Thiruvattatu Adikesavan and Azhaka Pillai; a rare story of love and affection between an Elephant and Mahout

The procession of caparisoned elephants is an integral part of any temple festival in Kerala. It is more a Kerala tradition than a Hindu tradition as it is being seen in local festivals related to churches and mosques too. Elephants, the largest wild animals in the world have a significant role in the history and cultural heritage of Kerala and that is the reason for including elephants in the official logo of Kerala state.

Although it was a practice for centuries to use elephants for procession in temples and for other cultural events in Kerala, a movement is getting stronger against this practice nowadays. Many eminent persons are also backing this movement terming it as an act of cruelty towards animals. Indeed it is cruelty in some cases whereas it is not in some other cases. There were and are many mahouts who have loved their elephants more than their wards and this story is about a story about the implausible relation between an elephant and its mahout.

As all are aware, Kerala has been divided into several fractions before the arrival of British and each fraction has been ruled by different dynasties and feudal lords. They used to fight with each other to establish their supremacy and to conquer the other. After a long battle which lasted for several days, Marthanda Varma, then King of Travancore subjugated Kayamkulam a nearby princely state. After the victory, King Marthanda Varma visited Thiruvattatu Adi Kesava Temple, which was the family temple of Kaymkulam dynasty. There he found a cute calf elephant. He adopted it and named it after the temple deity as Adikesavan. He appointed a teen aged boy, Azhaka Pillai as the mahout for Adikesavan.

He ordered Azhaka Pillai to keep the elephant at the Thiruvattatu Temple and gave him permission to take elephant to other temples too if they need Adikesavan to take part in the procession. He also gave permission to Pillai for using the elephant in bringing large woods from the forest. On those days, it was elephants that are used to bring huge wood pieces from the forests.  However, the king put a strict condition that on 15 th of every month, Pillai should bring elephant to his palace in the early morning as he wants to see Adikesavan as the first sight of the day on that day.

King has designated a specific place in his courtyard for Adikesavan to wait so that he can see the elephant as he wakes up and open the windows. Azhaka Pillai used to bring the elephant on every 15^th and keep it at the place. Then he will move far as he did not want the king to see him too as the first sight. After seeing the elephant, the king will come out and give bananas, sugarcanes and jiggery which are kept ready. Once the King as given him one piece from each item, Adikesavan will move a bit back. This is a sign that he does not want the king to take trouble in feeding him. As the king understands Adikesavan well, he will move back and sit on a chair after giving permission to Adikesavan to have all. Even Azhaka Pillai has been rewarded with clothes and money on those days.

It has been a practice for both the elephant and the mahout and on some occasions, when Azhaka Pillai was not well, Adikesavan had come alone to the palace travelling miles and miles.

Suddenly one day, the King expired and his predecessor, Dharmaraja took the Charge. As Azhaka Pillai knows that the news of demise of king will be hard to digest, he did not inform Adikesavan. The next month, as usual Adikesavan came to the palace along with Pillai. As usual he trumpeted to wake the king. Dharmaraja, the new king did not have the habit of waking up early. Hence the trumpeting irritated him. He got furious and shouted the mahout to take the elephant away.

Experiencing a different treatment, Adikesavan broke down and he ran away from the place taking Pillai in his trunk. They travelled many miles and stopped for a while to take rest. At that time Pillai told Adikesavan about the demise of the King. It was really painful to him and the tears started coming out of his eyes. He did not eat anything.

At the same time, back in the palace, when the king woke up, companions told him about the practice of Marthanda Varma keeping the elephant for first sight in the morning. They also told him that Adikesavan might not be aware of the demise of Marthanda Varma and hence he came there as usual. Hearing the details, Dharmaraja too felt bad on his behavior and he sent persons to bring back the elephant. However, Adikesavan was not in a mood to obey royal order.

Seven days have passed and Adikesavan did not even drink water. All these days, officials used to come there to take Adikesavan to the palace. On the seventh day Azhaka Pillai told Adikesavan that it is not a good practice to disobey the royal order. He agreed and went to the palace.

With a great joy on his arrival Dharmaraja offered him bananas, coconut leaves, sugarcane etc but he did not went near the king. Then Pillai told king that the elephant did not have bath for last seven days and if it touched King, he will became impure. Hearing the reason for Adikesavan keeping a distance, King ordered Pillai to take the elephant to the nearby river and to have bath. Adikesavan came back to the palace after taking bath and accepted the materials submitted by his majesty. Then the King ordered to continue the practice as usual but not very early in the morning.

Both Adikesavan and Azhaka Pillai were of same age and both of them were getting weak as they grew older. Azhaka Pillai became very weak and he became bedridden. However, Adikesavan used to go for temple processions and for brining woods from the forest alone. He insisted that Azhaka Pillai should his part of wages. Temple authorities used to come to Azhaka Pillai’s house and present him his part of money. Then only Adikesavan will go there. He never created any mishaps even when he was alone and without a mahout.

