[N a t i o n a l ]

K R RANJITH

Kerala has the highest number of captive elephants in the country and has fan clubs for jumbo-heroes. Apart from the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972, Kerala has promulgated Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules in 2003. Elephants of the state have gone high-tech with microchips inserted in their body! They are both worshiped and tortured simultaneously as elephant trade thrives on a peculiar mix of culture. Despite all these, the plight of the biggest pets on earth remains

Why ‘Rajan’ shouldn't go to Kerala?

Save him; don't send him to Kerala.' The people at the Barefoot resort in Havelock, Andamans, do not want '

Rajan to be sold and transported to Kerala. They have set up donation boxes in an attempt to free Rajan, the 58 year old tusker. It's not an easy task they know. They will have to gather a 'mountainous amount' of US$ 70,000 to

keep Rajan in the Islands. They also know that letting him go to mainland Kerala would be next to shipping him to the hell.

If their claims are to be believed, Rajan is the only ocean-swimming elephant in the sub continent. An ex-employee of the logging industry, Rajan lived on

displaying his swimming talents before the tourists ever since logging was banned in the islands. The snorkelling giant, the star tourist attraction of the island, shot in to international fame with National Geographic making a documentary on him. But his stardom was not enough to keep him to the islands and his owners decided to put him to work in Kerala. Most of his fellow pachyderms had already been shipped to Kerala and are making huge sums while Rajan just survived on his aqua-tactics. And finally, they have come for him too!

Well, this story is not a call to join the save Rajan campaign. And definitely not about his amazing underwater stunts. But why they are afraid of sending him to Kerala is no happy story either.

Kerala has the highest number of captive elephant population in India. The official figures say that the state has 800-900 of captive elephants. This may go up to 1200 if a strict census is done. Only 20% of these can claim the sons-of-the-soil status. The rest come from the North and North-Eastern forests. Every year Sonepur in Bihar will see buyers and middlemen from Kerala flocking the annual live-stock festival to have a hard bargain over the biggest pet on the earth. Sonepur on the banks of the River Ganga will turn to a big animal fair during Budhapurnima and it remains the biggest market of captive elephants. Though trading in elephants is prohibited under Wild Life Protection Act-1972, hundreds of elephants would be put on auction at Sonepur and nobody seems to care the least. Buyers from Kerala are always willing to spend any money on tuskers with 'auspicious signs' and good temperament. Kerala is perhaps the only place where elephants are still in demand due to cultural reasons. People from the other states scornfully complain that the Kerala merchants have brought in an unhealthy competition at the Sonepur and elephants are no longer cheap there. Elephants come under the section-I of the Wild Life Protection Act that stipulates stringent regulations on the inter-state and inter-district transport of captive elephants. Nevertheless, the

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[ w i l d l i fe ]

Presence of elephants in temple festivals was limited to the central districts of Kerala a decade back. Traditional and ethnic rituals are increasingly being replaced by uniform Brahminical practices and rites and the change is reflected in festivals too. The concerted efforts to replace local deities with Hindu Gods and Goddesses have

Photo - K.R.Ranjith

pachyderms are shipped even from the far off islands of Andamans. 'The Islands had no elephant population in the wild and all of them were transported to work in the logging fields. Now the logging has stopped and elephants are cheap in the Andamans,' said a middleman from Palakkad on condition of anonymity. He himself has offloaded eight of them in to the mainland. 'Now, there are only few elephants left in the Islands and almost all have reached Kerala.'

The demand for elephants in the timber yards and logging grounds has waned, but the big black heroes are still in demand as a symbol of wealth and pomp. And an elephant at your gate is a statement in itself for the new elite who want to bask in the feudal glory.

Hindu revivalism and an appropriation of Brahminical values in to the public domain have also contributed to the increase in the demand for elephants. Elephants have become indispensable component of temple rituals and festivals irrespective of caste, region and tradition. Presence of elephants in temple festivals was limited to the central districts of Kerala a decade back.

Traditional and ethnic rituals are increasingly being replaced by uniform Brahminical practices and rites and the change is reflected in festivals too. The concerted efforts to replace local deities with Hindu Gods and Goddesses have gathered momentum across Kerala in recent years. This entails a deliberate attempt to replace the ethnic Dravidian festival rites and practices with that of newly designed uniform Hindu festivals tha t a re bas ica l ly feudal and Brahminical in nature. Decorated elephants are introduced everywhere the new practices are adopted. The stature

Caste and Class of Jumbo Gods

of elephants in the social milieu of the state has grown bigger than that of a status symbol to a cultural signifier of great import. Interestingly, all the elephants in Kerala are named after Hindu Gods irrespective of the owner's religion.

