Guwahati: India’s oldest domesticated elephant, Bijuli Prasad, died at the age of 90 at Behali Tea Estate in Assam’s Sonitpur district on Sunday. The elephant had been ill for a prolonged period and breathed his last on Sunday night due to old age. Bijuli Prasad was once the royal guest of the British. The elephant was owned by the Williamson Magor group, which is reportedly the world’s largest producer of tea. It was bought by the company around 82 years ago. The British named the elephant Bijuli Prasad and it had become a member of the Williamson Magor family.
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In Assam’s Sonitpur district, a huge crowd gathered to pay their last tributes to the deceased elephant.
A local villager said, “Bijuli Prasad, which carries British heritage, is no more. He was the oldest domesticated elephant in India and a symbol of the Williamson Magor Company. The elephant is said to be around 90 years old but his actual age is not known.”
“Earlier, the country’s oldest domestic elephant belonged to the Kaziranga National Park authorities and the second in Kerala but both have already died. After their death, Bijuli Prasad became the oldest domestic elephant in India,” the villager added.
According to a survey, around 10,139 Asiatic wild elephants inhabit the Northeastern states of India accounting for about 25 per cent of the total population in Asia.
Of these, Assam attain the highest density and number of Asiatic elephant with a population of 5,719 followed by 1,754 in Meghalaya and 1,614 in Arunachal Pradesh
The writer is a senior independent journalist covering the Northeast.
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