Kerala temple to use mechanised elephant instead of real one to perform rituals

Elephants are an important part of rituals in many Kerala temples, even though animal rights activists have for long campaigned to end the practice. In a first, a temple in Kerala’s Thrissur district will use a mechanised elephant instead of a real one to perform rituals.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India donated the mechanised elephant, named Irinjadappilly Raman, to the temple. The elephant looks lifelike with its ears flapping and can move its trunk but is fully mechanised.

A video of the elephant was tweeted by actor Sidharth Malhotra on Monday. Rajkumar Namboothiri, the priest at the Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple, is quoted as saying in the video, “Real worship is to protect all forms of life created by God. Allowing elephants to live in nature should be the real way of revering the elephant god, Lord Ganesha.”

“Kerala’s Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple will use a lifelike mechanical elephant, gifted by @petaindia, to perform rituals, allowing real elephants to remain with their families in nature,” Malhotra captioned the video.

“Great the away u love animals also announce new projects please,” commented a Twitter user. “Sending u lots of love, luck happiness and positive vibes,” said another. “Amazing initiative. More power to y’all,” wrote a third user.