It's 1814

and we're in Boda in Gujarat where the

local chieftain Amir Sahib is plotting a

spectacular act of vengeance. An

enslaved man in the state of Gujarat has

committed a heinous act. He has slain

his master. And this was no ordinary

master. This was Amir Sahib's own

brother. So this man must suffer his

punishment and for this Amir Sahib has

something very special in mind. Great

footsteps shake the ground. The

assembled crowd falls into a hushed

silence as this unusual executioner

ambles into view.

He's enormous, perhaps 6 tons in weight

and 11 ft high at the shoulder. Of

course, we're not talking about a human

executioner. The executioner today is a

bull elephant, and he is well prepared

for the task ahead. With a driver

mounted on his back and flanked by men

armed with bamboo staffs, the elephant

steps forward onto the execution ground.

At the great beast's rear, a singular

man follows. His legs are bound with

three ropes, each lashed to a metal ring

around the elephant's rear right foot.

An eyewitness preserves the scene for

the ages. His account reads, "Every step

the elephant took jerked the prisoner

forward. Every eight or 10 steps must

have dislocated another limb, for they

were loose and broken when the elephant

had proceeded 500 yards."

Dragged through the mud, the man now

resembles a ragd doll rather than a

human being. His torn, mangled limbs

flap in their sockets as he's wrenched

and twisted into disturbing contortions

all the time, still alive and still

screaming.

This macab display will continue for

about an hour after which Amir Sahib has

seen enough. The eyewitness concludes

the prisoner was taken to the outside of

the town when the elephant, which is

instructed for such purposes, was backed

and put his foot on the head of the

criminal. It's a messy, hideous end, and

from the wretched prisoner's own

perspective, it probably came about an

hour too late. What we've just witnessed

is execution by elephant. Although in

truth, it's just one example of

execution by elephant. Elephants are

powerful and intelligent creatures, and

their human masters were deviously

innovative when it comes to inflicting

hideous injury. As we shall see, there

were lots of ways to put someone to

death with this kind of animal. But

before we get into today's video, I'd

just like to quickly let you know that

on the 5th of January, 2026, I'll be

speaking live in London. It's not my

event, but I am the speaker for that

evening. And I've left a link in the

description if you'd like to get

yourself a ticket and come see me. With

that, let's get back to Gungaro.

The earliest mentions of execution by

elephant come from the Middle East in

the 4th century BC. Following a mutiny

of Macedonian troops in Babylon in 323

BC, the regent of Macedon had the

captured rebels put to death by a herd

of elephants. Roman chronicler Quintis

Curteus Rufus said that the regent

selected 300 of the mutineers and quote

before the eyes of the entire army he

threw them to the elephants all were

trampled to death beneath the feet of

the beasts. A century later Hamlar

Barker used his war elephants to trample

enemy prisoners after 700 of his own

prisoners were tortured to death. It is

Hamlar's son Hannibal who has become

synonymous with elephants over the

years. But it was Barkasenia who favored

them as an execution method. These early

examples are fairly rudimentary forms of

elephant execution. There's not much

artistry to either case. There's just

lots of stamping and crushing. An

elephant stampede is something the

Carthaginians and Macedonians may have

witnessed in the wild on their

campaigns. And so they decided to

harness this raw power of the creatures

in a lethal manner. They weren't

interested in pageantry. They just

wanted to kill a large number of people

very quickly. Moving further east,

however, elephant executions were far

more sophisticated. In South and

Southeast Asia, these executions were

enshrined into legal codes and unleashed

on luckless prisoners as part of

judicial process. It makes sense that

elephantine executions would grow so

common in these lands. Elephants were

abundant in this part of the world and

their capability as killing machines was

well understood. War elephants were used

in what is now India as early as the

fifth century BC. The Chinese state of

Chu used elephants in its war against

the state of Wei in the 3rd century BC.

And the choose elephants had been

imported from what is now Thailand. And

the creatures may have been used for

similar purposes in Southeast Asia too.

Fun fact that you guys and John who

wrote this script might not know is that

in Thailand, elephants are called Chang

and considered semiholy sort of

spiritual creatures that are to be

respected and revered. In fact, they

appear on the logo of the infamous Chang

beer enjoyed by fangs and ties alike.

Anyway, long before elephants moved to

logos on beer, they moved from the

battlefield into the legal system. The

first mention of execution by elephant

comes from India and the manosmitti or

the laws of mano which emerged sometime

after 200 BC. Under this code, a wide

variety of different offenses were

punishable with death by elephant

including relatively minor crimes like

theft or tax evasion. Over the next

2,000 years, execution by elephant was a

fairly common occurrence across southern

Asia. To western observers, the practice

was sometimes referred to as gungaro,

but this is most likely due to a

misinterpretation by foreign travelers

and writers. Gunga can mean mute or

voiceless in Hindi, while ro is an

honorific term meaning elder or

chieftdom. So, roughly speaking, Gongaro

could translate to something like the

mute chieftdom or it may in fact be

derived from another ethmological root.

