Robotic elephants rescue their real counterparts at temples in Kerala and Karnataka

Hundreds of devotees gathered around Irinjadappilly Raman as the majestic elephant, flapping his ears, performed the ‘Nadayiruthal’ or ceremonial offering to Lord Sree Krishna at the Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple in Kerala’s Thrissur district. An elephant performing rituals is a common sight in Kerala temples. However, what caught the devotees' attention was that Raman was not a real elephant. He is a mechanical elephant with real-life features.

The temple became the first in Kerala to introduce a robotic elephant, donated by the animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India in February 2023, with the support of award-winning actor Parvathy Thiruvothu. 

Other temples in Kerala and Karnataka are following suit, slowly but steadily. 

Robotic elephants make convincing actions like shaking their head, rolling their eyes and flapping their ears, swishing their tails, lifting their trunks, and even spraying water, which helps the temples keep their traditions alive in a realistic but humane manner. 

Elephants have been traditionally used in temple festivals and rituals, especially in South India, for ages. A trip to the famous Guruvayur Sreekrishna Temple in Kerala is incomplete without a visit to the famed statue of the decorated elephant Guruvayur Keshavan. Standing tall at 3.28 meters, the elephant was donated to the temple by the royal family of Nilambur in 1922.  His gentle behaviour made him the darling of both temple authorities and devotees. 

Also Read: How two tribes in Kutch are conserving endangered swimming camels

After he died in 1976, Keshavan’s statue was erected in the temple precincts as a tribute to the services he rendered to the presiding deity, Lord Krishna, while his tusks, along with a majestic portrait of the elephant, adorn the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum. 

Life in shackles and captivity

The Thrissur Pooram, renowned for the procession of ornately caparisoned elephants, is an annual Hindu temple festival, where dozens of elephants are paraded surrounded by drumbeats and fireworks. While the crowd cheers for these giants, there are a handful who empathize with them, as they are made to stand in the scorching heat for hours at a stretch.

Elephants are often transported from one place to another, even across states, in trucks sometimes without food and water. It is not surprising that there have been rising cases of elephants running amok, causing harm to humans, says Khushboo Gupta, Director of Advocacy Projects at PETA India. 

“Elephants are wild animals, but they are forcibly trained to be used for ceremonies, rides, tricks, and other purposes by violently dominating them, including beating into submission and using sharp weapons to inflict pain," Khushboo says.

“Most are denied adequate food, water, veterinary care, and any semblance of a natural life. Many elephants become intensely frustrated and lash out, sometimes killing mahouts, devotees, tourists, or other humans,” she adds.

Also Read: This Bengaluru animal lover quit job to rescue snakes; saved 7,000 so far

PETA India has been encouraging the use of mechanical or robotic elephants or other non-animal means while advocating for captive elephants to be retired to sanctuaries where they could live unchained in the company of other elephants.

Sangita Iyer, a National Geographic Explorer, award-winning nature and wildlife filmmaker and broadcast journalist, and biologist, through her organisation the Voice for Asian Elephants, has been working relentlessly to sensitise people to free captive elephants. Her award-winning documentary Gods in Shackles exposes “the dark side of the glamorous cultural festivals that exploit temple elephants for profit under the guise of culture and religion.”  

Armed with a mission to protect the endangered Asian elephants and their habitats in India, Sangita has been coordinating with bureaucrats, law enforcement authorities, religious institutions, and decision-makers to alleviate the suffering of these gentle giants.

Also Read: Coimbatore’s Sparrow Man brings back birds with nesting boxes

Robots to the rescue

The Voice for Asian Elephants has also donated a robotic elephant Shankara Hariharan to the Shiva Temple in Devarshola in Gudalur in February 2024.

The Mattur Thrikkayil Mahadeva temple in Kalady, Kerala, has been using a robotic elephant Mahadevan for its rituals for almost four months now, a cause promoted by actor Priyamani with support from PETA India.

