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Cithara Paul
Cithara Paul

KERALA

The 86-year old Guinness record holder who refuses to retire

PTI7_27_2016_000263B [File photo] Eighty-six year old Dakshayaniyamma is the oldest among the captive elephants in Asia| PTI

This octogenarian elephant continues to be an inevitable presence during temple festivals

She will turn 87 later this year. Like every other octogenarian, she has failing eye sight, hearing issues and wrinkled skin.  Her maiden name was Dakshayani. However, now people have added the suffix 'amma' (mother) to her name as a token of respect to her age and call her 'Dakshayaniyamma'. 

Nevertheless, Dakshayaniyamma is quite naughty and prefers not to listen to her mahout. Yes, she is an elephant —  the oldest among the captive elephants in Asia. She has even made it to the Guinness book of World Records. She has also been conferred with the 'gaja muthassi' (grandma elephant) title. 

Though Travancore Devaswam Board (TDB) has stopped parading her for temple festivals, she continues to be an inevitable presence in most of the temple festivals here.

“Dakshayani is one of the most elegant and beautiful elephants. Her presence itself is so divine,'' said R Prakash, secretary of Mahavishnu Temple at Trivikramangalam in Thiruvananthapuram. Recently, the temple held a big function to pay respects to Daksayani.

She had come all decked up for the function with sandalwood smeared all over her. 

“Getting to feed her and be near to her itself is a blessing,” added Prakash.

Interestingly, Dakshayani has her airs intact. She feels it her right to lay her trunk on every banana and coconut  she sees. “When she passes by, she just take away the bananas,” said Rajesh, a native of Thamalam where Dakshayani is usually tied. 

The erstwhile Travancore Royal family had gifted her to TDB in 1949 during the latter's inception and ever since, she has been with the board.

Two years ago, the board decided to retire her after complaints surfaced against using the octogenarian elephant  for processions. Since then, she is not officially part of any temple processions. As  per the Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) rules, 2003, a captive elephant should normally be allowed to retire on attaining 65 years of age. 

Mahout Mukesh, however, is not a happy man. “Her health has deteriorated since then,” he said. Any living being compelled to sit idle is bound to have health issues, he added. 

Mukesh has been with Dakshayani since his childhood days. His father Muraleedharan Nair was the preceding mahout and had been with Dakshayani for more than 15 years. “She is like a family member to us,” said Mukesh, whose brother is also a co-mahout of Dakshayani. 

According to them, certain activists, who have no real understanding of the man-elephant relationships, are raking up the issue of elephant torture. “I am not saying that there is no exploitation of elephants. There are definitely some incidents. But all are not like that,” he said.

Interestingly, the story comes in the backdrop of a strong debate going on in Kerala regarding captive elephants. There has been an increasing number of people who believe that elephants belong to the jungle. They have been demanding a ban on captive elephants.

Elephant rights activist V K Venkitachalam, who has been steadfastly opposing the practice of keeping elephants as captives, says all these adulations are mere eye wash. According to him, during the last festival season alone, as many as 24 elephants have died in captivity in the state. 

Dakshayani, however, is in no mood to listen all this. She is busy planning her next prank.

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Topics : #Kerala

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