Thanjavur: Temple elephants are important both for religious rituals and entertainment. Even as the car festival of the Big temple here was held on Thursday, many devotees were talking about the temple elephant which heralds such processions. The Big temple is without an elephant ever since its 63-year-old elephant Vellaiyammal died in 2013.
Vellaiyammal was presented to the Punnainallur Mariamman temple by film actor the late Sivaji Ganesan in 1960. It was brought to the Big temple in 1980 and raised in the shed there, to become the elephant of the Big temple. Standing at the entrance of the temple, it welcomed tourists and devotees and heralded religious processions. Vellaiyammal participated in elephant rejuvenation camps conducted by the Tamil Nadu Government for two years. Another elephant Kundavai (a five year old elephant calf) was presented by former chief minister J.Jayalalithaa during the World Tamil conference held at Thanjavur in 1995. It was raised alongwith Vellaiyammal, but died when it was only 13 years old.
Though many donors including Sivaji Ganesan’s family members are ready to donate a new elephant, the rigid rules of the forest department are delaying getting an elephant for the Big temple. The temple built by King Raja Raja Cholan is more than a thousand years old and is an architectural marvel.
