 

Jungle Boys, Babus and Camp Orientals- The Liminal Personae of the Film Star Sabu (Thesis) - Jyoti Argadé

Moving Images: India on British Screens, 1917-1947 (Thesis) - Jacqueline Audrey Gold

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An Elephantine Caper

Shanti LBJ - the little big Jumbo

When a few American politicians and bureaucrats, especially the kind who like practical jokes, bored with the goings on in Capitol Hill, get together, what would you think could happen? This is such a story, an incredible one and as I often think about it and smile, I wonder if the offices of Hilary Clinton or Bernie Sanders could ever be home to such mirth. The 60’s was according to Senator Jim Wright, a time when politics was fun. As he put it, in the heady days of the New Frontier and the Great Society, before the Vietnam War split the country into angry camps, political practitioners enjoyed their trade.

The date was the 27^th of Dec 1963, and Texas state senator and democrat Don Kennard of Fort Worth was on his way to a pre New Year party in Athens, TX. Kennard later famed for his herculean filibuster efforts, was one of the most vibrant senators of his time, a bear of a man who enjoyed a good story and always one who possessed a hearty laugh (Paul Burka – Texas times). To set a timeline, JFK had been assassinated a month ago and LBJ had taken over.

As Kennard was leaving his home, his phone rang and the man who announced himself at the other end of the line, a gruff sounding official from the US customs service was curt “Sir, I just got a message from our San Francisco office. They are holding an elephant for you out there, addressed to you, COD. I need to find out how you want to handle it.”

Spluttering and dumbfounded in parts, Kennard, a booming Texas man could only exclaim “An Elephant? For me?”

“Yessir,” the customs man continued, “sent on a collect basis, shipped from someplace by air…yeah, from Cambodia, by airfreight. The freight charges due from you are $1,400.00.”

Kennard was alarmed, for he was never one who had money left over in his accounts. “Fourteen hundred you said?”

“Yeah, not to mention the $38 per day custodial charge during the two weeks we have to keep it in quarantine”, continued the customs man.

“Who in the dickens sent the elephant to me? Was it a man named Newbold?” Asked Kennard.

“Message don’t say” muttered the customs man.

The stunned Kennard weaseled out, stating that he would get back in a day or two, after his return from East Texas. In any case the elephant was in quarantine.

For those who are politically savvy, this might be a bit of a surprise for Kennard was never one to be caught short of words. You see, Kennard is often remembered for his 29-hour, 22-minute filibuster to gain a four-year status for the University of Texas at Arlington. Compare that with the oft mentioned 8 hour speech of Krishna Menon and you will note the magnitude of the speaking effort.

Now as many of you will surmise, the story has something to do with a Newbold. Who on earth could

it be, you’d think and assume correctly that for him to be capable of this, Newbold must be an interesting person. Well, you see, Bill Newbold, a reporter and a onetime TV news anchor for WBAP-TV, was at that time working for the US information agency in Cambodia. He was a good friend of Marshall Lynam, the man who documented this story. Senator Jim Wright was the Democratic U.S. Congressman from Texas who served 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the Speaker of the House from 1987 to 1989 was on the other hand, planning mischief. Wright had just witnessed death, riding in the motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Lynman worked for Wright and was his chief of staff. All large hearted Texans, Fort Worth natives, and believe me, there are more to come.

We flashback to a party held some months ago. Bill, a stocky blond Texan, as you can imagine, usually held his audience spellbound with his tales from the East and now he was in a party extolling the flora and fauna of that faraway country with Kennard and Lynam amongst others, listening.

“The little ocelots are beautiful, Newbold (quoting Wright) exclaimed. When I get back to Cambodia, I'm going to get a pair sent to the Fort Worth Zoo.

Ocelots! Kennard exploded in mock contempt. That's the trouble with Fort Worth! We think too small. Don't send mangy ocelots. Send elephants! Send something big enough to challenge our imagination!

