Special Articles

Who Killed Lakshmi?

December 4, 2022
Dr. SG Suryah

On 30 November 2022, the people of Puducherry woke up to a tragic news. Their dear Lakshmi had collapsed and passed away while going for a walk.

Apart from the Promenade Beach, fancy streets of White Town, Aurobindo Ashram and cheap booze, Lakshmi, the elephant that belonged to the Manakula Vinayagar Temple in Puducherry was a major crowd puller in Puducherry.

From tiny tots to the toothless thathas and paatis, she was loved and befriended by everyone. So, when news of Lakshmi’s demise came, residents of Puducherry flocked to see their darling and paid a tearful tribute.

But what happened to Lakshmi? How come an elephant that was supposed to live for 60-70 years died at a young age of 32? Was it her fate or was it wilful sabotage by vested interests?

Let’s take a look.

How Lakshmi Came To Puducherry

In 1996, one Vaidyanatha Mudaliar, the trustee chairman of Manakula Vinayagar Temple, placed a request to the then Puducherry Chief Minister RV Janakiraman to have an elephant for the temple.

The request was considered by the Chief Minister who forwarded it to industrialist Dr CH Krishnamurthi Rao, the Founder Chairman of Chemfab Alkalis Limited.

Krishnamurthi Rao got an elephant from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and donated it to the Manakula Vinayagar Temple on 30 October 1997.

Contrary to the narrative peddled by the likes of PETA and other dubious animal activists, elephants have been tamed and domesticated by humans since time immemorial. Man and elephants have coexisted with each other and have complemented each other’s life. Elephants have been domesticated and used by humans just like wild cats and dogs. They’ve been part of warfares, processions and temples. Having elephants as an integral part of temples has been an age old tradition in southern part of India especially in the Tamil and Malabar regions.

Though born in the wild, she is said to have been abandoned by her herd. Lakshmi has been living and serving at the Manakula Vinayagar Temple since the age of 5. She shared a deep emotional bond with her mahout as evident from his inconsolable tears that just wouldn’t stop pouring from his eyes on seeing his gentle giant pass away. She had a great fan following from across the world and became an icon of Puducherry.

Things were going well until the self-proclaimed champions of animal rights knocked on the doors of Lakshmi.

PETA’s Propaganda

In June 2020, Puducherry BJP functionary PS Ganehsan alleged that PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) was trying to oust Lakshmi from Manakkula Vinayakar Temple. The forest department had reportedly decided to keep the temple elephant at Kamarajar Agricultural Science Center in Kurumbapet for 15 days. Knowing this, the Puducherry BJP and the Hindu Munnani functionaries along with temple and elephant activiss went to protest against the decision.

PETA had gone after Lakshmi earlier as well. In 2017, Lakshmi was prevented from being brought to the temple after her time at the rejuvenation camp. PETA citing a 2015 report of the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) claimed to the Puducherry Government that the elephants was in poor physical and mental health because of being in the temple and that she needed to be taken to a sanctuary. However, their attempts to capture Lakshmi went futile as the Puducherry government didn’t yield to their pressure.

But the pandemic period became an opportunity for them to go after Lakshmi. The allegation that PETA India was once again upto its neafarious move gained credence when it started its propaganda on Lakshmi. In its propaganda video, PETA India claimed that Lakshmi was forced to work for hours at a stretch without food and water and was made to ‘beg’ in return for blessing devotees. It alleged that Lakshmi was being ill treated at the temple and that the elephant exhibits signs of abnormal stereotypic behaviour like swaying of head. It even went on to allege that the mahout uses bill hooks to tame Lakshmi.

Although the swaying of head (or weaving) does not constitute normal behaviour, it is not directly harmful either. The swaying of head or weaving is a result of boredom, desolation and frustration. However, elephant care takers ensure that elephants are engaged in interesting and a varied life so that they do not feel bored. The Vedapureeswarar Temple has all required facilities for Lakshmi with a specially built pond and shed. Contrary to PETA’s claims, Lakshmi grew up pampered and was given all the love and attention by her care takers, devotees and temple authorities.

So, with pressure mounting from PETA, the Forest department passed the orders to remove Lakshmi from the temple premises on 4th June 2020.

