While travelling we come across some places, which we call as अद्भुत, अकल्पनीय.
World has entered 21st century, but for this
Elephant in Tonk, Rajasthan, time has been standing still since ages. Google
maps was showing the directions, but we were unsure of correctness as the
approach road and nearby highway was almost without any traffic. In such a
situation, approaching locales is the best option. There was a visible happiness
on face and a shine in the eyes of the locales, when we were asking about the
directions for this spot, known as Hathi Bhata.
From a distance, the
Elephant looks like a LIVE WALKING Elephant. But on coming near you realize the
magic of the chisels created by our ancestors at this site.
This huge monolith Elephant
is believed to have created by Ramnath Salat during Samvat 1200 during the reign of King
Sawai Ram Singh. However, study by Archaeological Survey of India has not been confirmed the time of creation of this monument. That makes the history of this spot more mysterious.
Monolith Elephant is
approx. 8.6 m. in length and legs base averages 1.80 m. Right Ear of the Elephant when
standing with your back towards the structure bears an inscription in
Devanagari script which suggests probably the timelines of Elephant
construction goes back to much earlier periods.
Also, nearby stone base
has an inscription narrating story of Nala and Damayanti, which makes some
people believe that it was built much earlier, probably by Pandavas during their exile. On the nearby stones in front of Elephant,
there are many small depressions resembling plates or very small pits. Probably must have been used to grind grains or have food on these stones. People still use these for
having lunch during festival celebrations. No one knows why these impressions or small pits were created by the ancestors.
Within first 10-15
minutes, we have clicked all the pictures but somehow were glued to this place
and were craving to know more about the history and timelines of this monument.
So again, we approached nearby locales to quench our thirst about this place.
As long history comes with due legends which are passed on to next generated as folk tales by
the elderlies to keep the history alive. Here are some associated beliefs and
legends with this Elephant, as told by locales:
1. Queen Draupadi used to take food only after worshipping Lord Ganesha.
During exile Pandavas had carved this Elephant in one night to let Queen
Draupadi continue her worship. The visible water body behind the Elephant, the Bawdi was created by Bhim for drinking
water. Water in this Bawdi has never dried. From a distance it appeared like a Submarine floating in the waters.
While going away from this spot Pandavas got worried about the safety
of the structure and hence injected life into the Elephant. People in the region
believe and tell tales of this Elephant roaming around at night and guarding
the nearby places in the past. Finally, one fine day, this Elephant decided to take
rest and voluntarily gave away his life to stand still at the place, where the
sculpture is located now.
2.
Hearing so many legends about the Elephant, Mughals had tried to break
the feet to take the Elephant with them. But it is believed that blood came out
from the back foot of the Elephant and terrified soldiers ran away. That crack
on the foot is visible till date. Check out –
We had anticipated to
spend around 15-20 minutes at this spot but ended up spending close to one hour
here and then we reached out to the locales to know more about the mysteries associated with the Elephant. Such is the greatness of country called India.
Hathi Bhata is approx. 25 km. from Tonk City and 1 km. from Tonk-Sawai Madhopur
Highway. Came to know about this while scanning the route from Bundi to Sawai Madhopur and were glad to be here.
Keep exploring Folks…
