Chennai: It’s not just a diet chart that is being insisted for the jumbos. Life for the temple elephants at the rejuvenation camp on the banks of Bhavani river near Mettuppalayam in the state, is all fun and weight loss.
The temple elephants should not get obese, as per the latest directive of the state Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) department.
In tune with this, the temple elephants that most invariably perform temple duties and remain standing in the shed are given the freedom to munch sugarcane, splash water and spray mud. The camp is almost a spa for them.
“A major indication of happiness of the elephants is that they squirt water or spray mud. This relaxes their minds and so become very tame,” says HR & CE Commissioner P. Dhanapal.
At the rejuvenation camp, the brainchild of chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, the elephants are encouraged to walk to reduce their weight. And once they return to their temples, mutt and dargah they would get enough water to drink and bathe, as per the guidelines issued by the secretary, tourism, culture and HR & CE R. Kannan.
Also, they should not be overworked and given sufficient rest after work once they return to the temples from the sprawling 5-acre land belonging to the Sri Vanabhadrakali Amman temple at Thekampatti, which has become the camp.
Lakshmi from Manakula Vinayakar temple, Puducherry, and Fathima Beevi from Nagore Dargah are the new visitors.
While Lakshmi from Irattai Tirupati temple in Tuticorin and Gandhimathi from Tirunelveli love playing mouth-organ, other elephants enjoy playing foot ball.
