INDIA BEATS
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Puthenkulam is becoming a popular tourist destination as it is home to the largest number of captive elephants in Kerala. S. BINU RAJ
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Photo: S. Binu Raj
Popular personalities: Lekshmi with Shivan.
The road to this village is not less travelled. But, it is a beaten track travelled by majestic elephants along with human beings. Bhoothakulam Panchayat in Kollam district has the largest number of captive elephants in Kerala and most of them are fr
om the Puthenkulam village in this Panchayat.
If you ride towards Puthenkulam early in the morning, you can spot many pachyderms along with their mahouts coming across your path, many of them carrying coconut leaves for their lunch. “Here comes Puthenkulam Ananthapadmanabhan,” an enthusiastic passer-by may point out. Prepare to raise your head in wonder to see a majestic tusker of unusual height. Thirty-three-year-old Ananthapadmanabhan is the most valuable asset of Puthenkulam. This tusker, towering up to 11 feet, is the most sought elephant across Kerala.
But much more excitement is in store. Shaji of Puthenkulam is the proud owner of nine elephants and he welcomes guests to his sprawling three and a half acre elephant yard. Here ends the journey of elephant enthusiasts and for kids who have stood for hours with dilated pupils before a single elephant in a temple premise, this is the ultimate elephant experience. For the one-month-old baby elephant Sivan and the 40-year-old mature elephant Rajasekharan, this is the place to lunch, dine and sleep.
Making them cool
Elephants in Kerala were in the news recently for the wrong reasons. During the festival season, from January to April, not a single day has passed without the news of an elephant running amok or goring a mahout to death. This is because of musth, a violent development in the adult male elephant. This is caused by the over activity of androgen, the male sex hormone. The secretion from the musth gland triggers the violent mood of the tusker and it runs out of cont
rol.
Unfortunately, summer is also the season of temple festivals. Prolonged exposure to sunlight during processions works as a catalyst for musth and this explains the reason for elephants running amok during festival processions.
Shaji claims that he has succeeded in delaying the musth period by cooling the mind and body of tuskers and through planned diet. When the season of temple festivals comes to an end, the elephants are given complete rest. From May t
o December they are used just for attracting tourists. Shaji claims that unlike other elephant owners he never sends elephants to carry huge timber logs during the off season. “When put to severe stress, elephants become prone to must
h. I get income from tourists who visit my yard during off season. Foreign tourists are eager to feed and give bath to elephants. Some come here to study the elephants,” says Shaji.
Elephants enjoy this period and a special diet with high nutrition along with Ayurvedic medicines is given to them. The food includes dates, rice flakes, wheat, jaggery and fruits. Food with medical content like Chyavanaprasha and Ashtachoorna are a must for these black giants. When they come into musth after one month, they are tied to a strong tree in the preliminary stage itself. Then the cooling process starts with regular showers using hose pipes. This “treatment”
is accompanied by a diet containing watermelon and cucumber. A vet visits once a week for checking the overall physical condition of elephants. A tourist facilitation centre being built by Shaji at Puthenkulam is nearing completion.
Added attraction
Shaji’s elephant yard now spots a notice board at the entrance which says entry is allowed to visitors only after three in the evening. This is to give rest to Sivan, the one-month-old toddler elephant. Visitors are still thronging to see this cute baby of 30-year-old Lekshmi. As visitors approach Sivan, he is in a playful mood and is not afraid of the visitors. Lekshmi, like a responsible mother, is always beside her son.
Shaji bought Lekshmi from the famed elephant fair at Sonpur in Bihar. She was not pregnant then. When he found out that she was carrying, Shaji made arrangements to give her special treatment. She was given a separate shed and a vet was temporarily appointed for daily check up. Now she is getting post delivery care and special food. “She has brought me luck and she is the most humble among the nine elephants.” Out of these nine, six, including Sivan, are tuskers. Shaji spends around Rs. 800 a day on food for each elephant.
Around thousand visitors, including foreigners, have visited Puthenkulam after Sivan was born. Bhoothakulam Panchayat has around 40 elephants. Shaji’s father Vishwambharan had 15 elephants. Now he is not in this business. The family had 23 elephants once. Other families in Bhoothakulam began to invest in the elephant business after seeing Viswambharan’s success. Bhoothakulam has streams and ponds with plenty of water and it is rich in coconut trees, which makes it an ideal village for captive elephants.
The road to the elephant yard runs amidst vast paddy fields and the whole setting brims with scenic charm. Take a stroll around the interior of Puthenkulam village and you can see elephants being bathed by their mahouts in ponds or streams.
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