From the Matanga –Lila: Musth in Elephants
The Matanga-Lila, loosely translated as ‘Elephant Sport’ is an ancient Indian treatise on elephantology. It contains 263 stanzas and is divided into twelve chapters of uneven length. Not much is known about its author Nilakantha. Written in Sanskrit, the Matanga-Lila is very well known in Kerala and based on this information one can speculate that Nilakantha was probably from the area that is now modern day Kerala.
Of the twelve chapters, chapter nine deals with the kinds of musth in elephants. Musth is an interesting phenomenon that a male elephant (and some females) undergo. Before we refer to the description that the Matanga-Lila offers it would be fruitful for us to touch upon how it is understood today.
Before we commence I would like to state that I am no scholar of Sanskrit and my knowledge of the treatise is based on an English translation of the original Sanskrit. I would therefore like to apologise for any discrepancies that might have crept in, these are not deliberate but a result of my ignorance of Sanskrit. Those interested in further reading may refer to ‘The Elephant — Lore of the Hindus’ by F. Edgerton published by Motilal Banarsidass, India. ISBN: 81–208–0005–2.
Musth as understood today
Musth is a post pubertal phenomenon of which, after attainment of maturity, there is a gradual build up in frequency, duration and intensity. Several factors influence this but the most important is the body condition / health of the individual elephant. Due to this dependency on health and body condition, in young bulls (between the approximate ages of fifteen to twenty-five years) the intensity and duration of musth is relatively short, lasting from a few days to a month. This initial or first stage of musth is followed by what is known as the ‘full musth’ stage which occurs in older bulls.
During the early stages of musth the temporal glands (these are modified sweat glands located between the ears and the eyes) swell slightly and are visible as dark patches. The secretion from these glands is watery and flows down the cheeks. The chemical composition of this discharge is different from the similar secretion during full musth and it lacks the pungent odor of the latter. The musth in young bulls usually does not progress beyond this initial / first stage.
During the full musth stage, which occurs in the older bulls and follows the early stage, the temporal glands swell considerably and the secretion is pungent and more viscous and stains a wide area of the cheeks and sometimes flows down to the corners of the mouth. The animal also starts dribbling urine as drops or in a regular stream. This it does even when its penis is sheathed resulting in urine running down its legs and staining them. The urine is smelly and has a particular odor. One can smell an elephant in full musth.
An elephant in musth will very often walk with his head held high and ears spread wide. They sometimes press their tusks against embankments and also against the bottom of small pools resulting in more pronounced temporal gland secretion. They also rub their temporal glands against trees. While this is common even during the non musth phase, the frequency of temporal gland rubbing increases during musth. They emit low frequency rumbles called musth rumbles. All this along with the dribbling of urine is done to advertise the state of musth. Female elephants seem to actively seek out musth males and prefer to mate with them.
While individual bulls come into musth almost the same time every year (over a short span) different males show wide variation in the time of year when they come into musth. It has been observed in one population in South India that the younger bulls came into musth during the dry season while the older bulls came into musth during the wet season. The bulls generally become more aggressive towards other males during musth and musth also serves as a deterrent to rival males and may also influence female choice of mates. It was observed that the bigger and stronger bulls not in musth would make way to younger and smaller bulls in musth.
The possible explanation for this is that the older bulls time their musth when more number of females are in estrus i.e. during the wet season and younger bulls during the dry season so as not to expose themselves to the older bulls when there are in musth. It was also observed that when a young bull in musth encountered an older bull in musth it stopped showing the physical manifestation of musth thus avoiding conflict with the physically superior animal. This spacing of musth among individuals in a population is interesting and needs further understanding as it is also well known that the chemical composition of musth secretion varies between the younger and older bulls. Once again, I would like to add that the timing of musth between older and younger bulls will vary between populations as a lot of factors influence it.
I have stated earlier that females actively seek out bulls in musth to mate with. What possible advantage could they derive from this? As body condition is the most important factor in influencing musth it stands to reason that only males of high genetic quality come into full musth. This could be the reason why a physically superior bull not in musth will make way to a smaller animal in musth; it would not like to sustain an injury that may have a negative impact on its coming into musth later. Musth is an expensive proposition for male elephants in physiological costs as they end their musth phase in very poor condition. The high levels of testosterone during the musth phase seriously affect the functioning of the immune system. Thus, an elephant in musth is probably at the height of its physical condition and is proving this to females by advertising his ability to take severe punishment thus making him desirable as a mate as the females wish to pass on the healthiest genes to their offspring.
Musth as described in the Matanga — Lila
Chapter nine of the Matanga-Lila deals with the kinds of musth in elephants and comprises of twenty three stanzas. One must keep in mind that the Matanga — Lila deals primarily with captive elephants and these descriptions of kinds of musth would have been derived from observing elephants in captivity.
The first three stanzas describe the conditions and nutrition / upbringing required for an elephant to develop into a healthy adult and thus set the stage for the onset of musth. The fourth stanza declares that, from an excess of joy — which can be understood as good mental and physical health — musth arises in elephants. It also states that musth declines when the elephant is bereft of ‘joy’. The correlation between the health of the individual elephant and the onset and intensity of musth is clearly established.
The fifth stanza lists from where the musth fluid flows or is secreted, it lists the following body parts: eyes, palate, temples, ears, navel, penis, trunk, nipples and body hair. It goes on to say that the musth fluid flows in many ways and therefore one cannot be sure if the Matanga — Lila is specifying only the aforementioned body parts or is just listing them out as examples.
The next stanza list eight characteristics of musth namely: excitement, swiftness, odor, love passion, complete florescence of the body, wrath, prowess and fearlessness.
