Subject: chaturongkhabat elephant guard

Culture: Siamese

Setting: Burmese wars, Ayutthaya kingdom 16-17thc

Evolution:

Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)

* Turnbull 2024 (Elephants and gunpowder) p63-65

"The three or four warriors who ... operated from an elephant's back would be supported by a team of infantrymen on the ground called 'chaturongkhabat' in Thai. They were specially trained to protect the elephant in a battle situation while the commander and his crew were engrossed in the process of fighting because enemy warriors on foot or on horseback would endeavour to attack the elephant using spears, hooks, bows, guns or javelins. The role of the guards was to eliminate anyone intent on such operations who dared to come too close; otherwise, the chaturongkhabat helped to guide the elephant and thus aid its speed of progress.

"Four guards -- one for each leg -- are normally shown in attendance on an elephant on modern monumental sculptures in Thailand. Burmese sources refer to the ideal number of guards as either nine (cover the elephant's two tusks, two ears, four feet and its tail) or 10 infantrymen and five horsemen. The Royal Chronicles has a reference to an elephant being 'hemmed in on all sides by lines of guards', and King Bayinnaung of Burma is supposed to have had 400 Portuguese armoured harquebusiers to protect him when he was riding his royal elephant. It was a great privilege to serve as a royal chaturongkhabat, and The Royal Chronicles contains a description of a retinue at the time of King Naresuan where it identifies his four elite guardsmen by name ...."

Costume

* Turnbull 2024 (Elephant and gunpowder) p127

"Note the leather helmets and the characteristic crossed swords worn on the back."

Sabers