While PETA made a huge hue and cry about Lakshmi’s ill treatment complaining of injuries in foot, she was made to walk 10 kms to the Krishi Vigyan Kendra campus on tar road.

At the campus, she faced much more agony with scanty food and water and no proper shelter according to locals, temple authorities and elephant activist Muralidharan. A fishnet was used to protect her. On her first night at the temporary shelter, she was almost bitten by a snak and the dogs in the campus proved to be a menace.

Lakshmi who had lived all her years at the temple under the care of her mahout found it difficult to adjust to the new surroundings.

On 25 June 2020 it was reported in a Tamil newspaper that Lakshmi was struggling for life at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra. She hadn’t slept for days due to the physical and mental trauma she was put through at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

PETA India had said that they plan to rescue Lakshmi and release it into the wild. However, it would’ve been impossible for Lakshmi to survive in the wild as she was used to her home – the Manakula Vinayagar Temple.

Lakshmi Was Taken Away From Temple Illegally And Unethically

Lakshmi was snatched away from the temple based on complaint from Maneka Gandhi (former Union Minister and now a Lok Sabha MP).

Ajit Datta, co-founder of Republic Lit Fest, Editor of TFI Post and a resident of Puducherry said that the manner in which Lakshmi was taken away seemed completely unethical and illegal. The Hindu in its coverage had mentioned that the Forest Department picked her up on the grounds that the temple failed to furnish the health records of Lakshmi. However, it is the Animal Husbandry Department’s job to maintain the records. Nobody from Animal Husbandry Department was consulted and that the Forest Department failed to take the opinions of veterinarians. It seems that the mahouts were also threatened with consequences if they didn’t let Lakshmi go.

PETA India apparently appealed to Maneka Gandhi claiming that Lakshmi was unwell and being mistreated at the temple who then shot off a letter to the local authorities to take Lakshmi into custody.

Thirukoilgal Paadhukappu, a temple rights protection organization, along with other Hindu organizations made representations to then Chief Minister V Narayanasamy to intervene and retrieve Lakshmi from the clutches of PETA and Forest Department. Political parties like Congress, BJP and Indu Makkal Katchi too extended their support to bring back Lakshmi.

Following this, Puducherry Chief Minister Narayanasamy issued an order to send Lakshmi back to the temple. Lakshmi was brought back to the Puducherry Manakkula Vinayagar Temple from the Kamaraj Agricultural Science Center in Kurumbapet.

She was accorded a jubilant welcome with people rejoicing her return. Large crowd of Hindus gathered and welcomed their darling. Lakshmi upon entering the temple was trumpeting with joy.

But her joy was short lived as just days later, the animal rights lobby were once again conspiring to displace Lakshmi from her home.

Who Killed Lakshmi?

Having failed multiple times, this time PETA put all their might in displacing Lakshmi from the temple.

PETA India moved the Madras High Court in the first week of August 2020 to quash the order issued by Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy that allowed Lakshmi to return to her home in Manakula Vinayagar Temple.

According to elephant activist Muralidharan, the Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Vanjulavalli Sridhar allegedly succumbed to pressure from Maneka Gandhi who apparently tasked her with displacing Lakshmi from the temple.

Vanjulavalli was told to take custody of Lakshmi by citing treatment for poor health, Muralidharan says. Lakshmi was kept at a special private place with natural setting beside a pond with mud floors and stone floors for bathing. However, Vanjulavalli told that the place was too small for the elephant following which the temple management got 2 acres of land nearby and kept her there.

Lakshmi had an injury in her leg because she dragged the chain leash tied to her. Citing this, she was again brought back to her old shed saying that Lakshmi needed to be confined in a hard-floored enclosure.

An elephant needs to walk atleast 10 kms in a day. Just as humans release the bad water in their body through sweat whenever they exercise, an elephant has to walk so that the bad water in its body is released. But unlike humans, elephants do not have pores on the body through which sweat can come out. The sweating happens in its foot when it walks. So, no matter what, an elephant has to walk if it has to be healthy.

However, Lakshmi was not allowed to walk by the doctors who were brought in by Vanjulavalli. As a result, Lakshmi had water retention. Usually, the underbelly of an elephant is rigid. However, an elephant affected by water retention has an underbelly that is as soft as a cow’s fore udder (the place where the milk is stored).

