27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Robotic jumbo gifted by Trisha debuts at Aruppukottai temples
Chennai: The kumbhabhishekam festival is on at the Sri Ashtalinga Athisesha Selva Vinayagar temple and the Sri Ashtabhuja Athisesha Varahi Amman Temples in Aruppukottai, after a gap of 24 years.
The ceremony involves the new temple elephant Gaja carrying a pot of water from a nearby river to present to the idol at the temple. A life-sized Gaja's head is shaking, his ears flapping and his eyes are moving, but a closer look would reveal that he is not walking, but being wheeled. Gaja is a mechanical elephant made of fibre and silicon and powered by electricity, a generous gift to the temples from actor
Trisha Krishnan
and other donors.
Many temples keep wild elephants captive but in any restrictive and confined atmosphere, they go through immense psychological trauma and stress, says Ananda Kumar, senior scientist, nature conservation foundation. "Ideally, wild elephants should be phased out from all such ceremonies, but any move replacing them is welcome." There have been countless instances, especially in the neighbouring state of Kerala, of elephants running wild amid processions and killing its own mahouts as well as spectators.
"The temple authorities emrbaced the idea since even children can be around them safely," says Arun Prasanna, of the Chennai-based NGO People for Cattle in India (PCI), which works for captive elephants and is associated with this initiative.
This initiative marks the first instance in the Madurai region - and the entire Virudhunagar district. "Devotion shines brightest when it's rooted in compassion," said Trisha, on the occasion.
