Special cover on Kerala’s oldest elephant Paramekkavu Rajendran
Paramekkavu Rajendran, an elephant that has a record of participating in most number of Thrissur Poorams, which was dedicated to Paramekkavu Temple in 1955 when it was just 12 years old, had been participating in Thrissur Pooram since 1963. The elephant was also paraded in the opening ceremony of Asian Games (Asiad) in 1982 in Delhi.
The tusker had won the hearts of elephant lovers with its affable behaviour, majestic size and typical features of jumbos of Kerala forests. Rajendran had many similarities with ‘Gajarajan’ Guruvayur Kesavan, which died in 1976. The elephant was bought by mobilising about Rs 4,800 from devotees in 1955 by the then head priest of the Paramekkavu Temple, Venad Parameswaran Namboothiri.
The only blemish in the ‘biography’ of Rajendran is that it had gored to death veterinarian Dr Prabhakaran who had fired tranquilizer shot when the elephant had run amok at Kechery in 1995.
The elephant was a regular presence in festivals at Urakam Temple, Uthralikkavu Temple, Sree Poornathrayeesatemple, Tripunithura; Peruvanam Temple and at the Nenmara-Vallangi Vela. The elephant was accorded ‘Gajarathnam’ title by the seer Kanchi Kamakoti Sree Jayendra Saraswathi in 2003.
Paramekkavu Rajendran died on 15 October 2019.
