Officials of the Arulmigu Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai have sought donations from the public to purchase an elephant calf following the death of ‘Rukku’ last March.
‘Rukku’, the former elephant of Tiruvannamalai Arunachaleswarar temple, who died last March
Tiruvannamalai:
The Tamil Nadu government had recently passed a GO which stated that the elephant donor had to deposit Rs 10 lakh with the temple after handing over the elephant.
Asked if the upkeep of the animal would be met from the deposit amount, temple Joint Commissioner R Gnansekaran said “upkeep of the animal would be met from donations from the public.” Asked how much it would cost to maintain the animal a month, he said, “We spent around Rs 1 lakh a month for Rukku when it was alive.”
‘Rukku’, the deceased pachyderm, was donated by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa to the temple in 1995 when it was seven years old. A favourite of all devotees, specially women and children, Rukku was a regular participant in all temple festivals.
After serving the temple for 23 years, Rukku died in March after it was injured when it ran amok, being frightened by some stray dogs fighting nearby. Though some said it was bitten on one leg by one of the dogs, the regular vet who was called in treated the animal, but it succumbed to wounds a few days later and was buried near the temple wall which for some time became a “go to” site for devotees.
Controversy erupted when a private contractor used the burial mound as a parking spot for vehicles resulting in locals accosting temple officials and demanding that the parking lot be shifted, and this was done.
Gnanasekaran said “the age of the elephant calf to be purchased would be decided by the temple mahout who would accompany officials when they finally were called to okay the animal’s purchase by the donor. “Though we have shortlisted some locations, we are yet to finalise anything as we are awaiting more details” Gnanasekaran added.
The officials said, “Plans are afoot to request donors to buy and donate an elephant calf to the temple after which it would be trained in all temple rituals.”
The Tamil Nadu government had recently passed a GO which stated that the elephant donor had to deposit Rs 10 lakh with the temple after handing over the elephant.
Asked if the upkeep of the animal would be met from the deposit amount, temple Joint Commissioner R Gnansekaran said “upkeep of the animal would be met from donations from the public.” Asked how much it would cost to maintain the animal a month, he said, “We spent around Rs 1 lakh a month for Rukku when it was alive.”
‘Rukku’, the deceased pachyderm, was donated by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa to the temple in 1995 when it was seven years old. A favourite of all devotees, specially women and children, Rukku was a regular participant in all temple festivals.
After serving the temple for 23 years, Rukku died in March after it was injured when it ran amok, being frightened by some stray dogs fighting nearby. Though some said it was bitten on one leg by one of the dogs, the regular vet who was called in treated the animal, but it succumbed to wounds a few days later and was buried near the temple wall which for some time became a “go to” site for devotees.
Controversy erupted when a private contractor used the burial mound as a parking spot for vehicles resulting in locals accosting temple officials and demanding that the parking lot be shifted, and this was done.
Gnanasekaran said “the age of the elephant calf to be purchased would be decided by the temple mahout who would accompany officials when they finally were called to okay the animal’s purchase by the donor. “Though we have shortlisted some locations, we are yet to finalise anything as we are awaiting more details” Gnanasekaran added.