The Hindu : Elephant race held at Guruvayur temple

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 25, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Elephant race held at Guruvayur temple
By Our Staff Reporter

THRISSUR, FEB. 24. The 39-year-old tusker, Kannan, emerged winner for the seventh time at the famous `anayottam' (elephant race) at the Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple this afternoon.

The tusker `Kannan', which ran along with six other elephants came first at the eastern nada (main entrance) of the temple. It is the seventh time that `Kannan' emerged winner. The seven elephants which participated in the race were received with blowing of the conch and `nirapara' at the front of the temple.

A total of 40 of the 58 elephants of the Guruvayur Devaswom-run elephant shelter at Punnathur Kotta were paraded before the Manjulal premises for the race by 3 p.m. this afternoon. But only seven elephants -- `Gopikannan', `Kannan', `Achuthan', `Gopikrishnan', `Junior Madhavankutty', `Narayanankutty' and `Nandan', paraded in the first row, were allowed to run.

The `Gajarajan' (king of elephants), `Padmanabhan' led the parade though it did not participate in the race. All the remaining elephants participated in the race by walking up to the Gopuram and in the return direction.

There was a huge crowd on the temple premises to watch the race. People occupied vantage positions to get a better glimpse of the race. They often encouraged the elephants, but the devaswom authorities banned people from along with the elephants.

The elephants which entered the temple were given bells to wear. The veterinarians, K. C. Panickar, Muraleedharan Nair, the ayurveda expert dealing with elephants, Avaniparambu Maheswaran Namboodiri, were also present at the scene. Only those elephants certified by the veterinarians participated in the race.

The festival began this evening with a flag hoisting by the temple thantri, Chennas Vasudevan Namboodiripad. The flag was hoisted with the accompaniment of blowing of conchs and `chendamelam'. The rituals for the first day ended with the `Athazhapuja' and the ritual `kodippurathuvilakku' (laying of traditional lamp at the flag).

A Kathakali performance based on the story `Karnashapadham' and `Utharaswayamvaram' were held at the Melpathoor Auditorium near the temple. The festival would continue till March 5.

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