Kapally Sreekumar, an administrator of the Mattur Thrikkayil Mahadeva temple, says, “Earlier, we used to hire elephants for festivals like Sivarathri. However, we realised that the elephant was ill at ease at the new place, and the mahout had a tough time managing it and ended up torturing the elephant. It was heartbreaking to see the innocent animal becoming submissive due to the physical torture.”

“Although there have been no incidents of elephants running amok in this temple, a nearby temple did witness such an incident causing harm to humans as well. We want more temples to adopt robotic elephants instead of using a real elephant,” Sreekumar notes.

“We are ready to donate our robotic elephant to any other temple for use,” he adds.

He explains that robotic elephant can be charged by alternating current, and switched off when not in use. “They have been accepted widely by devotees as they flap the ears, roll their eyeballs, move the tail and raise the trunk. Four people can mount on this elephant and carry the idol. It is 10 feet tall and has a strong iron structure,” he adds.

The Peringottukara Vishnumaya Devasthanam in Thrissur, Kerala, also introduced a mechanical elephant in June 2024, much to the delight of its devotees. 

Unni Damodara Swami of the temple mentions, “It is difficult to manage a live elephant as there is a dearth of trained mahouts. Also, there is always a lingering fear that the elephant may run amok and harm people. Now people are thronging the temple to see the robotic elephant. They click pictures and touch them without any fear.”    

Also Read: Vanita Borade: Maharashtra’s ‘snake friend’ who has rescued 75,000 snakes; works without fee 

Meanwhile, actors Aindrita Ray and Diganth Manchale have sponsored the donation of the robotic elephant Shiva to Jagadguru Sri Veerasimhasana Mahasamsthana Math in Mysuru, Karnataka and Baladhasan was donated to the Pournamikau Temple in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), supported by actor Adah Sharma. 

The making of robotic elephants

These mechanical elephants effectively replicate the experience of using a real elephant. 

Sachin Bangera, Vice President of Celebrity and Public Relations at PETA India, says the average cost of each mechanical elephant ranges between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 6 lakh. They are custom-made by a few artisans to meet the requirements of individual temples. It includes a fully operational mechanical elephant, a moving base, aesthetic painting and transportation to the temple. 

These 3-metre-tall mechanical elephants weigh 800 kilograms and are made of rubber, fibre, metal, mesh, foam, and steel and run on five motors. 

Presently, three vendors manufacture mechanical elephants in India, of which two are from Kerala and Maharashtra.

As part of its mission, PETA India has been parading its robotic elephant Ellie at private, public, international, and government schools across India, and has reached over 1.13 lakh students since May 2023, sharing the message that elephants should not be used in circuses or for rides or religious events. 

According to the Heritage Animal Task Force, captive elephants killed 526 people in Kerala alone over 15 years.  PETA India has been repeatedly highlighting the dangers associated with using captive elephants. In February 20204, Gouri, an elephant at Amer Fort near Jaipur, attacked a female Russian tourist, and in the same month, an elephant at Blangad Bhagavathy Temple in Chavakkad, Kerala, ran amok, injuring four people. 

In March, an elephant brought for a temple festival in Pattambi near Palakkad, ran amok, injuring one person, causing the death of two cows, and damaging property. During the Arattupuzha Pooram festival in Thrissur the same month, an elephant charged at and chased another, causing severe panic among thousands of devotees, including children, who scampered for safety. 

In April, at a ceremony at TV Puram Sree Ramaswami Temple in Vaikom near Kottayam, an elephant attacked and killed a mahout, and in the same month in West Bengal, a mahout was killed at the ISKCON Mayapur temple by one of the two elephants that are being held captive there. In June, at an illegal safari park in Idukki, an elephant named Lakhsmi crushed a mahout to death. 

With the Ganesh festival around the corner, elephants, revered and perceived to be the living incarnation of Ganesha, definitely deserve a life of dignity with freedom to roam in the wild.

(Rama Devi Menon is a Hyderabad-based independent journalist, bird conservationist and animal rights advocate)

Also Read: Coastal Impact: Adopt a coral and help conserve marine biodiversity

Look up our YouTube Channel