Sree Krishna Temple, Irinjadappily, a small temple in a sleepy village near Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district, is all set to create history in the festival culture of the State.
Irinjadappilly Raman, an elephant, will be offered to the temple with all the traditional rituals. But Raman is not like the other elephants familiar to the elephant-crazy Thrissur. He neither needs a mahout to control him nor any food. It is a robotic elephant, which can move its head, trunk, ears, and eyes.
At a time, when long hours of parading in scorching sun, torture, health issues, and unscientific management take a toll on captive elephants, animal rights activists are extending a hearty welcome to Irinjadappilly Raman.
PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) has sponsored the robotic elephant. PETA, which has protested against ill treatment of captive elephants, has been trying to create a practice of parading motif elephants for some time.
Elephants are wild animals. Captive elephants are stripped away from everything they have naturally. Robotic elephants are a perfect solution for replacing real elephants. The real elephants should be sent back to sanctuaries, says Khushboo Gupta, Director of Advocacy Project, PETA.
“More and more temples are ready to adopt such elephants. This electronic elephant costs only ₹5 lakh. PETA is ready to support them to procure them,” she says.
However, a group of festival organisers and the Thrissur-based Poora Premi Sangam are not happy with the robotic elephant. They claim that elephant parading is the most attractive part of festivals and robotic elephants will spoil the charm of festivals. They also alleged efforts to spoil the cultural heritage of festivals.
Rajkumar Namboodiri, member of Irinjadappilly Mana, which manages the temple, says that tantric texts, which are the base of temple rituals, do not insist on the use of elephants for temple rituals.
Mr. Namboodiri says many temples have shown interest in parading the robotic elephant. Many spiritual leaders are participating in the function of offering the elephant on February 26, he said.
V.K. Venkitachalam, secretary of Heritage Animal Task Force, who have been trying for an alternative for the captive elephants for long, said the task force was trying to get more robotic elephants. “ We are planning to get 50 more robotic elephants in the coming years with the support of PETA,” he said.