Tahan Jaturongkabat And Elephants Options

[anurak]

this is some information i found on Pattaya Elephant Village Website. for the sake of convenience, i'm quoting their website. if any of this interests you, by all means drop by their website!

THE ELEPHANT IN WARFARE

The sound of the drums, heralds the approach of a victorious Thai army. Behind the drummers, there follows a war elephant, dressed in traditional style, together with, an infantry escort.

This ceremony was known as the "Glong Sabad Chai'.

The elephant was used on the battlefield in Thailand, India and other countries in South East Asia for many centuries. The war elephant has great strength and a terrifying appearance. It can trample men under foot, batter down obstacles, and strike terror into the hearts of inexperienced soldiers and untrained horses.

Contrary to popular belief in some parts, of the world, however, the elephant was not the forerunner to or a substitute for the modem tank. In fact, there are many recorded instances, where elephants, used in this capacity, were of more danger to their own side than to the enemy.

A wounded or panic‑stricken elephant could easily get out of control and turn on his own side, causing chaos and destruction. The problem is that an elephant, unlike a tank, is made of flesh and blood, not metal. Although it has a thick hide, this hide is not thick enough to stop the penetration of sharp pointed metal objects like arrowheads and javelins.

In India, war elephants carried a driver and generally three warriors armed with bows and arrows on castle like structures on the animal's back. These warriors might also use javelins, knives and pots of oil or even stones. Elephants were considered to be so important in Indian warfare, that one prince had an elephant corps 9,000 strong.

In Thai warfare, the elephant's greatest use was that of a war mount, for kings and commanders of armies. When employed in battle, the war elephant carried three persons on his back. The king or the army commander, the tactical commander and a driver.

The king sat alone on the elephant's neck in order dirct the battle or to fight the enemy king or commander in direct mortal combat. This was a little like the individual contests between warriors in the "Heroic Age" of Ancient Greece or the jousts between knights in armour in Medieval Europe.

The tactical commander sat in the middle of the seat, which was strapped to the animal's back.  He handling either two flags or peacocks tails to signal directions of movement to the soldiers below. The third soldier sat on the elephant's hind quarters. He was the driver and his job, as well as driving the animal, was to take care of the weapons attached to the middle seat.

At all times, a war elephant was surrounded by a bodyguard of up to eight foot soldiers, known as "Chaturonkbath". It was their duty to protect the elephant's legs from a surprise attack or other cowardly maneuver by a dishonorable enemy.

The sight of the king or commander of the armies, seated on the back of the elephant and overlooking the battlefield, must have been truly magnificent and a great inspiration to his soldiers. But he would also have been highly conspicuous and vulnerable to enemy projectile weapons.

This vulnerability and indeed the role of the elephant on the battlefield began to be questioned in the seventeenth century, when large numbers of Europeans began to arrive in South East Asia. The reason for this questioning was because these Europeans brought with them, new and terrifying weapons, efficient hand held firearms.  Most notably the smooth bore musket.

The musket was a deadly weapon, which could cut through most body armour of the day and it did have a reasonable range.  Thus, a king, a commander or indeed an elephant could be shot at and killed from a distance.  The musket had, however,  two major failings, which to some extent mitigated its effectiveness.

Being muzzle loaded, it had a slow rate of fire, approximately one shot per minute. In addition, as it had a smooth bore, a musket ball did not spin when it left the barrel and so it was inaccurate over a distance of more than two hundred yards.

European armies, having used the musket and its predecessors since the late fifteenth century, had developed tactics to overcome the musket's shortcomings and these could be adapted to take account of and honour the elephant's traditional role on Thai battlefields.

By the mid‑nineteenth century, however, rapid European industrialisation, had lead to the production of a new and more deadly weapon, the bolt action, repeating rifle.  Because this new weapon was breech loading its rate of fire was greatly increased. The rifled bore of the barrel, caused the bullet to spin which increased its accuracy.

Where once infantry had to stand in lines firing enmasse at each other, now they could lie down and fire salvoes from cover at anyone approaching. This development changed the battlefield, making all military animals such as horses and elephants too vunerable to gunfire. It also made the king or commander too exposed to distant attack. Realising these dangers, those in authority quietly retired the elephant from the battlefield.

The Elephant did, however, continue to do valuable service for the armed forces in a support role, even as recently as the Second World War.  Indeed,  he still proves to be an inspiring sight in parades and at ceremonial functions, where he is able to receive the dignity and respect, which he richly deserves. 

[anurak]

Sawatdee just reminded me that people who don't understand Thai might not understand what this has to do with Tom Yum Goong.

well in the movie, Tony plays Kham, who is a descendant of the Tahan Jaturongkabat ("Chaturonkbath" in the Pattaya Elephant Website). "tahan" means soldier or warrior. if you play back the first TYG trailer, Kham's father(?) is saying to him: "tahan jaturongkabat... bpen nak rop tee prajam tao kong chaang seuk." the subtitle reads: "elephant warriors... a protector at the feet of a royal war elephant."

cool, huh? Kham is the last in a long line of Tahan Jaturongkabat.

EDIT: i just noticed i made a silly spelling mistake in my karaoke-thai.

This post has been edited by Thawan Daeng: Jun 20 2005, 07:02 PM

[Sawatdee]

Thanks TD, I was wondering who was Tahan Jaturongkabat, now it's clear

[anurak]

mai bpen rai, ja!!

[tachyon96]

Thanks Tawan Daeng. That's very interesting!
By the way, yeah, Jaturongkabat, Jatu or Jaturong (old word) means four and Bat or Bata means foot or feet

So, Tahan Jaturongkabat means: the soldier who guards the 4 legs of the elephant.

[Sawatdee]

Interesting to know !
TD, each time you'll post i'm gonna do the same right after

[anurak]

TD, each time you'll post i'm gonna do the same right after

[Sawatdee]

awwwwwwwww courage

[anurak]

hahaha

cheeky girl

[UltraMaster2000]

Thank you Thawan for the information!

[UltraMaster2000]

By the way, I was referring to the information about the elephants and their history, not to the information about Sawatdee being a cheeky girl...

[Sawatdee]

hehehehe

[anurak]

By the way, I was referring to the information about the elephants and their history, not to the information about Sawatdee being a cheeky girl...

hahahaha Suuri, someday you may thank me for that info as well!

[Archani_kj]

Yes! Additional Info. This is one of the best Muay Thai Boran. The name is Muay Khod Cha Sarn or elephant boxing. This form was reserved for the best thai warriors back in the day and only passed onto blood relatives. Those are the Jaturongkabat warriors who protected the king's elephant feet. These guys were among the best as you can see from movie "Khun Siek". Since they have to be pretty quick and precise in what they do to be able to follow the king and guard the elephant feet. They must executed the brutal technics to kill the enemy upon contact quickly and move on and so that's why "Throw, Stamp on, Grap, Break" are the main technics in which they concentrated and based on. Since there is no need for the Jaturongkabaht guys any more in the modern warfare, the Art itself are almost disappeared but Thanks to Tony Jaa to bring it alive on the big screen for the world to know!!!

[anurak]

hello Archani_kj welcome to the forum! if you like, you can register to become a member!

thank you for the info! i would like to ask, did all of the Jaturongkabat warriors learn Muay Kodjasarn? or were only the best Jaturongkabat warriors taught it? also, were the positions guarding the elephant depend on how good of a fighter they were? what i mean is, is the front more important than the back? is right more important than left? did the general or king choose their Jaturongkabat?

thanks in advance!