No 13411, Thursday 25 Nov 2021, Hypatia

Solution to 1A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular / novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS

1   Commotion from one held-up in court? (6) R?C?E?  (Addendum - RACKET [DD] - See comments)

4   Rain storms crossing in the morning around harbour (6) MARINA {RAIN}* in {AM<=}

9   Emperor shoots arrogant guards (4) TSAR [T]

10 Say crab cactus, near rocks (10) CRUSTACEAN*

11 “Harischandra” initially screened from machine projecting movie (6) CINEMA MAChINE*

12 Reverend airing sticky stuff with kid in scheduled hour (4,4) TIME SLOT (~slime tot)

13 American soldiers entering welcome treaty (9) AGREEMENT {A}{GREE{MEN}T}

15 Chase people (4) RACE [DD]

16 Story of son succeeding king in musical composition (4) SAGA {S}{AGA} (Addendum - (-r+s)SAGA - See comments)

17 A sacred book with heavyweight describing India’s struggle (9) AGITATION {A}{GITA}{T{I}ON}

21 In the US, say red party captures a state (8) COLORADO {COLOR}{A}{DO}

22 Icons of Italy playing games (6) IMAGES {I}{GAMES*}

24 Swamps in planet earth trapping Hydrogen and Sulphur (10) MARSHLANDS {MARS}{H}{LAND}{S}

25 Remains clean (4) DUST [DD]

26 Scolding eschewing capital punishment (6) HIDING cHIDING

27 Army so responsibly protects city (6) MYSORE [T]

DOWN

1   Knight backs Arthur, perhaps taking a chance (7) RISKING {SIR<=}{KING}

2   Mufflers essentially in fashion (5) CARVE sCARVEs

3   Cry from demand by divorcee? (7) EXCLAIM {EX CLAIM}

5   Fall from a bus tour many take regularly (6) AUTUMN {A+bUs+ToUr+MaNy}

6   Perpetual tax saved by current worker (9) INCESSANT {IN}{CESS}{ANT}

7   Jack only got shellfish (7) ABALONE {AB}{ALONE}

8   Area for shooting thin gun (7,6) HUNTING GROUND {THIN+GUN}* [RA]

14 Lost great player during finale (9) ENGROSSED {EN{GROSS}{E}D}

16 Chant following saint with a Church organ (7) STOMACH {OM}{A}{CH}<=>{ST}

18 Craving voyeurs finally entertained by XXX (7) THIRSTY {THIR{v...rS}TY}

19 Several obey unexpectedly, thus supervise ably (7) OVERSEE [CA] {OVERSEE+ABLY=SEVERAL+OBEY}

20 A long line distributing volume of liquid (6) GALLON {A+LONG+L}*

23 German car with zero sound (5) AUDIO {AUDI}{0}

Reference List

American = A, Soldiers = MEN, Son = S, King = R, India = I, Party = DO, Italy = I, Jack = AB, Player = E(East in Bridge), Church = CH, Line = L

TalePiece

By Dr RKE

It was in the AUTUMN of 1891 that the Grand Duke of Russia, the representative of TSAR Alexander II of Russia visited MYSORE. G.P.Sanderson, who had CARVEd a name for himself as being a SAGA in the HUNTING GROUNDS, arranged a special Khedda operation to entertain the dignitary. The INCESSANT monsoon rain had temporarily ceased and the DUST on the roads leading to Kakanakote had settled well. The MARSHLANDS near the Kabini river were abuzz with the squeak of the blue Indian Roller birds, the croak of frogs and crawling CRUSTACEANS like crabs. The river flowed in a ravine. Now, don’t imagine anything as large and dry as the Grand Canyon on the COLORADO. Kabini is lush with vegetation. The Grand Duke EXCLAIMed that he had not come into contact with nature in all its glory as he was seeing now.

The object of the Khedda was to get a herd of wild elephants out of the jungle  HIDING and force the THIRSTY beasts towards the river. This was done by lighting fires to scare them and by the RACKET made by the drum beaters. A trained female elephant would also be used to lure the unsuspecting males (the carrot and stick, you know!). The trench built near the river would be camouflaged with those shoots and leaves, which elephants love to eat. The animals ENGROSSED in filling their STOMACHs with the enticing feed would fall into the trench. The young calves generally fell first and, in AGITATION the bigger members of the herd would step in trying to save the young ones with a deafening trumpeting, alas, only to also fall into the ditch. Once in the trench, the pachyderms would be denied food and water (did you know that elephants drink 20 GALLONs everyday?). Sanderson seated atop a kumki (trained) elephant would OVERSEE the whole operation while those who were RISKING their lives were the Kurubas, the native tribal RACE in the forest. There was no formal AGREEMENT to cover their wages and often all they got for their labours was a pittance and a kick on the ribs from the boots of the white Saheb. Thankfully, the Khedda has been outlawed, but only as late as in 1973.

You can see the IMAGES of this notorious Khedda in which Sanderson captured 14 adults and 5 calves all at one go, in the portraits that hang in the Jaganmohan Palace in Mysore to this day (please note that the TIME SLOTS of this museum have been modified in view of the coronavirus pandemic).  Don’t get misled by the name and expect to see anything related to this Khedda in the Malayalam CINEMA by the same name, as this film by Manoj Kana uses the name only figuratively.