Either way, this was not the name for

the practice itself. instead may have

just been the name of a specific

elephant or just a general term for

elephant executioners. And if the term

was used at all, it would have only been

used in very specific places. Southern

Asia is a linguistically diverse part of

the world. Places like Gujarat, Candi,

Sam or Vietnam would have used their own

terminology. These different regions

didn't just have their own names for the

practice, but also their own methods and

customs too. But even though these

executions mean different things in

different places, we can still find some

similarities between these executions

across the region. I mean, apart from

the obvious similarity, the elephant in

the room, if you will, across South and

Southeast Asia, elephant executions were

conducted with three main intentions in

mind. The first intention was, of

course, death. These creatures were

enormous beasts. Some reports say that

the elephants used in executions weighed

more than 9 tons, although this may not

be true. The largest Indian elephant

ever recorded weighs in at only 7 tons.

But this is still a vast bulk. If an

elephant steps on your head or chest,

death is guaranteed and could even be

mercifully swift. But mercifully swift

wasn't usually high on the agenda for

the local authorities. often mercilessly

slow was the preferred option. If the

authorities wish to prolong the

suffering, they might tie the prisoner

to a stake. This method was recorded in

southern Vietnam where a prisoner would

be lashed to a post and then an elephant

would be unleashed upon them. Rather

than stamping on the victim, the

elephant would charge them repeatedly.

Death was still guaranteed, but it would

take a little longer. The second

intention is a little more nuanced. This

one is shame. Captain Alexander Hamilton

wrote of how the Mughal Emperor Shahan

would order his enemies to be taken to

the elephant garden where they would be

executed by an elephant which is

reckoned to be a shameful and terrible

death. It's perhaps the igninious nature

of death by elephant which makes it so

shameful. Rather than permitting a

victim to be felled with one strike of a

sword or an axe, the prisoner is instead

left rolling in the dirt crushed beneath

the feet of a great beast. Records from

Siam and other places suggest that

elephants were trained to toss their

victims into the air before killing

them. Again, this would have been a

pathetic and humiliating treatment

befitting of a lowly death. The third

intention is even more disturbing. Often

elephant executions were designed to

entertain. Following the failed Mongol

invasion of the Delhi Sultanate in 1305,

the Sultan had Mongolian prisoners taken

into a public arena where they were put

to death by elephant in front of a

baying jubilant crowd. A couple of

decades later, the famed Moroccan

wanderer Iben Batuta visited the

Sultanate. He penned his own account of

an execution by elephant following an

attempted assassination of the Delhi

vizier. While Batuch does not explicitly

mention entertainment, he does describe

a complex ceremony that was certainly

designed to be as spectacular as

possible. The prisoners were thrown to

the elephants which had been taught to

cut their victims to pieces. Their

hooves were cased with sharp iron

instruments, and the extremities of

these were like knives. On such

occasions, the elephant driver rode upon

them, and when a man was thrown to them,

they would wrap the trunk about him and

toss him up, then take him with the

teeth and throw him between their

forefe. Batuta's account suggests that

the elephants were highly obedient to

their drivers. He continues, "The

elephants would do just as the driver

should bid them, and according to the

orders of the emperor. If the order was

to cut the prisoner 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. In later

centuries, the Mughal emperor Jawungir

was said to be particularly amused by

elephant executions. In the 17th

century, the French traveler Francois

Bernier wrote his own account of this

type of execution. Bernier described his

shock at the pleasure that Jungen seemed

to take from watching the grim process.

So across a wide area, elephant

executions were used to bring some shame

to the prisoner, entertainment to the

assembled crowds, and finally death. But

there are other similarities too, which

are perhaps even more horrifying. Across

many different accounts from many

different places, we find elements of

control and restraint applied to

elephantine executions.

In other words, the authorities had a

powerful weapon at their disposal, one

that could crush a head like a ripe

melon and bring death in seconds.

But they chose not to use their weapon

in this way. Instead, they chose to

inflict a long process of torture on the

victim before the final killing blow was

delivered. Elephant-based torture

executions continued long into the 19th

century. We've seen one of these

examples already in the anonymous

account from Boda in Gujarat from 1814.

The eyewitness described how the

elephant was instructed to toy with the

victim so that his legs were hideously

wrenched and twisted. The ignaminious

and shameful aspect of the punishment is

also present here. The criminal is

described as being covered in mud and

racked by the most excruciating

torments. However, he still showed every

sign of life. It was only after an hour

of this torture that the elephant quote

put his foot on the head of the

criminal. To the south in the Sri Lankan

Kingdom of Candy, torture by elephant

was also common. In the early part of

the 19th century, British traveler and

future member of parliament James

Emerson Tenant said that he discussed

this form of torture with a Candian

chief. Tenant said that the chief told

him how the elephant would not use its

tusks or its feet to bring a quick death

to the victim. Instead, it would torture

him slowly with its trunk. The chief

said the elephant placed his foot on the

prostrate victim and plucked off his

limbs in succession by a sudden movement

of his trunk. This all sounds rather

fanciful, though. It takes an enormous

amount of force to tear a human limb

from limb without at least severing some

of the joints first. Yes, elephants are

capable of feats of enormous strength,

but this seems rather far-fetched.

