KOCHI: They are now the pride of the Kochi Devaswom Board. Till recently the tuskers owned by the Board faced torture from their mahouts. After the intervention of elephant lovers and the media, the Board official have started appointing only persons with sufficient experience to care for these animals. And this move is showing results. Devaswom Sivakumar, one of the tuskers owned by the Board, stands tall among tuskers in Kerala. After taking into account the height and other features, it was found that Devaswom Sivakumar, caught from the Nilambur forests, is the tallest tusker in the state.
Devaswom Gireeshan, Triprayar Ramachandran and Ernakulam Sivakumar are some of the other elephants owned by the Board. After getting good care from Rama Panicker during its childhood days, Devaswom Gireeshan now has another dedicated mahout, Venu, while Triprayar Ramachandran has Hari who has been looking after the animal like a friend. Ernakulam Sivakumar, the tusker offered to Ernakulathappan in 1973, went through several phases including the loss of one tusk. He was later fitted with a fibre tusk. Now he holds the position of the tallest tusker caught from Kerala Forests with a height of 306 cm.
Captive elephants in Kerala are broadly divided into two, tuskers trapped from the Kerala–Mysore border forests, the ‘nadan elephants’, and those from Bihar and Assam. Tuskers from the Kerala-Mysore forests have stunning features like a fleshy trunk, symmetrical tusks and highly projected foreheads. Tuskers like Thiruvambadi Sivasundar and Pambadi Rajan are nadan elephants.
“Sivakumar was caught from Nilambur and at the age of three was offered to Ernakulam Mahadeva Temple,” recalls mahout, Murali. As this is the growing stage of the tusker, the height will increase more, says Murali who is an expert in the life cycle of elephants. Tuskers from Nilambur forests possess some enviable features, echoes Rajith, an elephant lover. That is why people still remember Guruvayoor Keshavan and Thiruvambadi Chandrasekharan.
In the normal course the height of the tuskers is measured as the height from the ground level to the “irikka sthaanam” (where the mahouts sit), observes Sreehari who takes a keen interest in the tuskers of Kerala. During the thalapokka malsaram (competition which takes place among the tuskers to decide their position in the divine procession) mahouts try to raise the forehead as high as possible, he says. “This is not the actual height of the tusker. Thrikkadavoor Sivaraju of the Travancore Devaswom Board, which is said to be the tallest tusker in Kerala, has a height of 298 cm. But Sivakumar has a height of 306 cm, that too from the ground level to the irikka sthaanam,” he points out. Sivakumar's childhood days were under the care of the skilled mahout, Narayanan Nair. Later his son Venu took over. And now Venu’s younger brother Murali has been treating the tusker for the past 17 years.
“A routine bath with husk massaging is essential for elephants,” says Murali, about the day-to-day care given to Sivakumar. Though the allotted amount of palm leaves for the tusker is 250 kg, admirers of Sivakumar are often generous and offer more. Besides this, date palm is given to him on a daily basis which increases the immunity and also helps keep away the deadliest condition among tuskers, erandakettu (constipation), says Murali.
Under the strict vigil of Murali, Sivakumar carried the idol of Sree Poornathrayeesha on Thiruvonam day as part of the divine procession in connection with the aarattu (holy bath) of Moosari Ulsavam.
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