Petition Regarding Temple Elephants

Below is an update (Friday, August 6, 2021) of a current petition at the Madras High Court regarding the status of Temple Elephants in Tamil Nadu.

Petition Regarding Temple Elephants

"It is time to stop any more elephant being domesticated or taken into captivity, except in case of injury or disability, and that, too, only by forest officials in special enclosures maintained in forest areas, the Madras High Court wrote on Thursday.

Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu made the observation in an interim order on a public interest litigation petition. It was filed by activist Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam, complaining about the ill-treatment of temple elephants.

The activist told the court that many temple elephants did not have regular mahouts with whom they developed a bond and the pachyderms were made to stand in the same place for hours, besides being lodged in small enclosures.

Claiming that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister had recently made a call to people to donate elephants to temples, he wondered what the necessity was for religious institutions to own elephants.

Referring to the religious references to Lord Vishnu having descended on earth to save an elephant from a crocodile, the litigant said, “Religion does not insist on keeping animals in captivity. It has only become a fashion statement to donate elephants to temples.”

To read the full narrative go to this link here

Rukku at Temple

The last elephant at Arunachaleswarar Temple was Rukku who at the young age of 30 years, passed away inside the compound of the Temple at 12.30 a.m. on Thursday March 22, 2017. For information regarding her antecedents, live and death, go to an earlier narrative at this link here

The below photo is of her interment outside the eastern walls of the Arunachaleswarar Temple Compound.

Rukku's Interment next to East Wall of Temple

The Shrine is south of the Amman Ammani Gopuram east wall

The last photograph is of Rukku in happier times, walking to Adiannamalai in July 2012, to participate in a function at the Temple at that place.

Beautiful Rukku