The Elephant God | Page 3

He may do you harm."
But, while the rebuked mahout glared malevolently and inwardly hoped
that the animal might kill him, Dermot walked calmly toward it,
holding out his hand with the fruit. The elephant, regarding him
nervously and suspiciously out of its little eyes, shifted uneasily from
foot to foot, and at first shrank from him. But, as the officer stood
quietly in front of it, it stretched out its trunk and smelled the extended
hand. Then it touched the arm and felt it up to the shoulder, on which it
let the tip of the trunk rest for a few seconds. At last it seemed satisfied
that the white man was a friend and did not intend to hurt it.
During the ordeal Dermot had never moved; although there was every
reason to fear that the animal, either from sheer nervousness or from
resentment at the ill-treatment that it had just received, might attack
him and trample him to death. Indeed, many tame elephants, being
unused to Europeans, will not allow white men to approach them. So
the Hindu coolie stood trembling with fright, while the havildar and the
butler were alarmed at their sahib's peril.
But Dermot coolly peeled a banana and placed it in the elephant's
mouth. The gift was tried and approved by the huge beast, which
graciously accepted the rest of the fruit. Then the Major said to it in the

mahouts' tongue:
"Buth! (Lie down!)"
The elephant slowly sank down to the ground and allowed the Major to
examine its head, which was badly lacerated by the spikes. Dermot
cleansed the wounds thoroughly and applied an antiseptic to them. The
animal bore it patiently and seemed to recognise that it had found a
friend; for, when it rose to its feet again, it laid its trunk almost
caressingly on Dermot's shoulder.
The officer stroked it and then turned to the mahout, who was standing
in the background.
"Chand Khan, you are not to come near this elephant again," he said. "I
suspend you from charge of it and shall report you for dismissal. Jao!
(Go!)"
The man slunk away scowling. Dermot beckoned to the Hindu, who
approached salaaming.
"Are you this animal's coolie?"
(The Government of India very properly recognises the lordliness of
the elephant and provides him in captivity with no less than two
body-servants, a mahout and a coolie, whose mission in life is to wait
on him.)
The Hindu salaamed again.
"Yes, Huzoor (The Presence)," he replied.
"How long have you been with it?"
"Five years, Huzoor."
"What is its name?"
"Badshah (The King). And indeed he is a badshah among elephants.

No one but a Mussulman would treat him with disrespect. Your Honour
sees that he is a Gunesh and worthy of reverence."
The animal, which was a large and well-shaped male, possessed only
one tusk, the right. The other had never grown. Dermot knew that an
elephant thus marked by Nature would be regarded by Hindus as sacred
to Gunesh, their God of Wisdom, who is represented as having the head
of an elephant with a single tusk, the right. Many natives would
consider the animal to be a manifestation of the god himself and
worship it as a deity. So the Major made no comment on the coolie's
remark, but said:
"What is your name?"
"Ramnath, Huzoor."
"Very well, Ramnath. You are to have sole charge of Badshah until I
can get someone to help you. You will be his mahout. Take this
medicine that I have been using and put it on as you have seen me do.
Don't let the animal blow dust on the cuts. Keep them clean, and bring
him up tomorrow for me to see."
He handed the man the antiseptic and swabs. Then he turned to the
elephant and patted it.
"Good-bye, Badshah, old boy," he said. "I don't think that Ramnath will
ill-treat you."
The huge beast seemed to understand him and again touched him with
the tip of its trunk.
"Badshah knows Your Honour," said the Hindu. "He will regard you
always now as his ma-bap (mother and father)."
Dermot smiled at this very usual vernacular expression. He was
accustomed to being called it by his sepoys; but he was amused at
being regarded as the combined parents of so large an offspring.

"Badshah has never let a white man approach him before today,
Huzoor," continued Ramnath. "He has always been afraid of the sahibs.
But he sees you are his friend. Salaam kuro, Badshah!"
And the elephant raised his trunk vertically in the air and trumpeted the
Salaamut or royal salute that he had been taught to make. Then, at
Ramnath's signal, he lowered his trunk and crooked it. The man put his
bare foot on it, at the same time