THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Sudarshana, the 13-year-old she-elephant of Sree Padmanabha Swami Temple, was full of excitement on Wednesday. The adorable animal kept flapping her ears and swishing her tail as she swaggered around the youngsters who vied for selfies.
A decent crowd had assembled on the Bhajanappura Palace premises on Wednesday when the annual month-long Karkidakam rejuvenation therapy started for the two elephants. The other one was 56-year-old Darshini, a known name among elephant lovers in the state.
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran inaugurated the anayoottu ceremony by feeding Darshini with medicated rice balls. For the next 30 days, the duo will be given a special diet fixed by veterinarian Dr Rajeev T.
The diet consists of 5-6 kg of cooked rice, two kg green gram, 500g-one kg small onion, two kg horse gram, ground nuts, raggi, turmeric powder and palm jaggery. The ingredients are pounded, and given as boluses. The daily bath of the animals would be an elaborate affair during the period.
Darshini and Sudarshana are the pets of thousands of devotees of Lord Sree Padmanabhaswami. Typical to the nature of she-elephants, they love human interactions, especially with the children.Darshini was the pet of the last King of erstwhile Travancore kingdom Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma. He had named her Priyadarshini which got corrupted to Darshini with the passage of time.
As a custom, both the animals are taken to the temple every day, where they are fed with cooked rice and sweet porridge. The deity’s idol is taken atop Darshini during the ritualistic sheeveli procession thrice in a month. She also accompanies the ceremonial aarattu procession from the temple to the Shangumugham beach.
Sudarshana was gifted to the temple by a devotee during the Lakshadeepam Festival in 2014. Only female elephants are used for the rituals at Sree Padmanabhaswami temple as the presiding deity is assumed as calm in nature. The animals live at the anakottil, the elephant shed on the Bhajanappura Palace premises. Four mahouts, including veterans Suresh and Gopalakrishnan, take care of them.