Abstract:
Mātaṅgalīlā is an ancient treatise on the science of elephants composed by an otherwise unknown Nīlakaṇṭha. The author hails from the Southern Indian State of Kerala. The manuscripts discovered by T. Ganapatishastri are from the 18th CE.
The text written in Sanskrit language deals with various aspects of elephants in 12 sections such as the creation of veterinary science for elephants on earth, the types of elephants according to their time of birth, the auspicious and inauspicious characteristics of elephants, their life-span, their body structures and so on.
Present paper will study all these aspects dealt with in this text and will try to apply them to Asian Elephants.
