THRISSUR, INDIA, January 13, 2016 (Deccan Chronicle): The trend of sparing elephants from temple festivals is catching up in view of the increasing incidents of the animals running amok causing even fatal accidents. A temple owned by a tantric family Kavanattumana in Irinjalakkuda here conducted the festival without elephants and introduced chariots for carrying thidambu (replica of the murthi) for temple ceremonies the other day. The officials of the Kombara Sree Krishna temple told DC that in three other temples owned by the family in Thrissur, they were planning to replace elephants with chariot.
“We had been using an elephant per day during the five-day festival. For the pallivetta ceremony when the murthi is taken out, we used to have three elephants. But considering the safety of devotees on festival grounds and temple premises we decided to move over to a specially designed chariot at a cost of US$3,000,” Mr Ravi Namboothiri of Kavanattumana told DC. Tantric scriptures in Vishnusamhita have mentioned that the murthi can be taken out either on the back of an elephant or a chariot, he said.