Execution by Elephant in India
The death penalty is one of the oldest methods of criminal sentencing. Although different countries have had equally gruesome methods of inflicting the highest form of punishment, India had one of the most brutal methods of criminal torture: execution by elephant.
Designed to demonstrate to the people that even the awe-inspiring power of nature was under the iron grip of the emperor, execution by elephant — or gunga rao, as it’s called in India – became a choice method for capital punishment during the Middle Ages and continued well into the 19th century. Although the execution method was thought to have originated in ancient Rome, the practice of stomping the punished via elephant became popular in both western and Southeast Asia and in India. However, this method of execution declined as the British Empire grew in power.
Sources say that Hindu and Muslim leaders executed citizens for tax evasion, rebellion, and being enemy soldiers alike. Thieves and Mongol prisoners were also punished by death.
As for the elephants, they were often trained to “instantly crush [the offender] to atoms … but if it was desired to torture him, the elephant would break his limbs successively, as men are broken on the wheel,” observed Robert Kerr, a writer from the 19th century.
Crushing the victim, however, was not the only method of elephant-inflicted torture. According to François Bernier, a French traveler who witnessed such executions in the Mughal sultanate of Delhi, the elephants were also capable of slicing the prisoners to pieces “with pointed blades fitted to their tusks.”
Another traveler who visited Delhi in the year 1330, Ibn Mattuta, witnessed and recorded his account of the event, stating: “If the order was to cut him to pieces, the elephant would do so with his irons, and then throw the pieces among the assembled multitude. But if the order was to leave him, he would be left lying before the emperor, until the skin should be taken off, and stuffed with hay, and the flesh given to the dogs.”
I see no reason to end this punishment. Do it to the child molesters, animal abusers and rapists!
Obama has rather large ears also!
The elephants were often trained to “instantly crush [the offender] to atoms … but if it was desired to torture him, the elephant would break his limbs successively, as men are broken on the wheel,” observed Robert Kerr, a writer from the 19th century. Crushing the victim, however, was not the only method of elephant-inflicted torture. According to François Bernier, a French traveler who witnessed such executions in the Mughal sultanate of Delhi, the elephants were also capable of slicing the prisoners to pieces “with pointed blades fitted to their tusks.”
In Africa, elephants are being slaughtered at unprecedented levels to feed the insatiable global demand for ivory. Americans are among the largest consumers of this cruel luxury, but by pledging not to buy ivory jewelry, trinkets or any other ivory product, we can serve as an example to the world and help protect elephants for the generations yet to come.
This seems like a very acceptable punishment for all of the aforementioned in addition to the Rich Chinese and other groups who drive the Ivory Trade including the Africans who kill the elephants for their tusks! It is 2014 for crying out loud, let’s get civilized already! I am very attached to elephants as that was my first toy in life = a pink plush baby elephant stuffed animal and I still have it!! Her name is Rosie after my grandma who gave it to me! 🙂
DUMBO
Dumbo was my favorite movie because “Dumbo” was embarrassed about his giant ears and I was born half deaf. I still have my “Dumbo” watch from a trip to Disney and the little grey plush toy! Elephants are such beautiful and kind animals! Some interesting Safari Facts about them are the following:
* elephant’s trunk has more than 40,000 muscles.
* On parts of its body, an elephant’s skin is an inch thick.
* To stay, cool elephants flap their ears