I must remark here that Ocelots are not native to Cambodia, nor are Siberian tigers, as Lynam mentions in his version of the story. He goes on to say that Newbold had delivered a couple of Siberian tiger cubs to the Fort Worth zoo after that discussion. I believe that Newbold must have meant Asian Tigers.

Kennard had a reason to mention the elephant, for the Zoo’s principal attraction and the favorite among children, a Burmese elephant named Penny had died a couple of years ago. She had been named Penny after a Star-telegram newspaper campaign where people donated a penny apiece. After 20 years of boredom at the zoo, entertaining long streams of visitors, she became somewhat violent and the zookeepers decided that she had to be put down. The stir crazy elephant was shot down with 5 shots from a high powered rifle, just like her predecessor Ruby was. The children of the area clamored for another and so an elephant was high on the local wish list. Cambodia was famed for its elephants, so why not get Newbold to cough up one? That was the idea that flashed through the crafty politician Kennard’s mind.

Wright, Curtis and Lynam made a note of this, but kept silent. Kennard kept pestering Newbold - at least a little elephant. Now a person who is picky is bound to ask, who is Curtis? Well Lawrence Curtis was the only non-politician in the bunch. He was the Fort Worth zoo director, having moved there from Dallas and a good friend of the politicians.

Lynam

Some days later, when Lynam met Wright, the latter came up with the idea of playing a practical joke on Kennard. He suggested that they trick Kennard with a cash on delivery elephant from Cambodia. The two friends had a hilarious time imagining Kennard’s expression when faced with the situation. But Lynam soon found out that his boss was quite serious. Wright added that it had to be done right, and that the delivery message will have to come from a credible source such as a friendly US Customs agent.

And that was how the unnamed customs agent called Kennard. The agent reported later to Wright that Kennard did appear to be shocked and at a loss of effectual speech. The rouge group snickered and giggled, and settled down to more pressing matters such as governing the US public, the gag having been played to perfection.

But they were not to know then that this little telephone prank would start an unstoppable circus of

events. The tricksters assumed that Kennard would call Newbold in Cambodia to check and tell him that he, Kennard had not meant to order a shipment of an elephant and pay it with $1,400 of his own money, only to get shocked to hear the retort from Newbold that he had done no such thing. Kennard, they were convinced, would be ridiculed by all and sundry for being the butt of such a silly joke.

Well, as you can imagine, matters did not quite turn out as expected. Kennard came back home,

collected his senses and called the customs man again, only to be assured that the pachyderm was anxiously waiting in the bay area pending instructions from its new master. In Fort Worth, Kennard spread the word around, as newspapers said, moaning in discomfort, but instead of being ridiculed, he found himself elevated to a hero status. His daughter was overjoyed to imagine that she would have a play pal of her size, and was wondering how it would be if she took the little elephant to her school. Curtis the Zoo director was overjoyed, he assumed that the Zoo would get to keep the little fella, and assured Kennard that he would take care of all the itty bitty details and even presented Kennard a book on caring for elephants, hoping that it would convince Kennard about the elephantine proportions - feeding an elephant would turn out to, thereby convincing him to move the animal to the zoo, which as you know needed one.

Anyway Kennard reveled in the role of a foster father for the elephant ‘child - to – come’. He imagined the massive opportunities the animal presented, the possibility of lots of TV time, public events and continued newspaper coverage. You see, for a professor, the need is to get published, for a politician the desire is to be in public view for the maximum time. He first decided to go to his friendly newspaper ‘the star-telegram’ with the news. The city desk man wanted to know who had sent the elephant. Kennard mentioned that it was perhaps Bill Newbold. The reporter called Cambodia, where things were however in turmoil.

Bill Newbold had been kicked out by the King Norodom Sihanouk who believed that the Americans were trying to overthrow his rule. Newbold was transferred by the state department to Hong Kong. The city reporter did not know all this and as he could not get Bill, got a hold of his father Charles who worked for the same newspaper, some floors below. Charles explained that his son was in limbo, moving to Hong Kong but his mother agreed that it was perfectly possible that her son sent across an elephant. After all, he had sent the tiger cubs some time ago!

