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Elephantine tales
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The latest edition of ‘Makarajyoti’ is a scientific study on elephants
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These days the elephants seem to enjoy an enhanced, glorified role in the otherwise very traditional temple culture of our State. They have acquired a ‘super star’ status. Huge cut-outs, glossy calendars, colourful posters of the popular
‘stars’ now adorn the walls of homes, temples, lamp posts, trees and shops. Festival organisers vie to get hold of the best, most handsome of these ‘stars’ well in advance.
It is no longer puppy love for the majestic mammal. If in the past this ‘love’ was the premise of the elderly, it is the passion of a growing number of jean-totting, educated, young boys and girls now. The elephant has occupied such an important part of the Malayali psyche leading to the creation of voluntary organisations that are devoted to the care and welfare of the pachyderm.
So it comes as no surprise that the Tripunithura Thamarakulangara Sree Dharmasastha Temple has dedicated this year’s annual ‘Makarajyoti’ to ‘Nature’s great masterpiece.’
“In 2005 we had brought out one on elephants. The response and demand was amazing so at the back of our minds we always had plans for a second volume on elephants. This time, though it is on elephants, we have attempted to make it a serious study on every aspect of the animal. Last time it was simply from the point of view of an elephant lover,” informs S. Hari the editor of this very popular annual.
More than 200 pages are devoted to a study of the elephant. There are informative articles on the training methods and scientific care of elephants by Dr. Jacob V. Cheeran, some of Dr. K. C. Panicker’s unforgettable memories of elephants on a rampage, excerpts from the traditional book on elephant care, Mathangaleela, and a lot more.
Collector’s item
Perhaps what will make this volume a collector’s item are the six colour pages which have photographs of elephants that have become almost indispensable for temple festivals and some of those that died recently. “We have managed to put in pictures of around 100 elephants. They are from the collections of Harish Iyer, Vimal and Rameshan, avid elephant lovers.”
The annual comes with a stunning visual of Guruvayur Kesavan chained during ‘musth.’ This famous photograph by Pepita Seth, is still so much in demand. Pepita Seth in an article in the annual reveals that her “one and only claim to fame as far as anyone in the temple was concerned” was having taken this photograph. “How many film stars, for instance, are held in such esteem thirty years after their death?” she asks.
Beautiful photographs brighten up every page, there are interviews, poems and real-life stories that make this volume an engrossing read. And the laws regarding care for tamed elephants, promulgated by the state government make a fitting appendix. This is the result of hard work and true love for the lord of the jungle.
K. PRADEEP
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