Kottayam: A Gajasangamam or the grand jumbo festival, to summon the Onam season in style, would be held at Thirunakkara. The elephant feast will be conducted at 4 pm on August 27.
The Thiruonam festival is on August 29. This year, up to 40 elephants are expected to take part in the elephant feast, which is offered as a special ritual by the elephant lovers, at the Thirunakkara Mahadeva temple premises. This is for the second time that the ‘Anayoottu’ festival would be held at Thirunakkara. Last year, 35 elephants had taken part in this festival.
In Kerala, elephants as revered as the physical incarnation of Lord Ganesh. Meanwhile, Anayootu, or feeding the jumbos is also a ritual that is conducted after the iconic pooram or the annual temple festival.
Special Ganapati pooja led by head priest Tantri Kandaru Mohanaru would be held at the temple prior to the feast. Holy water would be sprinkled on the elephants and adorned with ‘tilak’ (applying sandalwood paste on the forehead) before welcoming them to the temple ground via the east direction. Meanwhile, the spirit of the ritual would be heightened by the lively beats of pancharimelam or the traditional percussion orchestra. The names and the fabulous physical attributes of each jumbo would be announced as they are welcomed into the temple grounds for the ritual.
The Anayoottu ritual would be inaugurated by Travancore Dewaswom president K Ananthagopan. Meanwhile, minister VN Vasavan would launch the logo and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan MLA would inaugurate the ‘nilavara nirakkal’ ritual.
Temple advisory board president TC Ganesh said that around 300 kilograms of rice would be used to feed the elephants on a special day. Rice balls mixed with ghee, jaggery, coconut, and other special delicacies, sugar cane and medicinal herbs too would be given to the elephants. The ritual will be conducted jointly by the Dewaswom board and the temple advisory committee. Meanwhile, the police personnel and the forest department would arrange the safety facilities.
