Unique ancient stilt house of the "Elephant King"

The ancient stilt house of “Elephant King” Y Thu Knul (1828-1938), who is known as the founder of hunting and taming wild elephants, is located in Ban Don, Buon Don border commune, Dak Lak province. This is a must-see attraction for visitors to the legendary Buon Don with its hunting and taming wild elephants.

The ancient stilt house lies quietly in the middle of Ban Don. According to the remaining documents, Mr. Y Thu Knul's father was a Laotian who migrated to Ban Don, and his mother was a M'Nong. The stilt house was started in October 1883 and completed in February 1885, consisting of three adjacent parallel rooms, built entirely of wood in the Lao-Thai pagoda architecture.

During his life, Y Thu Knul hunted and tamed nearly 500 wild elephants. In 1861, Y Thu Knul hunted a rare white elephant with white fur, white skin, and amber ivory. He presented this precious elephant to the King of Siam (Thailand). In return for the precious elephant, the King of Siam bestowed upon Y Thu Knul many riches and gave him the nickname Khun Yu Nop (Khunjunob), meaning “King of Elephant Hunting”.

Mr. Y Thot Knul, a resident of Ban Don, said that when he was born and grew up, he saw the stilt house of the “Elephant King” as the biggest and most beautiful in the area. “This house is now 140 years old and is made entirely of wood. Although it has been repaired a few times, it still retains its original architecture.

People in Ban Don are very proud that the descendants of "Elephant Hunting King" Y Thu Knul still preserve and maintain the house and elephant hunting and taming memorabilia for tourists to visit," said Mr. Y Thot Knul.

According to documents still kept here, to build this house, the owner had to mobilize 18 elephants to pull wood, 14 skilled workers, with master craftsman Tha Vi Vong Kham Sao (a Laotian wood carving artist) responsible for the design.

The house's value at that time had to be exchanged for 12 elephants over 60 years old with long tusks for the workers, designers, tree fellers, wood haulers... The most unique point is that the entire house was made of good wood from Buon Don forest such as huong wood, cam xe wood, ca chit wood. To cover the entire roof, the workers had to carve 8,726 wooden bars for tiles and nearly 10 cubic meters of ca chit wood.

Over the ups and downs of time, the stilt house has somewhat deteriorated, especially around 1954, when a tamarind tree fell and collapsed the inner room. It was later restored but still retains the original architecture.

In the ancient stilt house, there is currently on display the image of Mr. Y Prung Eban (commonly known as Ama Kong, born in 1909 and died in 2012), the grandson of "Elephant King" Y Thu Knul, the son-in-law of "Elephant King" Ama Po Pho Kham Suc and also the last heir of the elephant hunting profession in Buon Don.

“Although life is still difficult, the family always tries to repair the house and preserve the relics left by their grandparents, helping their children and visitors from near and far to come here to understand more about the cultural traditions of the Ban Don ethnic group as well as the hunting and taming of wild elephants of their ancestors. Through that, they will love and be proud of the culture, history and traditions of the people and the legendary land of Buon Don more,” said Ms. HKua Agun, great-granddaughter of Mr. Ama Kong.

NGUYEN HOAI BAO

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/doc-dao-nha-san-co-cua-vua-voi-390979.html