The Story of Thailand's Legendary Elephant Duel | Elephant Warfare and Kingship in Southeast Asia

Welcome! In today's video, we will explore the history of one of the most legendary events in the Siamese (Thai) chronicles: Naresuan's great victory by elephant duel against the crown prince of the Toungoo dynasty Mingyi Swa. The video will also cover the ancient tradition of elephant warfare and duels on elephant back in Burmese (Myanmar) and Thai history. Although Naresuan and Mingyi Swa's duel is the most famous and remembered elephant duel, there was a long tradition of king's and royal family members fighting single combat on the back of elephants dating back about the 13th century. I hope you enjoy the video, and thanks for watching!
For more information about the history of elephant duels and the military history of war elephants in Southeast Asia see:
Sunait Chutintaranoud, "The Rite of the Elephant Duel in Thai-Burmese Military History," Journal of Humanities (2004)
Sunait Chutintaranoud, "Cakravartin: Ideology, Reason and Manifestation of Siamese and Burmese Kings in Traditional Warfare (1538-1854)," Crossroads (1988)
For more information about King Naresuan's elephant duel and its legacy in Thai history see:
Matthew Kosuta, "King Naresuan's Victory in Elephant Duel: A Tale of Two Monuments," Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia (2019)
Barend Jan Terwiel, "What Happened at Nong Sarai? Comparing Indigenous and European Sources from the Late 16th Century Siam," Journal of the Siam Society 101 (2013)
For more information about the decline of the First Toungoo Empire see:
Michael W. Charney, "The 1598-1599 Siege of Pegu and the Expansion of Arakanese Imperial Power into Lower Burma," Journal of Asian History (1994)

[@storiesinhistory]

Hey everyone! If you are interested in learning more about the rise of the Toungoo dynasty, be sure to check out @Stoic Historian video on the subject: th-cam.com/video/hncsDAWzyfo/w-d-xo.html

[@andezong9565]

Great video as usual and thank you for this!

[@storiesinhistory]

My pleasure!

[@lwinkoko6367]

Great video, thank for creating and sharing.

[@storiesinhistory]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@StoicHistorian]

Great video!!!

[@storiesinhistory]

Thanks friend!

[@CautionCU]

Keep going! The picture with the guy who got arrested made me laugh so hard. 😅

[@storiesinhistory]

Glad I could give you a laugh! The charges were ultimately dropped though

[@lonelyman6437]

The elephant that goes into battle is the one that​ be​ in​ rut because it will be more aggressive than usual, and feed them​ with alcohol to​ make them​ not​ fear​ the​ sound​ of​ gunshots and explosions,​ but​ it​ will​ easily gone berserk.

[@Account.for.Comment]

I think Elephant duels are mostly bullsht. They served mainly as propaganda. The likelihood of kings personally fought hand-to-hand combat with the other kings are what people wrote in fairy tales, but it is too unlikely in an actual war and extremely rare in world history. Even the Japanese daimyo Kenshin-Takeda, could only get closed to each other in a single time after five wars. The Southeast Asian chronicles are in many parts constructed from hearsays/legend. The Burmese were already losing before that point, the two armies risking their supreme commanders to die in direct combat are too much for me to believe.
Second point, by looking at the bas-reliefs from Khmer temples, the elephants served mostly like tanks and like tanks, they must be supported with infantry who do most of the fighting. The elephants acted more as a moral booster. There are plenty of elephant duels recorded in stone inscriptions during the Angkor era, most of them are written to glorify the winner, so embellishment was expected. The only one I can truly believe is Sangrama in a 1065 CE stone inscription, since Sangrama was a general, not a king, and the duel are graphically described with range weapons. Centuries later, in the Khmer chronicles, in the 16th and 17th centuries, large battles were won easily shooting at enemy generals elephants with crossbows and muskets or ambushing the enemies camp with muskets and cannons, the loud noises caused the elephants to panic and trampled their own troops.
In other chronicles, famed commanders such as Bayinuang, Naresuan, and Taksin, all rode horses into battles, until they became kings where they had to display royal authority by being on an elephant. It is also to be noted the first contemporary record of a king in Southeast Asia from Chinese visitors in the 3rd century AD, the Khmer king of Funan, was seen on top of the elephant under a parasol. Fa Ngum, of course, named his country "A Million Elephant under Parasols". In the Khmer 16th civil war, the parasols were viewed as much more valuable than the elephants. IIrc Naresuan gifted hundreds elephants to a European or Chinese ambassador without much thoughts. The kings on the elephants are more for their images, rather than martial skills.
Source: Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h "Armies of Angkor". Charney "Southeast Asian Warfare". Ceodes "Indianized States of Southeast Asia"