Thrissur: The annual elephant race (aanayottam) will be held on the Sree Krishna Temple premises on Saturday in which out of the total 56 elephants of Guruvayur Devaswom, five of the healthiest will take part.
The five were selected through the draw of a lot after the ‘ucha pooja’ ceremony at the temple on Friday. Elephants Kannan, Ramankutty, Gopi Krishnan, Chenthamarakshan and Achuthan will line up for the 500-metre race starting from the Manjulala to the Eastern Entrance Tower of the temple at 3 p.m.
A total of 25 elephants will participate in the event. Considering the safety of the large number of devotees and spectators, barricades have been erected on both sides of the track in front of the temple and as many as 70 policemen will be on duty during the event.
The traditional bell at the temple will be rung by the priest at 3 p.m. and the percussionist will sound the conch to mark the beginning of the race.
