Kerala temple board to restrict use of jumbos for rituals

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The Travacore Devaswom Board (TDB) has decided to impose severe restrictions on the centuries old practice of using elephants in temple rituals and ceremonies in view of physical and mental torture suffered by jumbos on such occasions.

The radical step, pressed for long by Animal rights groups, was announced today by M Rajagopalan Nair, president of TDB, at a meeting of senior board officials here, a press release said.

The temples, however, would be allowed to use elephants for such essential rituals like 'arrattu' and ‘ezhunallipu,’ but strictly within the number it fixed.

The tendency of local festival committees bringing more elephants than the fixed numbers for festivals would not be allowed, the release said.

TDB manages all the major temples in South Kerala,including the famed hill shrine Sabarimala.

Nair said rituals, ceremonies and processions often turned into occasions of harassment for elephants and also posed a threat to the safety of people gathering in large numbers during festivals.

There are temples where rituals like elephant race and pulling tails of jumbos were still practised, despite they inflicted severe physical pain to the animal and provoke them to turn violent, he noted.

The ritual of taking out elephant processions through streets as part of the festivals would also be stopped. The elephants are made to shuffle through crowded streets, often in scorching heat, on such occasions.

Though the government rules and guidelines have clearly laid down how to maintain and transport elephants, the campaigners have been alleging they were violated by temple authorities and festival organisers.