COIMBATORE/NILGIRIS: As part of Vinayagar Chathurthi celebrations, special poojas were performed and fruits were offered to captive elephants at the Theppakadu elephant camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and the Chadivayal elephant camp near the Siruvani foothills.
While the celebrations at Theppakadu were grand, with the pooja conducted in the presence of hundreds of tourists on Sunday evening, the event at Chadivayal was a low-key affair, attended by mahouts and kavadis, as tourists had not yet been allowed into the camp.
A total of 15 elephants were lined up, and more than 800 tourists enjoyed watching them. The elephants were fed watermelon, apples, jaggery and bananas along with their regular food. Forest officials served sweet pongal and sundal to the visitors as part of the celebrations.
"Bommi and Giri performed pooja at the temple by ringing the bell, and the tourists were enthralled by the obedience of the elephants," said a forest official at Theppakadu.
At the Chadivayal elephant camp, a priest performed pooja for Muthu, Cauvery and Sumangala. Muthu and Cauvery were brought from the Kozhikamuthi elephant camp in the Ulanthy forest range of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR). They were shifted to Chadivayal on February 26. Likewise, Sumangala from the Theppakadu elephant camp in the MTR, the oldest female at the camp was shifted to Chadivayal in March.
John, a male elephant from the Theppakadu elephant camp, was not part of the pooja as he has been staying at Chadivayal since March 9 after entering musth, a periodic state in adult male elephants marked by an increase in reproductive hormones and heightened aggression.