I n d i a' s Photographs by Annette Bonnier I N D I A’ S ELEPHANTS Photographs by Annette Bonnier

Books & Books Press

Foreword Steve McCurry

Annette Bonnier’s work with the elephants of is a testament to her fascination with these great creatures and the unique and intricate relationship they share with humanity—at times worshipped and other times enslaved. This interdependence is as controversial as it is complex.

In undertaking this project, Annette has followed her passion for photography to explore the world of the working , and the relationship of animal and , revealing something special and genuine about these graceful and majestic animals and the men who live and work with them.

Previous Mahout riding elephant to the Periyar River. Kodanad Elephant Training Center, Kodanad, .

8 9 Introduction Judith Mason

We can picture them emerging from the forest mists, huge grey shapes on floral and abstract designs are the usual motifs, often applied with great skill. How does silent feet, walking as families do, with the matriarch in front, and the rest clustered it feel to the elephant, one wonders, who can have no idea of what the final result looks behind her, babies, adolescents, nieces and nephews. Strolling down to the river to bathe like? The paint is not toxic, and the painter is gentle and caressing in his actions. It and frolic and refresh themselves and then vanishing again under the vast canopy of the should seem absurd—as if a huge parody of Mae West is being made up for a shoot by jungle. Sometime in the later eons of their existence, elephants encountered their only the studio’s best cosmetician. But elephants are never ridiculous. Generations of carved real predator, humans. We can only guess at the process by which we finally managed ornaments, obscene elephant’s foot stools, plush toys, cartoon characters, and to make these great mammals biddable. It probably included kidnapping infants, killing pyjama prints have been unable to erode the creature’s enormous dignity. off adults of the herd, and, perhaps, a peculiar sympathy on the part of the occasional tribesman who found that he had an affinity with his captives. Gradually we turned We are humbled by great mammals—whales, elephants, gorillas. It is not elephants into beasts of burden, pulling teak from the forests to the timber yards and just a question of size, but of respect. Animal behaviourists and proponents of animal dragging supplies behind armies on the march. We co-opted elephants as warriors, as, rights are nudging us towards questioning whether we are the only species worthy of caparisoned in armour, they shrieked and stampeded their way through hundreds of fundamental rights. The more we get to know and understand animals, the more we wars from the Battle of Zama in 202 BC to the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Eventually apprehend that some have intelligence and social structures eerily similar to our own. they were replaced by the armoured tank, and they assumed a more peaceful role in our This certainly applies to elephants, capable of responding to fairly detailed instructions, lives. Their age-old function as splendid mounts for maharajahs and monarchs, not to capable of being midwife to calving relatives, apparently capable of mourning their dead, mention grandees of the raj, has declined somewhat, and now they are at the bidding and certainly capable of mourning the loss of an infant. People have seen them support of the new royalty, tourists. They may perform at village fairs or hump heavy furniture their aged and frail relatives when the going gets rough. Play, for the sheer joy of it, is around the busy streets of the subcontinent. Some have miserable lives, looked after part of their lives. So are more sinister features. Elephants take offence—and revenge. by feckless or indifferent masters; others are purchased for vast sums from dealers at are generally kind, using the ankush judiciously, but many stories attest to the the Sonepur Mela. Some have the pleasure of showing us the Terai, as we sway on our fact that abused elephants bide their time and kill vicious handlers when the opportunity , looking at elephant grass, tiger spoor, and Indian rhinos. At the behest of the arises. More disturbing yet is the finding that some orphaned juveniles exhibit antisocial mahout, our mount may pick up a peacock feather or a dropped camera filter and pass behaviour similar to that of deprived human youngsters, attacking females and fighting it to her passengers. At the end of the journey they all go down to the water to lie in the their peers without reason. Like us, elephants need an ordered life. shallows while attendants wash them with bristle brushes and clean their nails. Feeding time comes, and patties of rice and a salad of leaves is served. As in any family, the males Look into an elephant’s tiny eye, almost lost in the vast landscape of its will tuck in and the females will keep a watchful eye on the young ones, some of whom hide. It looks back at you, wary, shrewd. Sometimes almost coquettish behind those play with their food. One piles his dinner on his head and looks around for applause lashes. It is impossible to feel superior to a creature like this. In the quiet connection from us, or censure from his grandmother. It seems a happy life. of that gaze, we learn about tolerance. About surviving captivity and exploitation, about calm cooperation. About waiting. Waiting, perhaps, until our species wipes itself We also find them outside the smart hotels, like double-decker buses out and these majestic beasts can return to the mist and the forest, with little bits waiting for their fares, after being painted by body artists. Red, yellow, white, and blue of pigment in the crevices of their skin.