Chester Bowles

Newspapers splashed the story on page one, announcing how the moaning senator found himself to be the owner of a 635 pound elephant shipped COD. Two days later, the newspaper continued headline coverage, stating that they had tried to trace the elephant in the US customs, only to find that it was not traceable. Meanwhile Kennard was getting exhausted with the thought that he had to pay all this money for an elephant. He was wondering how somebody could send an elephant COD! Curtis though looking forward to the gift, stressed that the zoo had no budgets to acquire elephants. Kennard also picked up the nickname Sabu, the elephant boy.

Senator Wright who had been keeping tabs on the story, was getting worried that Kennard might resort to a public fund collection (which Kennard actually did) drive with little school boys and girls donating their lunch money and all that, because he knew there was no elephant. It would become a dynamite of a political disaster and the fuse had already been lit. Curtis meanwhile reported to the press (falsely) that Jim wright had assured him about the elephant clearing customs and that the furry animal was enroute Fort Worth. The populace was expectant. The politicians who planned the prank on the other hand, were seen sporting hunched shoulders and gloomy countenances. But another shocker was to come, the reporter contacted the longshoremen’s union in San Francisco who emphatically stated that they had not unloaded any elephant at the wharfs. Confusion was rampant.

Jim Wright

A grim meeting took place between Lynam and Wright. Wright explained that he had not talked to Curtis and told Lynam that he now had an urgent errand to find an elephant, pronto. The aide had heard many requests, but never one to acquire an elephant, and Lynam in the end agreed to try.

Meanwhile the associated press got wind of the story of the senator who was gifted an elephant COD and the news spread countrywide. Phone calls poured in, including from republicans who as you know have the elephant as their party symbol. Kennard insisted that his was a democratic elephant, there was no chance he would give it to the republicans. Besieged with calls about the elephant, he started to redirect callers to check with Lawrence Curtis about the latest situation. Curtis by now suspected that something was amiss and shared his suspicion with Kennard.

The despondent Kennard had no choice but to agree. To tide over the situation, they took to utilizing delay tactics. Enlisting friends in the Zoo fraternity, reports of the imaginary elephant’s movement across the US on road from the west coast started to hit the airwaves. Yeah, it was here, the truck just left, yeah it passed by two days ago and so on.

In Washington, Lynam was frantically trying to find an elephant, and worrying about the ‘expenses to come’ in getting one, if they did find one. Finally in desperation, he called the Zoo superintendent, who suggested that Lynam contact the state department. Apparently he had heard some rumors that there was a Raja in India who was trying to gift a baby elephant to the Americans.

L Curtis

With that the story moved to the South of India, a location just a couple of miles away from my ancestral home in Pallavur, to Kollengode. The nearby Anamalai (elephant hill) forests were home to many elephants and as you can imagine, where there are elephants and ivory, there is always some amount of poaching, sad to say. A mother elephant had been trapped in an elephant trap and died. The little 10 week old baby elephant it left behind was adopted by the Kollengode Raja. The girls of the Venganad palace had named her Shanti (peace) and the elephant had a gala time playing with them, as the children took to feeding it milk with a baby bottle.

The elder raja living in Madras had other ideas, he wanted to gift this little animal to the children of the United States. He contacted Chester Bowles, the Ambassador who was not too keen. Bowles incidentally had been appointed Ambassador to India a second time in 1963 and he was a passionate advocate for stronger relations between the United States and India. So he could not offend this mild mannered Maharaja and offered to spread the word back in the states and see if somebody was interested. The state department staff who were in a pickle, so to say, wanted to offload this unnecessary baggage at the earliest.

Meanwhile Newbold had reached Hong Kong found that his new-found notoriety as a procurer of animals was the talk of the embassy. He was asked what he had actually done with the elephant, which had been shipped but had not reached its consignee. Newbold was flabbergasted. He wisely decided to stay under the radar.

