MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Event

Feb 25, 2026
Mahouts’ Secret Language: Human–Elephant Communication in Persianate South Asia

Abstract

This lecture examines the verbal code used by Muslim mahouts in South Asia to communicate with elephants, as well as the social context in which this code developed and was later crystallised in written form. The introduction outlines the multiple, non-exclusive epistemic approaches through which this form of interspecies jargon can be analysed, and situates it in comparison with analogous verbal codes attested among elephant keepers in South and Southeast Asia. The core of the lecture focuses on relevant passages from the Kursī-nāma-yi mahāwat-garī (“Genealogical Tree of Mahout Practice”), an anonymous Persian manual on the mahout’s profession composed before the nineteenth century. The Kursī-nāma indicates that the transmission of a codified set of verbal instructions formed part of the craft secrets passed on to apprentices during their training.

Analysis of these instructions shows that they consisted of sacralised formulae composed chiefly of Arabic invocations—such as the names of God and of angels, along with Qur’anic phrases—mirroring other Islamic esoteric prayers associated with the profession and included in the text. The lecture argues that the Kursī-nāma sought to construct an Islamised genealogy and behavioural code for the profession at a time when elephants had ceased to be used in warfare and Muslim mahouts had emerged as a prosperous group closely connected with the rulers who owned these animals. It further suggests that the development of this Islamised esoteric jargon accompanied the growing number of Muslim elephant keepers and owners in Indian society and was intended to replace the earlier Sanskrit-based jargon associated with Hindu mahouts.

Biography

Fabrizio Speziale is Professor of South Asian and Persian Studies at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Paris–Marseille). He previously held the Chair of Iranian Studies at Sorbonne Nouvelle University. His research focuses on the Persian textual culture of South Asia and its interactions with Indian knowledge in both pre-modern and modern periods. He has published extensively on the history of medicine and the sciences in Persianate South Asia. His current projects include the study of Hindus’ and European’s uses of Persian language and scientific culture in South Asia, as well as the social history of Muslim branches of yogis.

Organizer(s)
Address
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Room
Zoom/Online Meeting Platform
Contact and Registration

We welcome both internal and external guests. Registration is only required for in-person attendance. For more information about the colloquium series, please contact Jean Arzoumanov.

Zoom link: https://eu02web.zoom-x.de/j/63767435011?pwd=oFXYIniUuTLZb3fQ3eDLbczRmIBqx5.1

Feel free to distribute information and Zoom link widely.

About This Series

Over the last decade, a wave of new research has revitalized the study of Islamicate scientific traditions, particularly in the field of the so-called "occult sciences". This work has challenged the long-standing dichotomy between doctrines historically dismissed as non-rational or superstitious and the canonized sciences retrospectively framed as precursors to Western modernity.

Similarly, contrary to the perception of a stagnant precolonial scientific landscape, South Asian societies were permeated with sophisticated scientific doctrines and long-established methods of healing and prognostication. Scientific practices —including those that might be categorized as "occult" within an Islamicate framework— flourished in both elite and popular contexts. Cosmopolitan Hindu pandits and Muslim scholars practiced these sciences in royal courts, while vernacular traditions ensured their diffusion amongst broader populations. Alongside the crucial work of manuscript-based research, the persistence and vitality of non-Western scientific practices in contemporary South Asia has enabled comparative approaches combining rigorous textual philology with ethnographic insight.

This colloquium series seeks to highlight some of the most recent contributions to the field and to open critical perspectives on the intellectual and practical life of science in the subcontinent. Invited speakers will explore the concrete practice of South Asian sciences across the early modern and modern periods, examining their position within the Arabo-Persian and Sanskritic knowledge systems.

2026-02-25T13:30:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2026-02-25 13:30:00 2026-02-25 15:00:00 Mahouts’ Secret Language: Human–Elephant Communication in Persianate South Asia Abstract This lecture examines the verbal code used by Muslim mahouts in South Asia to communicate with elephants, as well as the social context in which this code developed and was later crystallised in written form. The introduction outlines the multiple, non-exclusive epistemic approaches through which this form of interspecies jargon can be analysed, and situates it in comparison with analogous verbal codes attested among elephant keepers in South and Southeast Asia. The core of the lecture focuses on relevant passages from the Kursī-nāma-yi mahāwat-garī (“Genealogical Tree of Mahout Practice”), an anonymous Persian manual on the mahout’s profession composed before the nineteenth century. The Kursī-nāma indicates that the transmission of a codified set of verbal instructions formed part of the craft secrets passed on to apprentices during their training. Analysis of these instructions shows that they consisted of sacralised formulae composed chiefly of Arabic invocations—such as the names of God and of angels, along with Qur’anic phrases—mirroring other Islamic esoteric prayers associated with the profession and included in the text. The lecture argues that the Kursī-nāma sought to construct an Islamised genealogy and behavioural code for the profession at a time when elephants had ceased to be used in warfare and Muslim mahouts had emerged as a prosperous group closely connected with the rulers who owned these animals. It further suggests that the development of this Islamised esoteric jargon accompanied the growing number of Muslim elephant keepers and owners in Indian society and was intended to replace the earlier Sanskrit-based jargon associated with Hindu mahouts. Biography Fabrizio Speziale is Professor of South Asian and Persian Studies at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Paris–Marseille). He previously held the Chair of Iranian Studies at Sorbonne Nouvelle University. His research focuses on the Persian textual culture of South Asia and its interactions with Indian knowledge in both pre-modern and modern periods. He has published extensively on the history of medicine and the sciences in Persianate South Asia. His current projects include the study of Hindus’ and European’s uses of Persian language and scientific culture in South Asia, as well as the social history of Muslim branches of yogis. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany Zoom/Online Meeting Platform Jean Arzoumanov Jean Arzoumanov Europe/Berlin public