Musth

The change in behavior of the elephant in the short story was due to a periodic condition called musth. According to Dr. K Radhakrishna Kaimal this condition can cause physiological and behavior changes in the animal for up to two months. Musth consists of three phases: pre-musth, violent-musth, and post-musth. During pre-musth the elephant charges at any object that catches its attention, and poses as a threat to towards the mahout during this period. In the initial phase of violent musth the elephant will not obey the commands of the mahout, is violent towards him, and its behavior is disorderly. In the middle phase of violent musth according to Dr. Kaimal the elephant has a “lack of appetite” and can pull more aggressively on its chains. The final phase of violent musth can last up to a month, the elephant becomes less hostile and begins to obey commands from the mahout. In the final stage of musth Dr. Kaimal states that the behavior of the elephant begins to revert to its
Now that the stages of must have been stated we can now discuss the temperament of the elephant in the bazaar. The narrator states that the nature the elephant has been altered due to the condition of musth after escaping the previous night, “It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone ‘must.” (Orwell 1). This quote illustrates that Orwell did not believe that the elephant posed as a threat to the citizens of Burma as the elephant was just undergoing an annual condition that