Elephants and Kings
An Environmental History
Thomas R. Trautmann
This book explores the relationship between elephants and kings throughout history. It delves into how kings have used elephants as symbols of their power, leading to their extinction in some early civilizations. However, in India, kings found a more sustainable use for elephants in war, which helped preserve their habitat and numbers in the wild. The author traces the history of the war elephant in India and its spread to the west and Southeast Asia, highlighting the unique domestication process and its impact on environmental history.
Publish Date
2015-08-03T00:00:00.000Z
2015-08-03T00:00:00.000Z
Goodreads Rating
3.88
ISBN
9780226264363
Categories
Recommendations
1
Recommendations
2019-02-25T00:00:00.000Z
The first is Thomas Trautmann’s Elephants and Kings, that explores the environmental and political significance of the subcontinent’s largest animal. The book ranges widely in time and space; from the world of Kautilya’s Arthashastra to the pressures on elephant forests in India today, from the use of these animals in warfare to their images and representations in culture and folklore. Trautmann is one of my two favourite foreign historians of India. – source