MANTRA GAJAH. 5 



" From these circumstances we may probably conclude, 

 " with Crawfurd, that the art of training and domesticating ele- 

 " phants was first learned by the Malays from natives of India. 

 " The words of command used by elephant-drivers in the Malay 

 " Peninsula appear, however, to be adapted mainly from the Sia- 

 " mese, and it is from this people that the Malays of the continent 

 " have acquired much of their modern knowledge of the art of 

 "capturing, subduing and training the elephant."* 



With all the deference that is due to these two authorities, 

 I suggest that the truth is possibly contained in a legend which 

 is preserved in the thirteenth cherita of the Sejarah Malayu. 

 The story is as follows. " The headman in charge of the ele- 

 " phants of Sultan Mansur, King of Malacca, was Sri Rama, a 

 " Kshatriya by birth (asalnia shatria). [Incidentally we are told 

 " that he was a drinker (peminum), and that always, when he 

 " presented himself before the (Muhammadan) King, arrack was 

 " given him to drink]. One day Kanchanchi, the elephant that 

 " the king himself always mounted, escaped into the forest, and 

 " all Sri Rama's efforts to retake it were unavailing. Then Sri 

 " Rama said " there are, too, people in this country, who know 

 "(about elephants)" (ada juga orang yang tahu didalam negri 

 "im),t and he reported the whole matter to the king. There- 

 " upon the king ordered enquiries to be made through Malacca 

 " to discover if by chance there was any one who knew the 

 " science of elephants (elmu gajah). Now at this time the king 

 " of Malacca had as prisoner Maharaja Dewa Sura, the king of 

 " Pahang, a country abounding in elephants, and it was reported 

 " to the king of Malacca that Maharaja Dewa Sura was deeply 

 " versed in the science of elephants (terlalu tahu elmu gajah). A 

 " message was sent to Maharaja Dewa Sura who undertook to 

 " recapture the elephant on the condition that he was set free 

 " from the prison in which he was confined. He was accordingly 



* Maxwell. Manual of the Malay Language, p. 18. 



t With all due deference, I submit that Dr. Leyden by transla- 

 ting these words in the Malay Annals as "there are people who are 

 acquainted with the interior of this country " has missed the whole 

 point of the story :— 



E. A. Soc., No. 45, 1905. 



