PENANG, MALAYSIA, February 11, 2006: Five elephants made their debut at the Thaipusam celebrations here making this year’s festival even more meaningful. Devotees were seen bowing their heads before the elephants at the carpark of the Penang Municipal Park to seek blessings from Lord Ganesh, often referred to as the Elephant God. The one bull and four cow elephants were brought in from Thailand by NS Cempaka Resources, a Negri Sembilan-based company that organizes elephant shows. Company manager Taeng said the elephants, aged from six to 13 years, arrived in Penang on Thursday. “This is the first time that my company has brought in elephants for the Thaipusam celebrations in Penang,” he said yesterday.
“The elephants add more excitement to this year’s Thaipusam celebrations as devotees get to receive blessing from the sacred animals which are often found in Hindu temples in India,” he said. Chandra Kanthan said an elephant would garland Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon during the Thaipusam celebrations today. Devotee M. Saravanan, 33, a factory supervisor from Ipoh, brought along his three-year-old son Thanish to be blessed by one of the elephants. “It’s like receiving blessings from Lord Ganesh,” he said.