ALAPPUZHA: Approval of Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) here for parading three elephants at Bhagavatha Sapthaha Yagnam has angered animal rights activists. They say since the seven-day recital of Bhagavatha organised by Golok Ashram at Karuvatta near Haripad is a private ceremony which has nothing to do with temple ritual or tradition. The ashram conducted a parade of three elephants on behalf of Avavrathasnana ghoshayatra, a pageantry marking the conclusion of the week-long event on Thursday.
Kerala Animal Welfare Board member M. N. Jayachandran said the Supreme Court gave consent to use jumbos only for temple related traditional rituals with stringent norms. "Neither Sapthaham nor Avavrithasnana ghoshayatra requires their presence especially in ashrams or in other private places where usually no idols are seen to be worshipped," he said. "Such precedence is entirely deplorable."
There is district collector’s standing order to follow strict norms at events with three or more elephants. Moreover, the Alappuzha district does not have a veterinarian having expertise in tranquillizing elephants if any emergency arises. The district administration has also issued a directive against new events and increase in the number elephants at the existing ones. Meanwhile, Rajendran, one of its organisers, told DC that they included elephants only after ACF's approval.
V.K.Venkitachalam, another activist, argues that Bhagavata Saptaha Yajnam does not require parading of the idol atop elephants as part of the tantric scriptures practised in Kerala. The apex court had already barred using captive elephants in all activities, including circuses and other performing arts, except at temple rituals. "Traditions of ashrams and temples are entirely different," he said.