Now, were the politicians Wright and Lynam interested in Bowles’s offer? Yes, of course they were interested. Godsend, was what they thought. They quickly got in touch with Bowles who happened to be a friend of Wright’s and he promised to speed up the arrangements as long as Wright worked out the approvals in the US. The bureaucratic wheels were spun faster and an approval was speedily obtained.

The story of course had a nice culmination, Wright called a news conference and explained the caper

(he even had a donkey named ‘meanwhile’ – the Democratic symbol or a symbol of a jackass - giftwrapped and delivered to Kennard) and the fact that though it had started as an innocent prank, it had worked out right and that an elephant named Shanti was on its way, really, this time, to Fort Worth, thanks to the Raja of Kollengode. The people took it with a lot of humor and goodwill, and the papers were enthralled with the breadth of the caper.

Newspapers worked overtime, the Baytown sun reported - LBJ are the Initials of New Elephant Owned by Senator. After providing a brief on the prank, the paper continued - But "instant elephant," Wright found, is one thing the American economy has yet to produce. So Wright sent Kennard the animal closest to his Democratic heart—a donkey. As Wright went on an elephant hunt, he arranged to ship the donkey to Kennard for presentation to the Fort Worth Zoo. The donkey was dubbed "Meanwhile," and Wright said the promised elephant would sport the LBJ initials with his name of "Little Big Jumbo."

Lawrence Curtis flew to India and motored down to Kollengode, to take delivery of the elephant which was sent by truck to Madras, then by a commercial airline to America. Wright and Kennard agreed to foot Curtis’s travel bill, but I do not yet know if it exceeded the $1,400 he would have otherwise spent for the COD. I did notice that there was some delay in making Shanti’s airfreight payment to American Airlines, and that some legal action was in the offing, but I believe it was eventually settled.

The Indian newspapers reported the event - Director Lawrence Curtis of the Fort Worth (Tex.) zoo, accepted the gift of an 11-month-old elephant given as a token of appreciation for what America had done for India. American families in Madras attended the ceremony at the residence of U. S. Consul General Albert Franklin. Curtis will leave Madras Wednesday night by air with the elephant, named Shanti. Curtis was also presented with a pair of tusks from Shanti’s mother and a framed picture of Shanti with Venugopal Varma, Raja of Kollengode, the town whose children decided upon making a gift of Shanti. In return a crystal elephant was presented to Venugopal Varma by Curtis.

A special Maha Ganapati homam was conducted at the palace, before Shanti was handed over to the Americans.

The American DOS newsletter put a different spin - The 11 month-old female elephant, “Shanti,” was a gift to American children from the children of the Rajah of Collengode "as an expression of thanks for all that America has been doing to help our country in our hour of need." Albert B Franklin US Consul general in Madras found a home For Shanti in the United States with the aid of Congressman James C Wright of Texas. She was shipped to the Fort Worth zoo early in April.

Shanti arrived in Fort Worth, already a celebrity, on April 4^th 1964. She was accompanied by the raja’s son, 24 year old Venugopal raja who took leave from his Kothari estates job for a month, to accompany the pachyderm. Both the Raja and Shanti were accorded honorary (unfortunately Shanti is named Shani in the document) Texas citizenships. The Texans were particularly careful to ensure that the young man was treated well and not offended in any way, they even checked in advance about his diet and if alcohol could be offered.

Shanti was welcomed and declared ‘a little minister without portfolio’ by R Friedman, the mayor of F Worth. Wright had this to say “The rajah's son, who had; always wanted to visit America, accompanied the young animal as "mahout," or caretaker. With much fanfare, a presentation was made at the zoo. The "mahout" stayed on for six weeks as Kennard's house guest.

