Srirangam Temple Elephant Lakshmi

Venu Srinivasan's Restoration Initiatives Continue

LMW’s Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu presents the 20 Year old 'Premi' Lakshmi to the Ranganathaswamy Temple 

Presence of two 'Coimbatorean' elephants bring back old memories

Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam has secured the services of a second elephant, a rarity these days in temples in Tamil Nadu. The 20 year old 'Premi' Lakshmi had been in Coimbatore since birth and was handed over recently to the historical temple by Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu, CMD, LMW under whose care the elephant had been in Coimbatore (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2012/09/palamalai-ranganatha-temple.html). This is part of the restoration initiatives that had been initiated by Venu Srinivasan after he took over as the Chairman Board of Trustees of the temple earlier this decade (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2017/11/venu-srinivasan-srirangam-temple.html).

Venu Srinivasan's son is married to the niece of Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu and this may have made the task of securing the 'prized catch' a bit easier for the temple.

Srirangam Divya Desam has been devotionally praised by Kulasekara Azhvaar as a temple where devotees gather after letting go of everything in life to surrender completely to Lord Ranganatha

(https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2016/03/kulasekara-azhvaar-srirangam-residents.html). In his verses, he says that being in the midst of the people of Srirangam elevates any new entrant to a mood of true devotion. Following her move from Coimbatore, Lakshmi is likely to be elevated to a new devotional spirit being in the company of Andal.

 

Historically, the temple had two elephants with two separate shelters at the Ranga Ranga South entrance of the temple housing them. In the 1940s, there was the duo of Sekaran and Gowri and then a few decades later Gopal and Thirukovilur Lakshmi. But over the last few decades, the now 40 year old Andal has had a lonely feeling performing service all alone since the mid 1980s. 

Two Coimbatoreans in Srirangam

With the arrival of ‘Premi’ Lakshmi from Periya Nayakkam Palayam on the Northern outskirts of Coimbatore, Andal, who too had come from that region, from Karamadai (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2009/06/karamadai-ranganatha.html), will now have company during the street processions on festive occasions. Lakshmi will also perform the role of bringing the sacred water from the Cauvery every morning for Vishvaroopam alternating with Andal. 

With the restrictions imposed on street processions, the Mahut Rajesh is currently in the process of training Lakshmi and getting her ready for her services once the restrictions are lifted. He is confident that once the regular processions restart, Lakshmi will be up and leading the Lord on the processions along with Andal. 

JC of the temple Pon Jayaraman is delighted at securing the second elephant for the temple “It is an auspicious and positive development for the temple to get the second elephant. One can already see the joy in the face of Andal after the arrival of Lakshmi. While it is now becoming increasingly difficult for temples to secure elephant, with the presence of Lakshmi the Srirangam temple is likely to have the services of an elephant for the next several decades.” 

A twin shelter within the temple complex

This section had written a story last year on the temple creating an exclusive shelter within the temple complex (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2019/10/srirangam-elephant-andal.html). In the 20th Century, the shelter was initially at the Southern Entrance and then later moved to the Eastern Entrance. For long, the elephant had to encounter vehicular noise on both the South and East streets. 

The new home  near the Andal Sannidhi provides for High Ventilation, Free Air Circulation, Hygienic Environment and most importantly a peaceful environment for the elephants to help the two perform the daily service to Lord Ranganatha in an energized manner. There is a new shower that allows for bathing of Andal and Lakshmi every morning. There is also a small nandavanam in the outer precincts of this complex. Drinking water facility has also been taken care of for two of them. An exclusive bathing pond has also been created at the ' 'Thoppu' North of the temple on the banks of Coloroon.

Srirangam North Thoppu

Bringing the shelter for the first elephant into the temple complex after several decades was the first step in the restoration process. And now the arrival of Premi Lakshmi is welcome addition. 

At a time when there has been fall in the temple elephants across the state, the two Coimbatoreans (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2015/07/sulur-venkatanathan-perumal-temple.html) are likely to stay long to serve Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam.

LMW supported cricket in a big way in the 1970s and 80s in Coimbatore and along with SVPB and Ramakrishna Steels were responsible for the development of cricket there (https://prtraveller.blogspot.com/2007/04/domesticindia-cricket-matches-1979-1983.html).