weight of chains and the pain of a goad
Necessity for tamed elephant population, as lobbyists say, is mainly for cultural purposes. These cultural events comprise mostly of Buddhist cultural pageants (perahera). The ‘tamed’ animals who are made to participate in these or to work as beasts of burden were not born tame. Nor were they persuaded by word. It is the fear of hurt, the weight of the chains and the pain of the goad that has made them tame. In full regalia they will walk in the perahera, still in chains and the sharp goad (henduwa) next to them. What thoughts shall pass the mind of a great teacher, Siddharta Gautama Buddha whose greatest message was loving kindness, if He is to witness this which is done in his name.
Here again we conveniently forget that majority of these so called tamed elephants are in fact plucked from the wild in their baby years to be tamed to work as beasts of burden and to adorn cultural pageants. The elephant is born free and beyond all doubt desires to stay free.
May 20, 2007
Photos: 9
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