Of course Bill Newbold continued to garner credit for sending the elephant, while Lawrence Curtis got his wish, a new elephant in his menagerie and took over as its foster father. Curtis himself faced multiple issues later in his working life and moved on to the Riyadh Zoo. All the other key characters of the story lived happily ever after, mostly doing well in politics (regrettably almost all of them are no more today). Lynam went on to write a lovely story ‘The great Washington elephant hunt’, on which this article is almost entirely based upon. I owe my thanks and gratitude to him for documenting it so hilariously, for posterity. The storyline is augmented with facts obtained from Kennard’s personal file on the Shanti episode, which I am in possession of.

Sadly though, while Shanti (aka cutie pie) is still remembered by the people of Fort Worth (new elephants are still being named after her) she died after a good eight years in Texas, of kidney disease, in 1972.

Somebody may have noticed a comment that Kennard got a nickname ‘Sabu’. Why would they call him that? Who is Sabu? That will be a story for another day.

References

Stories I never told the speaker – Marshall S Lynam

Box 21, Folder 19 ‘Elephant Shanti’ from, Don Kennard papers

US State Department Newsletter #36 April 1964

Historic alleys - The Venganad Nambitis of Kollengode

Reports on - The Baytown Sun from Baytown, Texas, Jan 2^nd 1964, Park city daily news Dec 31^st 1963, The Tuscaloosa News - Dec 30, 1963, Gettysburg times, Toledo blade, Reading eagle, Times daily…..

Note:

It is presumed that, the amply mustachioed son of Venugopala Raja, named Vasudeva Varma Raja was the one who made the visit to Texas with Shanti. There is some confusion and the names are often interchanged in the files and the newspaper reports. Perhaps one of the girls who played with the elephant is Jaya Jaitly (daughter of KK Chettur, Indian Ambassador to Japan, who figured in one of my previous Jumbo stories) the well-known Indian politician.

Pics courtesy  - Kennard colelction, websources, DOD newsletter

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Ten Malayalee’s and an elephant

A successful Malayalee, in my opinion, has either an inflated ego or is highly opinionated, and at times exhibits both characteristics. Can you imagine a situation where ten of them, well known to you, seasoned politicians, bureaucrats and people of high standing got together and accomplished something at the international scene? To hear this interesting account, I have to first take you back to the decade of the 1940’s. What on earth brought them all together? Now that is fine, but what is an elephant doing in their midst? An even more interesting aside….

1945 – The world was finally rejoicing as the terrible world war was over and the axis powers had been decimated by the allies. Life was slowly starting to limp back to normalcy but the people of Japan had an even steeper hill to climb. Douglas Mc Arthur, the allied supreme commander in Japan, otherwise known as Gaijin Shogun was on his ‘clean up and purge the old leadership’ mode. The Japanese bureaucracy was sullenly taking new orders, while the survivors or Hibaikusha were tottering about coping with the aftereffects of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A few more bombs had been readied, but were mercifully not used, for Japan quickly surrendered. The once proud people now averted their eyes and refused to stare at fate.

Two years later India witnessed tragedy and triumph. It had become independent finally, freeing itself from the imperialist British yoke and Jawaharlal Nehru had become prime minister. Pakistan was created and the partition on the East and West borders brought suffering, tragedy and a multitude of deaths. Nehru wrestled with the arduous task of quietening the country and assimilating the many states, provinces and kingdoms of British India. In this he was helped by many an administrator from the south, and we have already talked about many of them, VK Krishna Menon, VP Menon, KM Panikkar and so on. There were other global challenges and with a nonaligned concept spearheading his actions, Nehru set about in right earnest.

He said in 1947 - We propose, as far as possible, to keep away from the power politics of groups, aligned against one another, which had led in the past to world wars and which may again lead to disasters on an even vaster scale. In 1951, he repeated - We have to try to understand others, just as we expect them to understand us. We cannot seek peace in the language of war or threats. But I guess, as Nehru himself realized, friends would soon become foes and violence continuously stood up and peeked through its hooded eyes at the meek public.

