Kottayam temple to hold ‘Penn Pooram’ with cow jumbos

KOTTAYAM: The mighty tusker has always had the pride of place in temple festivals in Kerala. No matter the deity, it is always caparisoned male elephants that are paraded during the festivals, a practice one might argue stems from the patriarchal tendencies in Kerala. But Kerala is changing, gradually shedding its patriarchal nature. And, celebrations are following suit.

Breaking with tradition, the Major Kodungoor Devi Temple in Kottayam is set to hold a unique ‘Penn Pooram’ (festival of women) this year with female elephants. The temple will parade nine cow elephants at the ‘aarattu’ ritual, and conduct ‘aanayoottu’ (elephant feeding) and ‘gajamela’ (elephant show) during the culmination of its 10-day festival on April 4.

While there are several temple festivals in Kerala in which women get prominence or female deities are highlighted, it is for the first time that a temple would parade cow elephants.

“Though parading of elephants during poorams is part of our tradition, cow elephants were never in the picture. We decided to change this. As Kodungoor temple is one of the few temples in Kerala where cow elephants are allowed to carry the deity’s ‘thidambu’ (idol), we found it apt to hold a ‘Penn Pooram’,” said V C Renish Kumar, the secretary of the temple advisory committee.

“While bull elephants are known for their tusks and size of the head, overall beauty is the highlight of cow elephants,” Renish said, adding that the temple is planning to award the most beautiful cow elephant during the gajamela. “The winner will carry the ‘thidambu’ on the final day,” he said.

Elephants Venattumattam Kalyani, Guruvayoor Devi, Thottakadu Kunju Lakshmi, Venattumattam Chembakam, Thottakkad Panchali, Plathottam Beena, Plathottam Meera, Kumaranelloor Pushpa and Mahalakshmi Parvathy will be paraded.

“Finding nine cow elephants was tough as this is the peak festival season. “Meenapooram, being organised on ‘pooram’ day in the Malayalam month of Meenam, is one of the important festivals in devi temples across the state. Hence, getting the cow jumbos proved challenging” Renish said. The temple festival will begin on Sunday. One elephant each will take part on days one to eight, five on the ninth day and nine on the last day.

Dismissing the criticism over parading captive elephants, temple advisory committee president Reghuraj B said the elephants are being engaged in strict compliance with the Kerala Captive Elephants Rules, 2003.