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.

Eruvayil Achyutha Warrier, the Great Patriot of Kayamkulam

As all are aware, the present state of Kerala has been divided into different princely kingdoms and being ruled by different kings. Venatt Swaroopam (Travancore Dynasty) and Kayamkulam were two among them. When Marthanda Varma became the King of Travancore, he fought many wars with neighboring kingdoms and brought all of them under his rule. However, Kayamkulam remained as a separate kingdom even then.

Marthanda Varma decided to bring in Kayamkulam too under his rule and he entrusted the duty of his trusted Lieutenant Ramayyan Dalava. Ramayyan Dalava, went to Kayamkulam with a force of about ten thousand warriors to capture the state. At that time Kayamkulam army had the strength of just 3000 members. Still, they fought with the Travancore army. Eruvayil Achyutha Warrier was the commandant in chief of the Kayamkulam army. He was a brave soldier at the same time a brilliant war strategist too. He changed the strategies every now and then and it has become difficult for the Travancore army to defeat Kayamkulam. They lost many lives too. Finally, Ramayyan Dalava realized that it was not possible to capture Kayamkulam as long as Achyutha Warrier is alive. He returned to Thiruvananthapuram and apprised the king about war. Marthanda Varma too of the opinion that they cannot conquer Kayamkulam when Warrier is leading the battle. Hence both of them hatched a plan to content Warrier.

Ramayyan Dalava sent his spies to gather more details about Achyutha Warrier and they informed him that Warrier is a great devotee of Lord Shiva and he spends the whole day in the Shiva Temple on first Saturdays of every Malayalam Month. On those days he observes fasting and will not even drink water. Ramayan waited for the first Saturday of the next month.

On that fateful day, Warrier entered the temple as usual and notice a saint who speaks the Tamil language. As he smiled at Warrier, Warrier too smiled back and went nearer to him. He inquired about the saint where he stays. Saint said him that he was there today and cannot say where he will be tomorrow. Sensing the philosophy in his words, Warrier spent quite some time with him discussing many spirituals subjects.

As usual, Warrier spent the whole day inside the temple, and while returning home in the evening, he invited the saint too. Saint accepted the invitation with great pleasure and accompanied him. As they were walking alongside the Kayamkulam Lake, a group of four or five young men attacked Warrier. They slapped him on his neck and on the waist. As it was quite unexpected and as he was too tired of not having food for the whole day, Warrier falls down. Then he jumped up and looked at the saint who was watching the incidents calmly. Warrier stared at the saint and shot a question.

“Are you Ramayyan Dalava?” The saint nodded as if he is agreeing then instructed the young man to take Warrier to a boat waiting in the lake. They conquered Warrier very easily as he was totally tired after observing the whole day's fasting. They took him to Thiruvananthapuram by boat and as they reached the palace, King Marthanda Varma was waiting there for Warrier.

King instructed Ramayyan to free Warrier and gave him a glass of water. Then the king approached him with folded hands and started talking.

“Warrier, it is my long cherishing wish that Kayamkulam should come under my rule. If you can help me, you will become the commander in chief of our country. Besides, you will be awarded with a lot of wealth and land.”

A calm and confident Warrier smiled at the King and replied.

“Your Majesty, I have regarded only one person in my life as my father. Similarly, I have only one country that is Kayamkulam, and only one king that is Kayamkulam King. Now it is left to you to make a decision.”

Saying these brave words, Warrier bowed in front of King Marthanda Varma and shown his neck, as if he is ready to be beheaded.

The very next day people saw a headless body floating in the lake and they identified it is of Eruvayil Achyutha Warrier, the great patriot of Kayamkulam who sacrificed his own life for the country.