Agartala, Feb. 24: In a novel inauguration, an elephant today presented a book called Hathi, Hathi (Elephant, elephant) to Tripura governor D.N. Sahay with a smart salute.
Parul Prakashani, the state?s leading publishing house, came up with this idea for the inauguration of its latest title, keeping in mind the state?s rich tradition involving the animals.
Tripura?s gigantic elephants, stalking its rich forests, have attracted attention from far and wide since time immemorial. So much were they coveted that they have also been instrumental in even inviting invasions.
In 1816, Mughal emperor Jehangir?s subedar in Bengal, Ibrahim Fateh Jung, had conquered Tripura as its ruling monarch, Yashodhar Manikya (1811-1823), had not sent elephants as a tribute to the Mughal court in Delhi. Manikya was captured by the Mughals and later died as an ascetic in Vrindavan. He never returned to the state. Even the erstwhile royal flag and emblem of Tripura had pictures of full-grown elephants inscribed on them.
However, with time, Tripura?s once-rich forest cover has shrunk and the number of its elephants dwindled. At present, there are only two herds of 40 elephants in the forests of West and South Tripura districts. The elephants were in the limelight once again today as a full-grown trained elephant, provided by the forest department from the Sipahijala animal sanctuary was selected to salute the governor and offer him the book.
The inauguration was held on the spacious lawns of Rabindra Bhawan to coincide with the Agartala book fair, which is under way at the nearby children?s park.
The elephant quietly awaited the arrival of the VIPs, governor Dinesh Nandan Sahay and his wife Manju, till 4.30 pm. Security personnel were initially apprehensive about the idea, but the matter was settled when the governor and his wife reassured the organisers that they would accept the book from the elephant.
Goaded by the mahut, the elephant saluted the governor and his wife and offered the book to the governor. Even as the large gathering cheered, the elephant ceremonially saluted them too, much to the relief of Ratna Saha, proprietor of Parul Prakashani.
Forest minister Pranab Debbarma and principal conservator of forest, M.A. Khan, were also present at the function as special invitees.
Explaining the rationale behind the quaint inauguration, Ratna Saha?s husband, Gourdas, said the book is an anthology of 17 short stories, one novel and 13 poems on elephants written by Rabindra Nath Tagore, Mahasveta Devi, Sunil Ganguly and Pramathanath Bishi, among others.
The sleek volume has been edited by Parthajit Ganguly.
?Since the book is exclusively on elephants and Tripura is historically known to have been rich in elephants, we decided to have the pachyderm for the book?s inauguration for novelty,? Saha said. He added that the book was selling like ?hot cakes? at the book fair.
A senior forest official, Sushil Debbarma, said the incident threw light on the present state of elephants in Tripura. ?It shows that elephants are becoming a subject of public curiosity only because of their declining numbers and denudation of their forest habitat,? he added.