Use of animals in the health management of elephants in medieval period of Assam, India

Abstract

There was a tradition of catching, taming and training elephants in medieval Assam for warfare, transportation, carrying loads etc. Many manuscripts known as the hatiputhi in Assamese language recorded a lot of information about capture, training and treatment of various diseases of elephants. Unfortunately, most of these manuscripts were destroyed or lost due to various reasons. We managed to collect digital versions of four unpublished manuscripts from four different places of Assam written in the old Assamese language using kaitheli script, a common script prevalent at that time. The manuscripts transliterated from kaitheli to modern Assamese script reveal a large number of traditionally used medicines to treat various diseases of elephants. These hatiputhi manuscripts mention the use of 61 ethnozoological animals alone with treatment methods for 21 diseases and deficiencies of elephants.