But now I take you to Japan, a period when the western world decried the actions of Japan as an axis power and the mauled country was subjected to many conditions, sometimes dishonorable, undignified and affecting its sovereignty. Many changes took place with large scale reconstruction starting around 1948 and a democratic constitution replaced the military influence and the rule of monarchy. The gaijin Shogun was firing away with reforms, and industries such as the bombed out Mitsubishi resurrected itself to rebuild the infrastructure. By 1949, MacArthur made changes to the power structure which increased the power of Japanese, and we see the occupation begin to draw to a close.

India’s relationship with Japan was slightly shaky, for it had been the supporter of INA which was at loggerheads with Nehru’s INC and the British. Subhash Chandra Bose was gone from the midst of the INA and Japan was still home to a few of the old INA stalwarts, one of them being NairSan or AM Nair. Japan was also home to some 750 businessmen from India, and a few students. Rama Rao was the first head of the Indian Liaison mission in Tokyo and quickly got on the wrong side of the imperial MacArthur who was already unhappy with India’s overtures to help a stricken Japan, instead of toeing behind the SCAP (supreme commander of allied powers). Rao quietly told him that India was no longer British but was an independent country. RB Pal and Govinda Menon came for the war trials, and made their mark with independent opinions. Nairsan watched and waited, and was involved often as an advisor or interpreter to some of these Indian officials (I had briefly introduced Nairsan earlier, but I promise, I will do a detailed article on him soon).

If I told you that this was the time when an elephant ambassador came to Japan, would you believe me? Well, this was exactly what happened. The Ueno zoo suffered after the war with a lack of feed for the animals and it became so bad that only people who brought in food got admission. Tonki an Indian elephant in the zoo had died tragically (three of them had to be killed off during the war – see article under references). By 1949, some animals were sent from Utah (many Japanese internees in the US were relocated to Utah and they mooted the transfer) to the depleted zoo. But they did not have an elephant, and the children of the Taito-ward, submitted a request to SCAP asking for an Asian elephant. The SCAP-GHQ which had to authorize the import, turned a blind eye. Soon a petition drive was launched and some 900-1500 kids wrote to Pt Nehru in India asking for an elephant. A reporter named Shimura collected these letters and gave them to a businessman Niyogi who knew Nehru and who was returning to India. With all this noise, the SCAP finally accorded import permission in July 1949. Nehru agreed to gift an elephant so long as Japan paid the $2,000 shipping cost. The elephant chosen was smart 15 year old with four toes (auspicious 8 symbols of Buddhism) on each foot and involved with timber logging (but well trained), from the hills of the Western Ghats. It was named Indira after Nehru’s daughter. By Sept 1949, she was on the way to Japan, though quite disgusted having to leave its abode.

Nehru wrote – “Indira is a fine elephant, very well-behaved. I hope that when the children of India and the children of Japan will grow up, they will serve not only their great countries, but also the cause of peace and cooperation all over Asia and the world. So you must look upon this elephant, Indira by name, as a messenger of affection and goodwill from the children of India. The elephant is a noble animal. It is wise and patient, strong and yet, gentle. I hope all of us will also develop these qualities.”

The elephant ambassador from India was on the way. Sugaya Kitsuichiro was sent to India to escort it to its new home and two Indian mahouts were to accompany it, but return after training the Japanese. The ship Encho Maru carrying it was hit by typhoons and rains, Indira was thoroughly seasick on the way. Special permission had been accorded for the ship to stop at Okinawa and collect fresh bananas and palm leaves for Indira. Life magazine captured the disembarkation at Japan, in pictures. Arriving at Yokohama on Sept 23^rd, it was heralded as a reborn Tonki. 

