Temple fests may lose charm for want of tamed jumbos
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The vibrant and iconic temple festivals in Kerala including Thrissur Pooram, renowned for their grand procession of ornately caparisoned elephants, may soon witness a significant transformation.
Elephant owners in the southern state warn that this cherished tradition could fade into memory within the next 5-10 years due to the declining population of domesticated jumbos.
N P Shyamkumar, manager of the Kidangoor Sree Subramanya Swamy Temple, one of the famous temples in Kerala, said that the lack of elephants was creating a crisis during festivals and the performance of rituals.
“There are 22 elephant processions during the ten-day festival (at the temple). The lack of adequate elephants creates a crisis for this ritual. Three elephants, which were regularly used in temple festivals for two decades, died in the last two years,” he said. Shyamkumar further said that the cost of hiring elephants has increased more than three times.
“An elephant, which used to cost Rs 30,000 a day, today costs more than Rs 1 lakh. Even if you pay this amount, you may not get an elephant on some days,” he said. He also said that the Sree Subramanya Swamy Temple, which at one time used around nine elephants for the procession, now has only three to five elephants available at the most for the ritual.
“This year, for several days, there was only one elephant available,” he said. In a state where at one time there were more than a thousand domesticated elephants, there are only around 400 now, and not all of them can be part of temple festivals, according to elephant owners in Kerala.
PS Ravindranathan, the general secretary of the Kerala Elephant Owners Federation, said the lack of rules for bringing jumbos from other states to the southern state.
A slew of laws and amendments have made valid certificate of ownership mandatory to move jumbos and state governments have to pass relevant Act, he said. “But, no such step has been taken yet by the Kerala government,” he said.