Doomdooma, Aug. 22 -- Assam continues to face human-elephant conflict. A new study examining India's centuries-old knowledge of elephants suggests that understanding elephant behaviour could complement modern ways of managing such conflicts.

Historical research says the manuscript was based largely on observations of elephants in Assam's forests.

The commentary, "Gaja-sastra: India's Forgotten Elephant Science", by Ramesh Kumar Pandey of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, was published in the Journal of Wildlife Science. It traces India's systematic knowledge of elephants to at least the third century BC and examines five major texts on elephant behaviour, health, temperament, training and welfare.

For Assam, one o...