In the meantime a Thai elephant Gachako had arrived, but when the majestic Indira stepped on Japanese shores, it blew away the breaths from the populace. The official presentation took place in Oct with the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru. Indira was a worker elephant, not a performer and the Zoo needed performances to keep the children amused. But Indira only listened to Kannada commands and the mahouts quickly set about training the trainers in Kannada language, and this took two months. And as they said in Japan, Indira fever had caught the populace…

By April 1950, the people of Japan wanted to see the pachyderm and so a travelling menagerie hit the roads. The demoralized villagers were seeing the majestic vegetarian beast with twinkling eyes from India, that distant abode of Buddha who had given them their religion and the well-known Bodhidharama. It is said that their spirits were restored, though I would take that report with a pinch of salt. Shimura the reporter who started it all was asked to accompany Indira. He was told ‘guard the elephant with your life, you can easily be replaced by many, but Indira can never be’. Indira was not amused with all the related activity and became very nervous, but was eventually calmed down after ingesting some sweets. In fact it turned out to be a terrible trip with the elephant being fed all kinds of rubbish food and it playing truant. Some 4 million people paid to see her and after this turbulent trip it was finally installed in the Ueno zoo.

The elephant was loved by everybody in Japan. Children who were starving brought sweet potatoes for Indira. They waved Japanese flags when she passed by. Indira on the other hand, must have dreamed of coconut trees and rice balls with sesame oil, her life in India, and of tuskers…….

Douglas Mcarthur, the man who smoked a Popeye style pipe, had in the meantime returned to America and Japan was quietly and efficiently rebuilding itself. The world decided to let the country back into the international fold and a big conference was arranged at San Francisco. Dulles was the architect of the new treaty. But India would have no part of it. Pt Nehru refused to attend the 1951 San Francisco peace conference. Minister Jayawardene of Ceylon attending the meeting, on the other hand went one step further and stated that it was important to be magnanimous to a defeated foe and refused to accept payment of any reparations that would harm Japan's economy and quoted a Buddhist teaching – ‘hatred ceases not by hatred but by love’.

India signed a separate Peace Treaty with Japan in 1952. This Pundit Nehru felt, gave to Japan a proper position of honor and equality among the community of free nations. In that Peace Treaty, India waived all reparation claims against Japan. Each country accorded the other the most favored nation status. This interestingly was a treaty cobbled up by the ten Malayalees and signed off at Japan by a Malayalee ambassador Mr KK Chettur. Unbelievable, right?

KK Chettur (father of Jaya Jaitley), a nephew of Sir C Sankaran Nair and a rising bureaucrat, arrived at Japan around the time Indira did, as the head of the mission and quickly took AM Nair into his confidence to meet many reticent Japanese bigwigs who were cowering under Macarthur’s blacklists and purges. He was keen on building direct relationships with the future leaders of Japan and formulating a path for the decades to follow. Yoshida Shigeru, the PM whom we met at Indira’s acceptance ceremony earlier, was a good friend. KK was kept in the know about the discussions between Dulles and Shigeru and seeing the contents of the treaty in advance, made him realize that India could not be a party to it. Nehru who was quickly prepped, agreed and India disagreed to sign it due to some clauses relating to a security pact, which Japan were forced to agree.

India signed a separate peace and amity treaty with Japan in 1952. The simple pact can be found under references and makes interesting reading. This carefully prepared treaty was drafted in Delhi by a decision making team of Nehru, set up for this purpose. Interestingly (per AM Nair’s reminiscences) it comprised KK Chettur the head of the Japanese mission, AM Nair (nairsan – advisor), NR Pillai ( Foreign secretary), KPS Menon (Foreign secretary), VK Krishna Menon (British HC and roving ambassador) , N Raghavan ( French ambassador), KM Panikkar (Chinese ambassador). Three others in Tokyo handling the rear end were KR Narayanan (later the president of India, somebody I had met), MS Nair (3^rd secretary) and PS Parasuram (KK’s secretary).

If you know these people you will realize the high voltage situation. Each of them by himself was a handful and so if you put ten of them together, how could anything be worked out? Well, the ten gentlemen from Kerala indeed got together and worked it all out.

