Elephants are Thailand’s national symbol. When they take their last breath, they deserve a final resting place that befits an animal of such national importance.
A striking feature of the elephant cemetery in Ban Ta Klang elephant village in Surin’s Tha Tum district. The tombstone above each grave is built in the shape of an ancient headpiece worn by warriors of the past. Photos by Chamlong Boonsong
Wat Pa Arjiang, which is located at Ban Ta Klang elephant village in Surin’s Tha Tum district, understands the animals’ significance and has created a special cemetery for them to rest in peace.
Surin is one of several provinces with a large population of domesticated elephants.
A plot of land in the forest adjacent to the temple has been turned into a cemetery for dead elephants, with about 100 graves where the remains of the jumbos are buried in the shade of trees in a peaceful environment.
A striking feature of the graveyard is that the tombstone above each grave is built in the shape of an ancient headpiece worn by warriors in the past.
In other parts of the world such as Africa or other Asian countries, dead elephants are mostly buried in graveyards next to hospitals which treated them or sanctuaries that kept them.
But those graveyards do not enjoy the same exalted status as the one at this temple which is treated like a cemetery for human bodies.
Phra Khru Samu Harn Panyatharo, the temple’s abbot, spoke of how the elephants cemetery came into being.
“I built the cemetery in 1995. One night, I dreamed of Phang Kammoon — the elephant I had a very close bond with when I was young. In my dream, she asked to come back to be with me,” the monk said.
The skull of an elephant on display in a building near the elephant cemetery.
“My father sold her to someone from Chumphon Buri district (in Surin). She died after being hit by a car and was buried in Chumphon Buri for several years.”
Phra Khru Samu then decided to buy back the skeleton of the elephant for 4,000 baht.
“In fact, the money was not paid to buy the remains. Rather, it was paid for the digging,” the monk said.
After he retrieved the elephant’s remains, he intended to erect a spirit house for it.
When villagers learned of his initiative, they also dug up the remains of their elephants buried in their rice fields or plantations and took them to the temple to perform merit-making rites and re-bury them in the forest near the temple.
By 2004-2005, there were about 40 graves in the forest. A Tha Tum district chief at the time visited the cemetery and
sought funding from the provincial governor to improve it, Phra Khru Samu said.
The temple and the villagers also lent support to improve the cemetery, which now accommodates about 100 graves, the monk said.
There are still the remains of many elephants waiting to be buried at the cemetery.
Dead elephants cannot be taken for burial at the temple’s cemetery immediately.
They have to be buried elsewhere for between five and seven years until their bodies decompose, with only the skeleton remaining. This way, it is much easier to exhume the skeletons and move them for re-burial at the cemetery, Phra Khru Samu said.
He added when Surin elephants die in other provinces, their owners bury them locally because it is difficult to move them. When the time comes to move the remains, the owners approach the temple.
“Sometimes, I have to pay the moving costs,” Phra Khru Samu said.
“In some cases, the owners sell the elephant’s skull to an educational institute,” the monk said.
At Ban Ta Klang, visitors can observe the life of the locals and learn about their relations with the elephants they raise.
A master of ceremony gives offerings to sacred spirits at San Prakam shrine.
Efforts are also being made to prevent mahouts from taking their elephants to
beg in the streets of Bangkok and other major cities.
Surin has about 200 domesticated elephants and Ban Ta Klang village alone has more than 100 of them, the abbot said.
“Some elephants from Ban Ta Klang die of old age, illnesses or road accidents. But no matter where they die, if possible, we will try to bring them all back here to their final resting place,” Phra Khru Samu said.
The monk explained that the tomb in the shape of an ancient hat is symbolic of providing shade for the dead elephants.
“The elephants do us favours and when they die they should rest comfortably in the shade,” the monk said.
Ban Ta Klang is home to Kui ethnic people who have a long tradition of catching elephants and training them.
Ethnic Kui, a small minority in Surin, continue to preserve their ancestors’ culture and traditions, such as the worshipping of ancestors before capturing wild elephants.
Their ancestors were skilled at catching and taming wild elephants, and in the past Kui leaders presented Thai kings with elephants they had caught in the wild.
Many Kui leaders were also promoted to honourable government positions in what are now Surin and Si Sa Ket provinces.
Today, many local ethnic Kui are increasingly embracing the identity of “Thai-ness” and the significance of their traditions and culture may be waning, but they still raise a large number of domesticated elephants.
Each year, many mahouts migrate to other provinces to earn a living, but they always return to their home province to take part in a ceremony to worship their ancestors.
Apart from Surin, domesticated elephants are also raised in provinces along the western border with Myanmar, such as Tak, Mae Hong Son, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon and Ranong.
Today, the number of domesticated elephants nationwide has gone up to an estimated 4,000, with about 3,000 in the wild.
A shaman blows a wind instrument during a rite to pay homage at the San Prakam shrine for elephants in Ban Ta Klang village.