ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 159 



King of Golconda. As an indication of its preeminent 

 qualities it had been named Gajmati, or "The Pearl among 

 Elephants"; it was esteemed to be worth one lakh of rupees 

 (100,000) or $50,000.* 



In a battle between the armies of the King of Pegu and 

 the King of Ava, the former gained a decisive victory, and 

 killed his adversary in a personal encounter. Both sover- 

 eigns were mounted on elephants, and the animal that had 

 borne the King of Ava was captured by his victorious oppo- 

 nent and led away to the camp. Its grief for the loss of its 

 master was so keen that for fifteen days it refused all nourish- 

 ment, and was only finally induced to break its fast by dint 

 of much petting and coaxing. The King of Pegu's elephant 

 had been killed under him in the battle, and the monarch 

 ordered that sacred images should be made from the tusks, 

 and had these idols set up in the temples alongside of those 

 of gold and silver, as equally valuable.! 



That the popular estimates of the number of war ele- 

 phants maintained by Eastern potentates was often very 

 much exaggerated is corroborated by the French traveller 

 and gem dealer Tavernier. Having been repeatedly told 

 that the emperor, Aurengzeb, had three or four thousand 

 such elephants, Tavernier took pains to secure exact infor- 

 mation in the matter, and finally learned that while he kept 

 some five hundred as beasts of burden to carry his harem 

 and the tents and other baggage of his household, the number 

 of war elephants did not exceed eighty or ninety. Of these 

 the fiercest and bravest was a great favourite and was es- 

 pecially entrusted to the care of the emperor's eldest son. 



Tavernier also describes an interesting feature of the 

 great birthday festival of the Mogul, in which his favourite 



*Jadunath Sarkar, "History of Aurengzeb," Calcutta, 1912, Vol. I, p. 49. 

 tFranciscus Erasmus, "Ost-und West Indischer wie auch Sinesischer Lust-und Stats- 

 Garten," Nuremberg, 1668, p. 1528. 



