Mumbai Trust Dedicates Elephant To Guruvayur Temple In Memory Of Kanchi Seer (See Pics)

A Mumbai-based religious trust dedicated an elephant to the Sree Krishna temple in Guruvayur, Kerala, in memory of Guru Late Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal, the 69th Sankaracharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. The donation was made to mark Guru Purnima on July 10. 

The temple has stopped accepting elephants as donation, but the trust paid Rs ten lakh and adopted a 40-year-old elephant named Junior Vishnu who is already living at the temple's elephant sanctuary and dedicated him to the Lord. The temple currently has 36 elephants who live in a sanctuary located in the compound of a former palace called Punnathur Kotta, about three kilometres from Guruvayur town.

The Kalavai Sri Mahadevendra Saraswati Shankaracharya Trust, Mumbai, said that Swamigal was very close to the temple. B Shridhar,  managing trustee, said that in the past, the seer donated gold ornaments like a gold crown, padagolakam or the gold covering for the Lord's feet, a gold flute, and ornaments to Lord Krishna and all the other deities in the temple.

A manager of Punathur Kotta said that elephant donations have been banned since the dedication of an elephant named Ayyappan in 2011. "The temple trust announced a scheme whereby any devotee wanting to donate an elephant can purchase one from the Guruvayur temple itself and re-dedicate it at a cost of Rs 10 Lakhs," said the manager.

Shridhar said that a decade ago, the temple management asked Swamigal if he could offer an elephant to the temple. "The Sankaracharya could not offer an elephant at that time due to the prevailing inter-state court ban on the sale or purchase of elephants. Hence he offered a gold covered sandalwood elephant. Now that there is a new scheme, we decided to dedicate an elephant in Swamigal's memory," said Shridhar.

The trust also purchased ornaments like anna pattam, the ceremonial frontlets for the elephant's forehead, and chamarams or the decorative fly-whisks used in ceremonies. The elephant was presented to Lord Krishna, also called Lord Guruvayurappan in a traditional ritual. A day before, a 1008 Kozhakattai homam was performed for Lord Mahaganapathy for the smooth performance of the function. "It is a beautiful and majestic elephant. The ornaments we bought fit him perfectly," Shridhar added.

The trust proposed to rename the elephant as 'Sri Jayendrar' in the seer's memory, but left it to the temple management whether to adopt this new name or continue with their old name. The Punnathur Kotta management said the elephant still answers to his old name.

Devotees have traditionally donated elephants to the temple in a custom known as 'Nadakkiruthal' or the dedication of the animal to temple service. Elephants are always a part of temple ceremonies in Kerala. However, after concerns about animal rights and the cost of maintaining the pachyderms, the temple administration stopped accepting new elephants.

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