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Saturday, December 21, 2024
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Guruvayur Anayottam 2014
Thousands of elephant lovers eagerly flocked to see the elephant race held on March 12th, 2014, which marked the beginning of the 10-day annual temple festival at Sree Krishna temple Guruvayur in Thrissur district, Kerala.
In all, 27 elephants of the Guruvayur Devaswom participated in the half-a-kilometer race starting from Manjulal, at the eastern end of the temple road to the main entrance of the temple. Barricades were erected on both sides of the road to control the crowd, who thronged the place to witness the race.
Among the 27, five elephants Achuthan, Ramankutty, Nandan, Nandini and Gopikrishnan were selected to run in the front row.
The event started at 2.30 in the afternoon with the ancestral heir Kandiyoor Pattath Nambisan handing over the neck bells to Mathembad Nambiar who in turn handed them over to the mahouts waiting near the flag post of the temple. Cheered by onlookers the Mahouts ran over to the starting point, decked the bells on their elephants neck.
As soon as the conch shell was sounded by the marar, the tuskers raced along the road much to the excitement of the audience. Ramankutty, a favourite among the tuskers ran past his rivals to emerge as winner for the 10th time in the race.
He will have the honour to carry the Thidambu - the replica of the idol of Guruvayoorappan on all special occasions for one year.