In the next five stanzas, the Matanga — Lila gives a mythological explanation on the origin of musth and also various ‘types’ of musth as ‘omens’, good and bad, and what they portent. Musth was created by Brahma who bestowed half of the total quantity produced on the elephant and then distributed the other half among all the other animals. As a result of this largess elephants become intoxicated with musth and are mastered by it. Trees reach their seasonal growth at the sight of musth and all living things are filled with joy at the thought of musth. When an elephant comes in musth the kingdom he belongs to will experience a bountiful harvest. Musth is thus a sign of good fortune or plenty.
If the musth fluid first appears from the temporal gland in the right temple, victory for the King is ensured, if from the left then there will be abundant rain for the kingdom. If the discharge first appears from the penis or from the penis and both temples at once, it portents that the King will be glorious.
These stanzas also describe behavior and body language that denotes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ musth. Good musth brings victory in its wake while bad musth is considered as dangerous and not necessarily good for the kingdom.
The next seven stanzas describe the seven stages of musth. These stages are as follows:
First stage: This can be described as the build up to musth. In this stage the elephant is quarrelsome and indulges in a lot of dust bathing and water spraying. His nails, tusks, eyes and skin become ‘honey coloured’ and he develops ‘lotus-filament’ spots on his skin. The temporal glands swell and he is ‘Temple filled’.
Second Stage: Wet cheeked i.e. The discharge of musth fluid commences. His behavior undergoes a change — he is ‘filled with thunder’, roars like a ‘rolled-up cloud’ and displays extreme aggression.
Third Stage: Termed as ‘Down — fixation’, he starts dribbling urine. He becomes disobedient ‘set on going backwards instead of forward as directed’, increase in vocalization, quick movements and resists confinement. Secretion of musth fluid from the temporal gland is ‘abundant’.
Fourth Stage: Scent –going. The onset of musth ‘odour’ — smells like a Lotus! Saffron coloured musth fluid, aggressive ‘when spurred on he shatters the enemy’s chariots and horses’.
Fifth Stage: The furious stage: In this stage the elephant shows no desire for food or water is in a perpetual state of rage and his mahout is unable to control him.
Sixth Stage: Surpassed. The most intense period or the ‘peak’ of musth, he is uncontrollable, mad with rage, extremely aggressive towards all creatures, cannot abide his own shadow much less other elephants.
Seventh Stage: Diminution. The calm after the storm. The end of musth, he is back to him pre- musth demeanor. He is calm and no longer aggressive towards other males — ‘he shines like a cloud that has discharged its accumulation of water’.
The next stanza describes the adverse effect musth has on the health of an elephant and the time taken to recover from the same. It states that with the flowing of the musth fluid the health of the elephant correspondingly deteriorates. This deterioration in health brings with it a multitude of diseases which in turn results in the animal not being able to achieve musth for a few years due to his weakened health. A three month health care regime, devoted to restoring his health is required after the completion of musth.
The last four stanzas in this chapter list out certain foods or supplements that need to be given during the musth periods. These help in both augmenting and controlling musth. When musth first appears a pill containing a cocktail of plants and herds ( saha,, Cocculus cordifilous, horse — radish, Sida cordifolia, double-hemp, Feronia elephantum, Alstonia scholaris, sandalwood, Nauclea cadamba, Abrus pre- catorious, madhuka, Physalis flexuosa, jivantika, salimali, Amorpholhallus, campanulatus, vrscira, Sevya, iksura,kukkutanda, Abrus precatorius, Physalis flexuosa, aloes, and Tribulus lanuginsus) mixed with kheri, milk or the juice ‘milk’ of the kheri tree, and honey should be given to the elephant.
To augment their passion during musth, a pill containing koranda, mallika, neem, Symplocus racemosa roots with salt, Terminalia catappa and honey can be administered. A mixture of lime, suvaha, saha, long pepper, Alstonia cholaris, vijaya, Terminala catappa and honey crushed in milk should be smeared on his body to control a musth maddened elephant.
In Conclusion
It is interesting to try and compare the descriptions of musth in the Matanga — Lila with the knowledge that we now possess on the same. I will try and attempt to do that by analyzing point by point what is written in the Matanga-Lila.
The Matanga — Lila establishes the co relation between musth and health/ body condition of the elephant. It confirms that only healthy animals come into musth. It is also interesting to note that it does not directly relate musth with sexual desire. The term ‘love passion’ features as the third in the list of characteristics of musth — definitely not the primary function. It is quite clear that the desire to mate was not an overriding factor according to the Matanga-Lila. In fact there is no mention of crossing a female with a musth male anywhere in the text.
In the creation story of musth it mentions that this condition of musth is most pronounced in elephants as they received half of the total quantity produced — they get intoxicated and mastered by it. The ‘rut’, the closest one can get to the state of musth in other animals, is not as overwhelming in other species. With regard to ‘good musth’, ‘bad musth’ and the omens associated with musth — it clearly shows that they were aware that musth affects individual elephants in different ways.
When it comes to the seven stages of musth, we can clearly see the progression from the early stage of musth to the full stage. It starts with the swelling of the temporal gland, followed by the secretion of the musth fluid, the dribbling of urine and then the onset of ‘odour’. One cannot argue with this sequence — for example that ‘odour’ occurs after the onset of dribbling of urine indicating that the urine is the cause of the same.
However, when it comes to the secretion of musth fluid, the Matanga-Lila seems to have got it wrong — it lists a whole host of body parts that secrete musth fluid. The reason for this is mystifying as it seems to have got most of the rest right. It would be, in my opinion, worth another look to thoroughly check a domestic elephant to see if there is any increase in secretion of body fluids other than musth fluids. The change in behavior and temperament is also fairly accurate.
Once again, at the end, the co-relation between health and musth is emphasized and a ‘recovery’ regime of three months duration is prescribed. Without which the chances of the individual coming into musth the following year is slim to say the least.