10 11 12 13 Wild elephants huddling to protect the baby in their midst. Previous Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife National Park, Kodagu, .

14 15 Wild female elephants cooling themselves with dirt. Kaziranga National Park, Assam.

16 17 Wild elephant in . Kaziranga National Park, Assam.

Opposite A stand of bamboo that has seeded and died after sixty years of growth. Bamboo is elephants’ favorite food. Kabini Forest Reserve, Karnataka.

Following pages Kaziranga National Park, Assam.

18 19 20 21 Male tusker bathing in the Nugu River. Bandipur National Park, Karnataka.

22 23 Rajan, a fifty-nine-year-old retired logging elephant, walking into the ocean for his morning swim. Logging elephants were once trained to swim from island to island for work. Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal.

24 25 Left and opposite Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal.

26 27 Elephant using trunk as a snorkel. Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal.

28 29 Havelock Island, Andaman Islands, Bay of Bengal. , Kerala.

30 31 Wild elephants reveling in mud bath. Kabini Forest Reserve, Karnataka. Bathing in the Nugu River. Bandipur National Park, Karnataka.

32 33 Mahouts bathing elephants in the Periyar River. Kodanad Elephant Training Center, Kodanad, Kerala.

Opposite Mahouts scrubbing elephant’s head with coconut husks in the Periyar River. Kodanad Elephant Training Center, Kodanad, Kerala.

34 35 Mahout picking gravel from soles of Ramachandran, a famous festival elephant elephant’s feet. Jaipur, Rajasthan. who is blind in one eye. Thrissur, Kerala.

36 37 Ankusha keeping elephant still during a bath in the River. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

38 39 Before the monsoon rains. Kaziranga National Park, Assam.

40 41 Drunken mahout agitating male elephant in musth. Thrissur, Kerala.

Following pages Male elephant in musth. During rutting season, a Several wild female elephants charging to protect male elephant’s glands secrete an oily substance and his behavior their young. Kaziranga National Park, Assam. becomes very aggressive. Guruvayur, Kerala.

42 43 44 45 Mahout guiding a logging elephant with a twist of his foot. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh.

Opposite Elephant helping a mahout mount his back. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

46 47 Above and opposite Logging elephant at work. The heavy chains on the elephant’s saddle help to pull the massive logs. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh.

48 49 Mahout guiding a logging elephant with the tips of his fingers. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh. Logging elephant pulling heavy logs. Dibrugarh Forest, Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh. Following pages Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

50 51 52 53 Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

Opposite Elephants returning from their bath. Thithimathi Mathigodu Elephant Camp, Thithimathi, Karnataka.

54 55 Above and opposite Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

56 57 Boy feeding family elephant at safari camp. At the border of Kaziranga National Park, Assam.

Opposite Elephant waiting for his saddle. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

Following page left Elephant carrying food from the forest back to camp. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

Following page right Guruvayur, Kerala.

58 59 60 61 62 63 Previous Safari elephant and mahout crossing Elephant waiting for tourist rides at a bridge to Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Amber Fort. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

64 65 Government housing for elephants and mahouts. Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

66 67 Mahout cleaning elephant after safari rides. Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

68 69 Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Safari elephant in dry riverbed near Corbett National Park, Dhikuli, Uttaranchal.

70 71 Temple elephant and mahout. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, .

72 73 74 75 Previous Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan. Mahout with elephant for tourist rides. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

76 77 Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

78 79 Above and opposite Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

80 81 Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

82 83 Amber Fort, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

84 85 Young girl being blessed by temple elephant. Sri Ranganathaswamy, , Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.

86 87 Entrance to Hindu temple. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

88 89 Elephant blessing child at Brihadeeswarar Temple. Dedicated to , the temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

90 91 Palace elephant. Mysore Palace, Mysore, Karnataka.

92 93 Mahout. , Uttar Pradesh.

94 95 Temple elephant. Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

96 97 Mahout’s daughter. Many children of mahouts help their parents Ramachandran, a famous festival elephant. Thrissur, Kerala. care for their elephants. Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

98 99 Small temple with sadhu. Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

100 101 Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Opposite Mahout at elephant festival. Palakkad, Kerala.

102 103 Elephant festival. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

104 105 Above and opposite Uthralikkavu Pooram. With thirty-three elephants, this temple festival is one of the largest in Kerala. Sri Rudhiramahakalikav Temple, Thrissur, Kerala.

106 107 Elephant street festival. Palakkad, Kerala.

