Forest dept celebrates ‘Elephant Pongal’ at Kozhikamuthi, Varakaliyar camps

Coimbatore: The forest department celebrated ‘Elephant Pongal’ at Kozhikamuthi and Varakaliyar elephant camps in the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on Saturday.

All the 24 captive elephants at Kozhikamuthi camp and the three at Varakaliyar camp were decked up for the day by garlanding them.

Tribals from the nearby settlements cooked pongal in seven pots, while captive elephants Abhinaya and Sanjay offered prayers before a Vinayaka idol. Later, special puja was performed. The elephants were then fed sweet pongal, sugarcane, jaggery, coconut and fruits.

A friendly tug-of-war was held between two teams, which were named Kaleem and Ramu, on the occasion. The event saw participation of 16 mahouts and their assistants (kavadi). The team Kaleem won the contest.

The celebrations were held in the presence of ATR field director S Ramasubramanian, deputy field director M G Ganesan and district forest officer K T Ashok Kumar.

Officials had allowed a few hundred tourists to participate in the ‘Elephant Pongal’ celebrations. “They were screened for temperature at Top Slip. After verifying their vaccination certificates, they were taken to Kozhikamuthi elephant camp in the forest department vehicle,” an official source told TOI.

Among the 27 captive elephants that celebrated Pongal at the two camps on the day were 18 tuskers and nine female elephants.