However, there are two pieces of

evidence that suggests that this

actually did happen as described. The

first is an illustration in a book

called an historical relation of the

island of son written by the sailor and

trader Robert Knox in 1681. This

illustration bears the inscription an

execution by elephant. It seems to show

precisely what the chief was describing

more than a century and a half before

tenants visit. The second piece of

evidence comes from the British diplomat

Henry Charles su in 1850. By this point,

the British colonial authorities had

banned elephant executions for 35 years.

But because elephant lifespans are so

long, some of the animals involved were

still alive. Sir was given the chance to

see one of these retired elephants face

to face. Sir evidently considered this a

great opportunity for scientific

examination, stating, quote, "We were

particularly anxious to test the

creature's sagacity and memory." Sir

described the animal as mottled and of

enormous size, but said that it seemed

quite placid and in total thrral to the

whims of its keeper, who was seated high

on its neck. The Kangjun nobleman who

had accompanied sir then ordered the

driver to dismount and now the real

performance could begin. The chief then

gave the word of command, ordering the

creature to slay the wretch. The

elephant raised his trunk and twined it

as if around a human being. The creature

then made motions as if he were

depositing the man on the earth before

him. Then it slowly raised his back

foot, placing it alternatively upon the

spots where the limbs of the sufferer

would have been. As Sir watched on, the

elephant went through a kind of shadow

boxing action, as it slowly shattered

the arms and legs of his imaginary

victim. It seems the process took

several minutes as the animal worked

with methodical care and attention to

detail. sir continued, quote, "Then as

if satisfied that the bones must be

crushed, the elephant raised his trunk

high upon his head and stood

motionless."

The Candian chief then gave the order

for the elephant to complete his work.

The elephant dutifully obliged. The

creature immediately placed one foot as

if upon the man's abdomen and the other

upon his head, apparently using his

entire strength to crush and terminate

the wretch's misery. This episode

suggests this kind of torment did indeed

take place. Not only that, but the

creatures involved were so well trained

that they could remember how to do it

even three and a half decades later.

Most of the surviving records from

elephant executions come from foreign

travelers like Iben Batuta or James

Emerson Tenant. And there's a good

reason for this. This type of execution

was pretty runof-the-mill in southern

Asia. It wouldn't have seemed

particularly unusual or noteworthy. And

so a detailed published account of the

process may not have seemed necessary.

But for visiting chronicers, these acts

were the exact opposite. There were

bizarre and mystifying processes that

just had to be recorded. The chronicers

could scarcely believe what they were

witnessing. And so they wrote Florida

accounts of what happens when wrathful

elephant meets defenseless man. And to

read us back home, eagerly pouring over

travel accounts from far-flung corners

of the world, execution by elephant

would have seemed garishly exotic and

pretty horrifying. the reasons that you

probably clicked on this video. And this

explains why we've been left with so

many of these lurid accounts. But it

also gives us another problem. Travel

writers of centuries gone by tended to

exaggerate their accounts in order to

boost their readership back home. This

might suggest that these incidents never

really happened, that they're just a

kind of exotic fantasy from far-flung

lands. But in fact, they certainly did

happen. It's entirely possible that

traveling journalists embellished their

own tales with a little bit of artistic

license. But despite this, it's pretty

clear that this was a genuine

punishment. There are so many accounts

from so many different sources from so

many different locations across South

and Southeast Asia that the evidence is

compelling. The fact that the British

colonial authorities went out of their

way to ban the practice in India is also

a pretty clear indication that these

executions were going on. And this makes

sense, right? There are currently around

50,000 Asian elephants in the wild.

Their habitats and therefore their

numbers have taken a real hammering over

the last century or so, and it's

believed that they were around double

this number at the beginning of the 20th

century. Before this, their numbers

would have been likely even higher.

Human communities lived and worked

alongside elephants for centuries. They

respected the animals and tolerated them

to an extent, but they also witnessed

their massive power and put them to

work. Sometimes this work was of the

agricultural variety, clearing fields

and removing vegetation from farmland.

Often their bulk and heft were harnessed

on construction sites and on civil

engineering projects. In some cases, the

creatures simply became cherished pets

for wealthy land owners. From time to

time, however, elephants were given a

far loftier position. They would become

judicial executioners, tasked with

wiping condemned criminals from the face

of the earth. They took their own place

in history as the much feared

Gongaro.