108 109 Elephant street festival. Palakkad, Kerala.

110 111 Uthralikkavu Pooram. Sri Rudhiramahakalikav Temple, Thrissur, Kerala.

112 113 Elephant and mahout. Perur Patteeswarar Shiva Temple, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

114 115 Elephant Village, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

116 117 Elephants “parked” while mahouts shop. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

118 119 Elephant street festival. Palakkad, Kerala.

120 121 Above and opposite Elephant street festival. Palakkad, Kerala. Following pages Elephant Festival, Jaipur, Rajasthan.

122 123 124 125 126 127 Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

Previous Elephant festival. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

128 129 Following page left Mahout's son, Safari village house. At the border of Kaziranga National Park, Assam.

Above and opposite Mahouts’ houses. Following page right Logging elephant. Dibrugarh Forest, Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka. Joypur, Arunachal Pradesh.

130 131 132 133 Elephant kraal used for capturing and holding elephants. Elephant removing logs from kraal. Thithimathi Thithimathi Mathigodu Elephant Camp, Thithimathi, Karnataka. Mathigodu Elephant Camp, Thithimathi, Karnataka.

134 135 Thithimathi Mathigodu Elephant Camp, Thithimathi, Karnataka.

136 137 Elephant penned for more than five months for killing a man. Thithimathi Mathigodu Elephant Camp, Thithimathi, Karnataka.

138 139 Mahout’s granddaughter at wood mill. Kothamangalam, Kerala.

140 141 Elephant performer in Jumbo Circus. Indian circuses are banned from using elephants but many still do. Panipat, Haryana.

142 143 Jumbo Circus, Panipat, Haryana.

144 145 Above and opposite Jumbo Circus, Panipat, Haryana.

146 147 Circus clown. Jumbo Circus, Panipat, Haryana. Circus performer waiting backstage. Jumbo Circus, Panipat, Haryana.

148 149 Safari near Corbett National Park, Dhikuli, Uttaranchal. Closing time. Jumbo Circus, Panipat, Haryana.

150 151 152 153 Elephants and mahouts lining up for parade Previous Jumbo Circus, Panipat, Haryana. at elephant festival. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

154 155 Above and opposite Elephant polo at Dera Amer. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

156 157 Elephant polo at Dera Amer. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

158 159 Elephant festival. Jaipur, Rajasthan.

160 161 Safari. Kaziranga National Park, Assam.

162 163 Elephant safari stand for Indians only. Safari crossing the Kosi River with tourists. Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Near Corbett National Park, Dhikul, Uttaranchal.

164 165 Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

166 167 Local Indians visiting an elephant camp next to the Kaveri River. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

168 169 Palace elephant. Mysore Palace, Mysore, Karnataka.

170 171 Holy men decorating temple elephant. Perur Patteeswarar Shiva Temple, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

172 173 Brihadeeswarar Temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

174 175 Above and opposite Ankila, the temple elephant, and one of her mahouts, Arjun, waiting to bless worshipers. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

176 177 Elephant ritual with priests. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

178 179 Young child dancing while holy man chants. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

Opposite Sadhu chanting to worshipers. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

180 181 Elephant’s tail. Dubare Elephant Camp, Coorg, Karnataka.

182 183 Baby elephant playing with mahout during the Sonepur Fair. Sonepur, Bihar.

184 185 Temple elephant blessing priest. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu. Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, , Tamil Nadu.

186 187 Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.

188 189 Elephant walking a Parikrama, a circumambulatory path around the shrine as a symbol of prayer in Hindu worship. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

190 191 Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.

Opposite Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

192 193 Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.

194 195 Woman making an offering. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

196 197 Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

198 199 Worshipers at the holy Ganga River during the Sonepur Fair. Sonepur, Bihar.

200 201 Worshipers at the Ganga River during the Sonepur Fair. Sonepur, Bihar.

202 203 A pilgrim offers a blessing in the Ganga River. Pilgrims and elephant washing in the Ganga River Sonepur Fair. Sonepur, Bihar. during the Sonepur Fair. Sonepur, Bihar.

204 205 Pilgrims and elephant washing in the Ganga River during the Sonepur Fair. Sonepur, Bihar.

Following pages Pilgrims flocking to the Ganga River for Kartik during the Sonepur Fair. Sonepur, Bihar.

206 207 208 209 The Lord Ganesh

Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu god, is revered as the remover of obstacles, patron of the arts, and the deity of intellect and wisdom. He is celebrated across sectarian divisions, and his chubby image is found in almost every Hindu household in the world.

