We have all seen elephants greet visitors at numerous temples in South India. The reason? The animals are considered auspicious and sacred and also used for performing certain rituals. However, as is common practice in the country with regard to animals, the elephants, too, were not spared neglect and even cruelty. The long hours they are forced to stand and kept tied are just the more obvious elements.
Now, a rather cool solution has been welcomed by temple authorities as well as well-wishers of the grey giants. We live in a society that is slowly but steadily embracing artificial intelligence and robots. Thus, keeping Indian culture intact while simultaneously ‘rescuing’ real elephants, a not-for-profit organization has given a robotic elephant to the Shivan temple in Devarshola, Gudalur, Tamil Nadu. Voices for Asian Elephants successfully completed the donation on February 4.
This is a first for the state. The 11-foot-tall robotic elephant weighs around 800 kg. Bystanders quickly flocked to the temple to view the robotic version of their favourite animal. It will be used in the forthcoming festival of the temple.
Addressing the media, Sangita Iyer, founding executive director of the non-profit, was thrilled. “I am extremely happy to be inaugurating the robotic elephant in Gudalur,” she said. “Elephants are being tortured by keeping them chained in temples. We are praying to Lord Ganesh, but at the same time, we are not treating elephants well.”
Iyer believes elephants should be living free in the wild and not in captivity. She adds that 25 captive elephants in Kerala died in 2023 alone, and three have died already in 2024. Ironically, the practice of installing robotic elephants was begun in temples in Kerala in February 2023.