Aspirations of an emerging upper class to woo elitism and a social psyche that gradually becoming tolerant to Hindu revivalism are working together to bring in an interesting effect (in fact a detrimental impact) on the biggest mammal on ear th . Whi le the introduction of cranes and other mechanical devises have significantly reduced the demand for elephants elsewhere in the world, Kerala is perhaps the only place on earth where they are still in demand. When machines replaced elephants from timber yards and logging grounds, they were assigned new roles in the changing cultural space and work was replaced

with worship.

Four years back a Thrissur based businessman, Sunder Menon bought Thiruvambaadi Sivasundar, a super-tusker with a huge fan following all over the state for Rs. 28 lakh and donated him to the famous Thiruvambadi temple. That was the biggest purchase of an elephant in the state till then. The elephant market has grown bigger now and the stakes even bigger. The state has fan clubs for elephants of repute and they compete to put up huge flex boards of their favourite tuskers. E-4 Elephant, a hugely popular weekly documentary series on the life story of elephants in Kerala has crossed 200 episodes now. Many popular elephants have Orkut communities with thousands of fans joining in. Temple committees take it as an issue of their prestige to bring the 'best and biggest' heroes in to their festival. The spirited competition for the favourite elephants often becomes an

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. Many IPL heroes may look lesser beings when compared to these 'wild-but-tamed' heroes. Two years back a temple committee spent Rs. 2.27 lakhs to get Guruvayoor Padmanabhan, the super-tusker in Kerala, to participate in

Photo - K.R.Ranjith

informal auction ensuring big returns to the owners.

The rates are determined by the size and majesty of the elephant. Many IPL heroes may look lesser beings when compared to these 'wild-but-tamed' heroes. Two years back a temple committee spent Rs. 2.27 lakhs to get Guruvayoor Padmanabhan, the super-tusker in Kerala, to participate in a day long pooram festival. The lesser specimens fetch Rs.50, 000 to Rs. 60,000 on a festival day. The number of elephants participating in a pooram festival varies from 3 to 110 and the pomp of the festival is measured in the number and fame of the elephants. The elephant mania has crept in to the non-Hindu festivals too with Muslim and Christian communities coming out with their own versions of pooram with the usual line up of majestic elephants and pompous processions.

The obsessive love affair with the

elephants rarely translates in to sympathetic treatment towards these silent creatures. Not many obey existing rules and regulations of bringing elephants for festivals. Festival committees are often wary of the regulations and openly flout most of them leading to recurrent mishaps.

Kerala Captive Elephants (Man-agement and Maintenance) Rules 2003, stipulate many stringent measures to prevent abuse of elephants and resultant accidents. But these measures are seldom enforced and whenever the authorities are forced to act strict, the communal elements whip up sentiments to defend themselves. Last year, the festival organisers of the world renowned Thrissur Pooram threatened to call off the ancient fete if the government didn't back off from enforcing the rules aimed at the safety of both the animal and thousands of people who gather there for the festival.

Lifetime Torture

Domesticating the wild elephant and keeping it meek and tamed is a brutal process and since the animal can not fully shed its wild nature, a captive elephant will have to suffer lifelong tortures. Besides the horrendous lessons in the early days of captivity, the pachyderm is subjected to recurrent bouts of torture all along its lifespan. Every now and then a new mahout takes charge and each time the animal will have to unlearn what the former mahouts taught him and start learning the commandments of the new master. Each lesson is taught with the accompaniment of pitiless torture.

In Kerala this process of teaching is known as 'Kettiyazhikkal' and is taught during nights. The new mahout will stand in front of his new disciple and spell out his commands. Men standing around the elephant would keep thrusting and piercing the animals' hind legs with long sharp steel pegs. The night-long torture will continue till the disciple become fully compliant to the orders.

Large body, black skin that absorbs heat and the absence of sweat glands make the animal host i le to the hot environments. But a festival means long hours in the scorching sun with out water and fodder, long procession among jeering crowds and blaring instruments. Continuous exposure to the Sun upsets the thermoregulatory mechanism of the animal and standing in stressed conditions often makes them lose their temper. The first victims of the irate animals would be the mahouts. At least 15 people were gored to death in this festival season so far and nine of them were mahouts. Over 70 mahouts have lost their lives in the attack in the last three years. There were nearly 1000 cases of elephants running amok in the last three years causing death, injury and public destruction.

On 6th February, a stressed elephant ran wild during a heavily attended temple festival within the city limits of Kochi, goring to death a woman and injuring at

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