Referred as ‘Sons of the sahya’, elephants are an
essential part of the culture as well as the routine life of Kerala in South
India. This animal holds an important place and are also loved a lot. The state animal of Kerala is the elephant and
it even features on the emblem too.
Elephants
in the festivals
There is a special Thrissur Pooram festival in
Kerala. Almost every festival of this state has at one beautifully decorated temple
elephant carrying the idol of the deity during the ceremonial procession.
They
are decorated with bells, huge necklaces and gold-plated Thrissur Pooram
festival. Mahouts sitting on them swing silk parasols, white tufts, peacock
with the tune of the orchestra. Almost every temple in Kerala has its own
elephant. Guruvayur temple homes around 60 domesticated elephants, a number
largest in the world. Near the temple is an Elephant Palace, Punnathur kotta
where they live and are taken care off.
There are various such festivals in like Edakkunni
Uthram Vilakku, Chinakkathoor Pooram, Nemmara Vallangi Vela, Chettikulangara
Bharani, Mavelikkara, Uthralikavu Vela, Tripunithara Vrischikolsavam and
Arattupuzha Pooram
Elephants
as Legends
Elephants even feature in the legends of this south
Indian land. Aithihyamala by Kottarathil
Sankunni has various stories about elephants and their legends. There are
various such well-known elephants such as Guruvayur Keshavan, Edakkunni
Arjunan, Paramelkavu Parameshwaran, Aranmula Valiya Balakrishnan and
Thiruvambadi Chandrashekharan.
Elephants
in domesticated animals
Both temples
and individuals have more than 700 elephants in the form of domesticated
animals. They are used in religious processions and in timber yards.
Care
of elephants
Every elephant has three mahouts, called pappan
whose duty to give a bath and a massage to the animal using small rocks and
coconut’s husk. These Mahouts are of three types, segregated on the basis of
their nature of controlling their elephants: Reghawan, Yukthiman and Balwan.
During monsoon, animals are given Ayurvedic treatments (Sukha Chikitsa) where
herbs are used.
Ornamentation
of elephants
The past three generations of the famous Venkitadri family of Trichur district of this
state, have been into making ornaments especially for the Thrissur Pooram
festival. They are into making necklaces, gold plated caparisons, umbrellas, venchamaram,
alavattam etc for as many as 150
elephants.
More
trivia about elephants in Kerala
Nibha Namboodiri, is the first woman mahout in
India. She is a zoologist too who is currently working for elephant welfare.
In Kerala, as many as 3 kinds of devices are used
for elephant control-. Thotti (hook), Valiya kol (long pole) and cheru kol
(short pole).
In Kerala, the absence of the presence of some
physical traits is considered to be auspicious and inauspicious sign at the
time of the determination of the elephant’s quality.
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