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Elephant race kickstarts Guruvayur temple fest

     Guruvayur (Kerala): A pranky 18-year-old tusker breezed past four dozens of heavyweight competitors earlier this week to clinch Kerala's most popular annual pachyderm race in the temple town of Guruvayur. Krishna was cheered on by thousands of frenzied devotees and tourists, many of whom were simply mesmerised by the agility and frolic of the elephants who seemed to enjoy the race as much as them. The race marked the beginning of a 10-day festival in the temple dedicated to Lord Krishna. According to legend, Guruvayur was once a town without a single elephant. The locals spent years praying to their Gods and pleading to their kings and sages for the animal, which is revered and considered auspicious by the Hindus. It is said that the Gods answered their prayers and an elephant came running to the doorsteps of the temple and stayed on. The annual elephants race to the temple complex recall the event. Every year, nearly 50 elephants aged between 10-50 years run the kilometre-long race to the temple and then take seven rounds of the sprawling complex before reaching the finishing line. Mahouts have a tough time keeping their food-loving elephants on track, as they are often lured by dropped banana peels and attracted to roadside sweet shops. Krishna is one of the youngest winners of the event and his mahout C.K Balan Nair was jubilant at his prodigy's achievement. "I am very very happy," he said. As his trophy Krishna will stay inside the temple till the festival is over and will also have the honour of carrying the main deity during the festival. India has an estimated 30,000 wild and captive elephants, about half of whom live in the remote northeast bound by Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Nepal.
-Feb 23, 2005