Jumbo promise of LS candidate strikes a chord with devotees

While the candidate’s assurance set off a flurry of memes ridiculing him for the move, the local devotees feel that the temple deserves an elephant and the candidate who provides it would have been assured of the devotees votes.

The temple’s elephant Rukku died on March 22, 2018 and till date no official move has been made to procure one, “though there are two elephants available at Pollachi and Mudumalai,” sources revealed.

An anguished devotee wondered at the lack of action by the HR&CE Department in this issue, despite its Minister Sevoor S Ramachandran hailing from the district.

Meanwhile, a retired senior police official, who promised to provide a pachyderm, months ago, was galvanised into action following the AIADMK candidate’s announcement. He sent word to the senior mahout to be ready to leave for the Andamans shortly to get an elephant calf from the islands.

When asked how much an elephant would cost, temple JC R Gnanasekaran told this reporter, “I have no idea.”

Sources said the mahout was paid a monthly salary of around Rs 8,000 and the latter had to use his skills to ensure that the elephant was fed with the devotees’ help. “Local devotees provided cart and bulls with which to collect feed for the jumbo. Even the feed for the temple elephant was provided by devotees, though the temple claims credit for it,” a source added.

Knowledgeable sources said, “A five-year-old elephant calf could cost up to Rs 40 lakh and it would need another two or three months to train it.”

Asked if elephants were available, sources said animals could be procured from either Keralaor Assam. “Kerala would be ideal choice due to proximity to the state whereas getting an animal from Assam may face problems in transportation.”

Moreover, it was suggested that animals used in Kerala’s Thrissur Pooram festival would be ideal as they were temple elephants used to the noise of instruments and human crowd.

That Tiruvannamalai devotees have not forgotten Rukku was evident in the protests which arose when its burial site was converted into a parking lot. It may be recalled that the temple officials hurriedly closed it and barricaded it into a separate area some time ago in reaction to the protests.