It is possible that sometimes elephants are unable to walk because of an injury in the foot which was the case with Lakshmi. In that case, the mahout takes care of releasing the excess water in its body through Ayurvedic methods. But Lakshmi’s mahout was not allowed to treat her. Muralidharan claims that instead of allowing the mahout or bringing a government veterinarian to give medical aid, Vanjulavalli brought in a veterinarian named Arun Sha from Bengaluru associated with Wildlife SOS which has close ties with PETA. Some fifteen injections were apparently used on Lakshmi in the name of treatment just a few days before her death.

Muralidharan also blamed the HR&CE department and the temple management for giving a free pass to an external veterinarian from an organization associated with PETA.

While PETA India’s Khusbhu Gupta has claimed that they were denied access to Lakshmi, it has been revealed that Arun Sha who  from Wildlife SOS who treated Lakshmi is influenced by PETA.

From denying access to her mahout to not allowing her to walk and bringing in an external veterinarian, Muralidharan and locals of Puducherry have raised several red flags in the way Lakshmi was treated.

An Elaborate Conspiracy?

Elephant activist Muralidharan called the death of Lakshmi as a planned cold-blooded murder. He said that Lakshmi was killed so that she can be used as an example to end the temple elephant tradition that has been an integral part of the culture of this land for ages. That the Dravidian Stockists parroting the the narrative of PETA on Lakshmi’s death should come as no surprise.

Muralidharan says that foreign-funded ‘animal extremist organizations’ capture temple elephants and put them in their centres in order to raise more money for their organizations.

These privately-owned foreign-funded animal rescue centres like Wildlife SOS have been called out for their illegal sale and purchase of animals, committing cruelty on elephants and cutting off their tusks for sale in illegal market.

“During the so-called rescue process they injure, beat, punches, poke elephants with sharp objects and by showcasing elephants’ wounds they generate foreign donations to expand their business of illegal sale and purchase of elephants, ivory trade,” environmentalist Sangeeta Dogra alleged in a petition filed at the Delhi High Court against the irregularities of privately-owned rescue centres.

According to Muralidharan and other animal rights activists like Sangeeta Dogra, temple elephants and elephants used for tourism purpose like safari elephants of Jaipur and Kerala are forcefully taken away from their rightful owners to languish in the centres run by Wildlife SOS. Muralidharan notes that AWBI which is just an advisory body has been weaponized by BJP leader Maneka Gandhi to go after these elephants. Maneka Gandhi also runs her own NGO ‘People for Animals’ (PFA), which is said to be one of India’s largest animal welfare organisations. A government advisory body like AWBI, and non-government entities like PETA, Wildlife SOS, PFA are all hand-in-hand and they scratch each other’s back to capture temple elephants in the name of rescuing them and releasing into the wild. PETA uses AWBI’s report to launch a campaign against the temple elephants. The officers in the state Forest Department are threatened or pressurized by AWBI and Maneka Gandhi, Muralidharan alleges. Once the elephant comes under the custody of forest department, they are housed in centres run by Wildlife SOS.

It is apparent that these ‘animal rights extremists’ are hell bent on imposing their western construct of animal rights and care into the Indian cultural mileau. The campaign against Jallikattu saw the involvment of the very same organizations. PETA along with AWBI had sought to strike down the 2009 Tamil Nadu law permitting Jallikattu which the Supreme Court did in 2014. When the Modi government revoked the ban in 2016, PETA challenged it. Maneka Gandhi had back then called Jallikattu as a ‘terrible festival to be consigned to history’. She was made to shut up by the BJP Central leadership. The Jallikattu protests saw PETA earning the wrath of the Tamil people. The Modi Government passed an ordinance in 2017 to allow the bull-taming sport and PETA was sent running helter skelter.

After their miserable failure, these foreign-funded NGOs allegedly aided by Maneka Gandhi are now going after temple elephants.

Lakshmi’s death has raised several questions about the motive of these organizations. But the broader question that we need to ask is this – Was Lakshmi the elephant used as a pawn in the of these elephant may have been used as a pawn in a larger ploy at play?

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