Legends of Ganesh abound, but the best-known story describes how the goddess created him from the turmeric and dust that covered her body and then instructed him to guard her house while she bathed. The supreme god Shiva, the long-absent husband of Parvati, did not recognize his son when he returned home and, when challenged by Ganesh, he chopped off his head. Parvati was distraught and threatened to destroy the world unless Shiva brought Ganesh back to life. Shiva attached the head of the first creature he came across, which was a dying elephant whose head was facing north, an auspicious sign. And thus a great god was born, one often seen riding on a mouse and sporting a broken tusk.

Ganesh is treated as one of the highest gods of the Hindu pantheon, and Hindus of all denominations invoke him at the beginning of prayers, important undertakings, and religious ceremonies. To this day, the elephant is also highly revered and worshiped throughout India.

Altar to Ganesh. Jambukeswarar Temple, Thiruvanaikaval, Tamil Nadu.

210 211 Afterword Annette Bonnier

My first trip to India was with photographer Steve McCurry in 2007, which place in the human world. People everywhere were astonished at the presence of the is when I first discovered Rajasthan’s rural villages and festivals. I fell in love with the elephants and as they reveled in joyous celebrations, the elephants remained calm people and their dynamic culture, and my senses were filled with India’s vibrant colors, and patient next to their masters. I saw young children play in their yard beneath an delicate smells, seductive light, and a spirituality that embraced life, from everyday elephant’s large trunk while their father painted colorful designs on the elephant’s tasks to festive holy days. In many parts of India the culture has not changed in head. Everywhere I went, a feast of life constantly swirled around the elephant’s feet centuries—it seemed like another world to me. while he stood stoically, his trunk swaying.

During that trip, I became fascinated with several tourist elephants that This collection of photographs is a cultural documentation of elephants in were kept in a cement garage for the Amber Fort. My first photographs captured them Indian society. The elephant’s role is changing as wildlife conservation and concerns chained to the floor with the mahout standing attentively next to them. The lives of the for the health and safety of domesticated elephants are growing. This complex and elephants and their keeper moved me. Both were shackled to poverty and a lifetime majestic animal, with his intelligence, intricate social hierarchy, and highly evolved of indenture yet a spiritual bond existed between them that embraced a deep sense communication skills, is caught in a changing world between the past and the future. of reverence for the elephant. Throughout India elephants are respected as a spiritual Shadowing the elephant’s path throughout the most remote corners of India has animal, and Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, is venerated as one of the highest been an extraordinary adventure, and it has been a privilege to spend time in his deities in the Hindu religion. However, there is an unusual dichotomy in the role of world. As a symbol of India, the elephant stirs incredible passion wherever he goes, the elephant in Indian society, one that wavers between the animal as an enlightened, especially within me! spiritual being and as a beast of burden. This image left me with an amazingly sad beauty that I couldn’t get out of my mind.

I returned to photograph elephants in Indian society on four separate trips between 2011 and 2013. I was compelled to capture the many facets of elephants’ lives and their interaction with humanity. I witnessed the dance between the mahout’s directions and the elephant’s natural instincts, one that reveals both the bond of beings that have spent their lives together and the animal’s unnatural

212 213 Biography

With Mary Ellen Mark, David Allen Harvey, Steve McCurry, and Maggie Steber as mentors, Miami-born Annette Bonnier travels the world with her camera. Her photography has transported her inside housing projects and on searches for dying refugees and missions to assess hurricane damage; she’s gone backstage with Cirque du Soleil and Miss Nude World, and even to Sing Sing prison. Most recently, Bonnier has been traveling and working with NGOs in India and Southeast Asia. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Miami Herald’s Tropic Magazine, Photo District News, and Loft magazine and exhibited at many galleries.

214 215 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With heartfelt thanks to

Peder Bonnier

Steve McCurry Maggie Steber David Allan Harvey Kapil Deval Rahul Sharma Sujit Namboodiri The mahouts of India Cynthia Savage Jamie Rose Mitchell Kaplan Petra Mason Ausbert de Arcé Judith Mason Randy Mitchell Books & Books Press

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF).

Copyright

India’s Elephants © 2013 by Annette Bonnier All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the permission of the author and photographer except in the case of brief quoatations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Published by Books & Books Press www.booksandbooks.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013937789

ISBN 9780983937883

Publishing Consultants: Ausbert de Arcé, Petra Mason, Mitchell Kaplan Editor and Project Director: Petra Mason, Miami Beach Copy Editor: Elizabeth Smith, New York Designed by Gabrielle Guy, Cape Town Printed in Italy