VC Trivedi, first secretary of the Japanese mission theorized that it worked out in the following fashion. Dulles had recruited 20 people in Delhi to lobby the US position and get India to sign up at San Francisco. Nehru decided to minimize costs and counter with half the number and selected them from the smallest state. But life is never simple, and Vijayalakshmi Pundit, Nehru’s sister (refer the second part of my Syud Hossain articles) was pushing for India to sign it and make it her big American success, as ambassador to the US. But Nehru vetoed it eventually and the ten Kerala gentlemen forged out the Japanese treaty. Even though India was suffering from the pangs of poverty and strife at that moment, it signed off any potential reparation from Japan.

Nehru followed up the delivery of the elephant in 1949, later with supply of steel for Japan’s rebuilding and Ceylon supplied much needed rice. India also offered to mediate between Japan and the Soviet bloc, while Japan transferred (1955-6) the iconic Pilot pen technology (famous since 1918) to India. Nehru also promised to consider sending a companion for Indira.

Whatever happened to Indira the elephant? It continued to be a star attraction at the Ueno zoo. We next hear about it when Nehru and Indira Gandhi visited Japan in 1957 and met the animal personally. It was the first thing he wanted to do after landing in Japan. In 1967, a young elephant Jumbo joined the zoo and it pushed Indira into a 9 foot deep moat after a brief quarrel. Indira clambered out over the spectator fence and became restless when a hovering news helicopter added to the noise of panicked spectators. Its old mahout Ochai Seigo lying in bed and dying of cancer was summoned as a last resort and he succeeded in calming Indira. Seigo went back to his hospital bed and died 10 days later.

But Indira had been traumatized by the above event and refused to lie down, to sleep ever after. For those who do not know, an elephant stops lying down when it realizes that it cannot get up from that position on its own. Her condition deteriorated and it even fell down while sleeping once, but stabilized. In 1972 a couple of giant pandas from China took over her star status and finally aged 49, Indira died in 1983. It had watched over Japan’s recovery for over three decades as a true ambassador of peace.

Addressing the departed friend, the Director of the Zoo said, “You came from a faraway country. It must have been so difficult for you to get used to this new country that became your home. And yet you brought cheer to so many, day after day, for so many years. You will never be forgotten. We pray for the peace of your soul.”

Lalitha Menon wife of KPS Menon wrote - In front of a beautifully decorated picture of Indira, everyone bowed, and maybe a tear was shed in memory of a truly dear friend. 

In 1995 Indira’s bones were reconstructed and you can see it at the natural history museum in Ueno. The ambassador of peace still looks on serenely as the children of Japan troop by.

Life went on, Japan rose to become a global giant, Nehru died soon after the China crisis, Krishna Menon was sidelined, while each of the other Kerala gentlemen did well as India forged on with its difficulties and amalgamated the states.

AM Nair became a businessman and his curry power was aptly named Indira curry powder after the Indian elephant, the very symbol of India. His detailed story is something I am currently studying and will come out as a separate article. He died in 1990, at the age of 85. He had lived in Japan for most of his life, known fondly as the Nairsan of Tokyo, purveyor of Indira Curry powder. I have not visited the Nair restaurant in Ginza Tokyo, but I hope to do so, someday.

Indira Gandhi hearing about Indira’s demise, was naturally upset and sent two more elephants to Japan in Sept 1984. A month later she was assassinated.

Nehru had said - The elephant is a noble animal. It is wise and patient, strong and yet, gentle. I hope all of us will also develop these qualities.

Did we become wise and patient? Are we strong yet gentle? You decide….

References

Japanese Wartime Zoo Policy: The Silent Victims of World War II Mayumi Itoh

An Indian freedom fighter in Japan - Memories of AM Nair – AM Nair

Starving the Elephants: The Slaughter of Animals in Wartime Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo Frederick S. Litten 

Maddys Ramblings - Nairsan

The Treaty 

Pics

Courtesy Life Magazine – Oct 17^th 1949, photo division (GOI), thanks to the many others who uploaded the other pics.

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