Kerala - Kollam   

Devotees catch tusker's tail in ritual run

Staff Reporter

KOLLAM: Cheered by hundreds of onlookers, including a good number of foreign tourists, the traditional "aanavaal pidi" (catching the tail of elephant) ritual was held in the precincts of the Umayanallur Sree Subramanya Swamy Temple here on Wednesday.

The ritual is held in connection with the annual festival of the temple during the Malayalam month of Meenam. It is symbolic of the beliefs about the childhood pranks of the god-siblings Ganesha and Balasubramanyan. Devotees run after a tusker, trying to catch its tail. The elephant races, with its tail raised, for about 100 metres. Many of its pursuers manage to get hold of the tail.

Hundreds of people arrive much in advance to see the ritual, which gets over within a minute. This year, tusker Sivaraju was selected for the run. By 10 a.m., it was prepared for the ceremony by giving a bath. The unfettered tusker was brought in procession to the aanaakottil (kraal) and fed "nivedyam" (devotional offering). It genuflected before the presiding deity, trumpeted and left to run.

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