No idea . Tge elephants seemed pretty serene to me, but I never ran into them on the trails ( other than their poop) I worried about tigers , for which I always carried my Collins short machete ( drawn & at the ready) Better’n nothing! Cobras and various vipers were another concern...I would wave my blade over the far side of any log U had to step over, to provoke a strike , if any were lurking....never were . But the King Cobra was another matter . They would/could chase you. Came across one crossing a park road once . It spanned the entire road. I stopped on the roadside directly in front of its passage and he reared up to the window and fanned its hood out and stared me in the eye . As uf ti say “ Puny human ! Why impeadest thou my path!?” Time froze....and of course the windows were rolled up.
I think the account of these death scene may have left out an element . I suspect the man left his tent and tried to guard his load of Som-o , which had attracted the elephant . The elephant then removed the impediment
Pet mongoose?