Elephant lovers recall moments with Kerala’s celebrity elephant, who passed away recently. He is remembered for his gentle personality and majestic bearing

When elephant lovers speak of Guruvayur Padmanabhan, their voices soften. The affection for the animal is hard to miss. They speak in unison of the revered jumbo’s calmness. More so today after the proverbial gentle giant, passed away on February 27.

The 80-year-old, nine footer was born in the Nilambur forests, from where he was brought to Alathur (Palakkad) before being taken to Ottappalam. He was offered to the Guruvayur temple in 1954, as a 14-year-old.

Mural artist KU Krishnakumar, Principal, Institute of Mural Art in Guruvayur painted the legendary tusker three years ago. “He enjoyed the company of people. He was silent and majestic. Being in the temple for more than 70 years he knew the temple routine—pooja timings, time for panchavadyam. He knew all the tantris and the people who visited the temple regularly, almost like friends,” he says. Krishnakumar says he chose to paint the animal, a 3x2 ft work, as he had “gaja lakshanam, all the features of an ideal elephant.”

Palakkad-based elephant photographer Aneesh Sankarankutty who has seen Padmanabhan since the mid-1990s says, “he was calm and nothing would unnerve him. He wouldn’t move when the thidambu (a miniature image of the presiding deity) was placed on his head. Usually elephants tend to shake or move their heads, but not Padmanabhan.”

He was considered second only to the legendary Guruvayur Kesavan and took his place in popular imagination after Kesavan’s death in 1976. “There might be larger or taller elephants, but not one matches him when it comes to his aura,” says Aneesh AA, a melam artist from Thrissur.

Supreme court advocate, Renjith Marar who is also a chenda player saw Padmanabhan for the first time in 2000-01, at a temple festival in Tripunithura. “Those were the days when there was a revival of temple festivals and elephants were becoming stars of such shows. There were almost no restrictions with regard to the ezhunnallippu (processions) as well. Padmanabhan had thus become a star in my mind as well,” he says.

One of the oldest captive elephants in the country, Padmanabhan has been part of several temple festivals and processions across Kerala, from Thiruvananthapuram to Palakkad.

“In areas around Palakkad, he was the first choice. The question of another elephant arose only if he was unavailable,” says Aneesh Sankarankutty. He was awarded the ‘Gajaratnam’ title for his physical attributes — a trunk, which touches the ground, and shape. He created history, in 2004, when he was given a procession fee of ₹2,22,222, one of the highest at the time, for the Vellangi-Nenmara Vela (temple festival).

“The loss of Padmanabhan is a loss both for the Guruvayur Devaswom and also elephant lovers,” says Sanjeev Shenoy, a Kochi-based elephant owner. He remembers how at the anakotta (elephant sanctuary in Guruvayur) he offered the elephant a few plantains. “I wanted a photograph with him. The mahout suggested giving him fruit. I did and how he posed: like a film star.”