Elephant Kraal, Ayutthaya

It was originally located on a space beside Chan Kasem Palace (residence for viceroy, often familiarly known as Front Palace) in Hua Ro quarter, but was shifted to its current location (Suan Phrik sub-district, about 5 km (3.1 mi) from city of Ayutthaya) during the reign of King Maha Chakkraphat in medieval Ayutthaya.

[1] In the Ayutthaya period, activities like catching elephants were regarded as festive events for the upper classes such as monarch or members of the royal family.

The mahouts would herd elephants from the forest to the kraal (corral) then king chose the nice one and ordered court official to catch it.

[3] In the centre of the kraal is the shrine housing the idol of Ganesha, the elephant lord according to the belief in Brahmanism and local animism.

[1] The last official capture of elephants in Thailand occurred in the reign of King Rama V to show the whole process of elephant catching to Czarevitch of Russia (later King Nicholas II of Russia), when he visited Siam (Thailand in those days) in 1893.