Thrissur: Tusker Gopi Kannan came first in the annual elephant race held at the Sree Krishna Temple here on Saturday afternoon. In the 500-metre race that began from Manjulal on the main road leading to the temple, the 39-year-old tusker left behind his nearest opponent Chenthamarakshan by a huge margin. Tusker Kannan came third.
The five fittest elephants of the Guruvayur Devaswom took part in the race and the first elephant that entered the temple through the eastern entrance tower was declared the winner.
Tusker Ramankutty, who was all set to create a record in the history of the race by coming first for the 12th time, could not maintain his lead reportedly due to the oversight of his mahouts who did not properly lock the chain put on the knees of the elephant which fell apart during the race thereby preventing the elephant from running hard.
The temple had started attracting large numbers of devotees and getting several crores of rupees and huge quantities of gold and silver as offerings after 1970s. Reminding one of its humble beginnings, the ceremony called ‘aanayila seeveli’ (seeveli without an elephant) was held on Saturday.
The head priest of the temple hoisted the festival flag on the golden staff on Monday night announcing the 10-day-long annual festivities. Gopi Kannan will carry the thidambu (replica of the idol) in all the festival ceremonies.
