Kandula is a famous

war elephant A war elephant is an elephant that is Animal training, trained and guided by humans for combat purposes. Historically, the war elephant's main use was to charge (warfare), charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elep ...

mentioned in the Sinhala chronicle Mahavamsa. According to the chronicle, when Dutugamunu of Sri Lanka (101–77 BC) was born, many items of value were said to have appeared spontaneously, which were found and brought in by various people as gifts to the newborn. Among them a fine elephant who was found by a fisherman named ''Kandula''. The elephant was named for its finder and became the companion of Dutugamunu, serving as his mount during the wars that led to the unification of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The climactic

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

between the Indian king

Ellalan Ellalan (; ), also referred to as Elara the Pious, and by the honorific epithet ''Manu Needhi Cholan'', was a member of the Tamil Chola dynasty in Southern India, who upon capturing the throne became king of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, in presen ...

and Dutugemunu is said to have occurred near

Anuradhapura Anuradhapura (, ; , ) is a major city located in the north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka, North Central Province and the capital of Anuradhapura District. The city lies north of the cur ...

where the two kings mounted on elephants; Dutugemunu mounting Kandula and Elara mounting Maha Pambata. King Ealara is said to have been slain in this elephant-mounted duel. An

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

born in 2001 at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. was named after Kandula. He is the first Asian elephant to be conceived by artificial insemination and the 5th AI birth ever utilizing a method developed by a team of German veterinarians. The mascot of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry Regiment is also named Kandula, after the royal elephant of Dutugamunu.

References

2001 animal births National Zoological Park (United States) War elephants Individual elephants in Sri Lanka Individual Asian elephants {{afrotheria-stub

See also

References