E 4 ELEPHANTS

In Kerala elephants are employed in temple rituals and festivals called Utsavas like Thrissur Pooram. There are Poorams which deploy as many as a hundred tuskers. Even a minor Utsava in an upcountry village one or two elephants is a must. So also a traditional welcome to a dignitary is also adorned by the presence of a tusker or many tuskers. Aanayottam (elephant race) Aanayoottu (the traditional feast given to elephants) are traditional practices in Kerala.

The historical and cultural roles played by elephants in Kerala is epitomised by the official emblem of the Government of Kerala, borrowed from the erstwhile Maharaja of Travancore, which depicts two tuskers facing each other, their trunks lifted and joined.

Commercially also elephants used to play an important role in the life of Keralites. With an abundent timber wealth in the Western Ghats, elephants were the chief transportares of timber from the wooded mountain ranges down in to the populous planes. Even now elephants are used to carry timber from areas which are not road-connected.

Domesticated elphants, like humans, have names related to Hindu mythology and land names.