Whenever he is free, he used to spend his time in the premises of Azhaka Pillai’s house. One such morning he heard a loud cry from Pillai’s house and he understood that his friend has left the world. He lifted his trunk as if he is paying homage to his friend of the life and moved to a corner in the compound. He lied on the ground and did not eat anything. On that night, Adikesavan too left the world to join his lifelong friend Azhaka Pillai. Both of them were around eighty years old then.

Since his teen ages, Azhaka Pillai never worked as a mahout for any elephant other than Adikesavan and Adikesavan never had a mahout other than Azhaka Pillai. They started life together, lived together and died together too.

Kottarakkara Chandra Shekharan, the Elephant with a difference (Part II)

Kottarakkara Chandrashekharan and his generosity

Chnadrashekharan started living in Kottarakkara. One Ramsar has been appointed as his mahout and one Kochu Kunju has been appointed as Ramassar’s assistant. The relation between Ramassar and Chandrashekhar was a father-son relation. Ramassar has treated Chandrashekaran as his own son and in return Chandrashekharan respected Ramassar as his father. However, Kochu Kunju has only the status of a servant in the mind of Chandrashekhar. People of Kottarakkara loved Chandrashekharan so much that they demanded to keep him at least for one day at each one’s house. Hence Ramassar will keep Chandrashekharan at some house every day by evening and used to go back to his own house. Next day morning, Kochukunju will come and take Chandrashekharan for a bath either in the temple pond or in the nearby river.

One day, Kochu kunju drank heavily in the night and he could not turn up on time the next day. By the time Ramassar reached near Chndrashekharan, he was fully covered with dust and sweat. The sight really saddened Ramassar. He took Chandrashekharan for a bath. On the way, they met Kochu Kunju. Angry with the behavior of Kochu Kunju, Ramassar scolded him. Kochu Kunju was not in a position to repent on his acts but started fighting with Ramassar. This made Chandrashekhar furious. He came forward and held Kochu Kunju with his huge trunk. Even before Ramassar could stop him, Chandrashekharan threw Kochu Kunju to a huge tree standing nearby. He died on the spot. However, Ramassar too got slapped with the trunk unknowingly and became unconscious. Realizing this fact, Chandrashekharan got worried. He took Ramassar to a nearby house. He kept Ramassar under a shadow and went to a nearby well. One Muslim lady was taking water from the well and filling her pot. Seeing the elephant coming near, she got scared and hid in a nearby bush. Chandrashekharan lifted the pot with water and came near Ramassar. He took water from the pot with his trunk and sprayed on the face of Ramassar. Ramassar woke up from unconsciousness.

By the time Chandrashekharan was thirsty. He went near the well with the pot. The Muslim lady was watching everything hiding inside the bush. Chandrashekharan waited there. Understanding the situation, Ramassar expressed his inability to come there and to pull water from the well loudly. Hearing his words, the Muslim lady came out of the water and filled the pot with water from the well. Chandrashekharan had three pots of water and left the place holding Ramassar in his trunk.

One day after this incident, a person from Kottarakkara presented Chandrashekharan with four bunches of bananas. He kept the best one aside and ate the rest. Then he took the one bunch which he kept aside to the house of the Muslim lady who served him water when he was thirsty. At that time her hut was gutting under fire and nobody was there inside except for three kids. Chandrashekharan went near the hut and pushed the roof which has been caught under huge flames off. Then he entered the hut and took three kids one by one with his trunk and kept them under a tree. When the lady and her husband came back, they realized the entire episode and thanked Chandrashekharan. He presented a bunch of bananas to them. Then he went inside a nearby forest and came back with logs and palm leaves. Using those logs and palm leaves, they reconstructed their house. From that day onwards, Chandrashekharan made it a practice to keep a portion of whatever he is getting aside. Ramassar had to sell it and to handover the money to that Muslim family.

King used to bring Kottarakkara Chandrashekharan for every important festival at Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram. When Chandrashekharan visited Thiruvananthapuram after this incident, the King noticed him keeping a portion of everything he receives aside and asked the reason to Ramassar. Ramassar told the king the incident and told him that it is the decision of Chandrashekharan to sell those articles which kept aside and pay the money to that Muslim family. Touched with the kindness and generosity of this animal, the king asked him to have everything and not to keep anything aside. In turn, he promised that he will pay the value of those items which he has kept aside in cash to Ramassar and he in turn will pay the Muslim family. Since then it made a practice for everyone who is presenting Chandrashekharan with rice, coconut leaves or bananas to give an amount to Ramassar. Ramassar, an honest person never took a single paisa from it but used to handover the amount to the Muslim family.