Temple elephants are a type of captive elephant that are kept in temples in Asian countries such as India and Sri Lanka.
Elephants generally play an important role in the Hinduism and Buddhism cultures of South and Southeast Asia and are considered sacred. Temple elephants are usually wild animals, poached from wild herds at a young age and then sold into captivity to temples. Temple elephants usually take part in religious rituals or processions; believers also allow themselves to be blessed by them."The elephant is made to stand in the temple premises for work such as blessing devotees...". Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, CUPA/ANCF-Technical Report No 13. Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) and Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF), Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 10 However, sometimes a temple owns elephants that are not all used for rituals.The Guruvayur temple in Kerala in 2009 owned 60 elephants. Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, CUPA/ANCF-Technical Report No 13. Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) und Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF), Bangalore, Indien, 2009, p. 89In Kerala in general, about 7% of temple elephants were not used for labour in 2009. Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, ..., Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 98 At large religious festivals (e.g. in Thrissur Pooram), privately owned elephants which are considered particularly sacred due to special physical characteristics are also used. In the literature these are also referred to as temple or ceremonial elephants.
In the early 21st century, experts and conservationists strongly criticised the keeping of captive elephants in temples, as the living conditions are usually problematic and the elephants have little opportunity to fulfil their natural needs. Others claim that elephants form a vital part of the socio-economic framework of many temple ceremonies and festivals in India, particularly in South India.
History
In Hinduism, the elephant-headed god Ganesha exists as an embodiment of wisdom, scholarship and prosperity.Karl Gröning, Martin Saller: Der Elefant in Natur und Kultergeschichte, Könemann, Köln, 1998, p. 127–129 (German) The sacred white elephant Airavata is considered the ancestor of all elephants and plays a prominent role as the mount of the god Indra.Karl Gröning, Martin Saller: Der Elefant in Natur und Kultergeschichte, Könemann, Köln, 1998, S. 124 According to Buddhist legends, the mother of the historical Gautama Buddha only became pregnant with him after seeing a white elephant in a dream; Buddha is also said to have been saved later by an elephant that was supposed to crush him.Karl Gröning, Martin Saller: Der Elefant in Natur und Kultergeschichte, Könemann, Köln, 1998, p. 130–131 There are other myths in Hinduism in which elephants play an important role. As a result, not only are South and Southeast Asian temples often decorated with elephant sculptures, but living elephants are also kept in temples to bring good luck according to Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. In some temples, elephants have a special meaning in connection with a deity worshipped at this place.Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, CUPA/ANCF-Technical Report No 13. Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA) and Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (ANCF), Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 1
The tradition of keeping temple elephants is ancient, but it is not known exactly when it began. Despite the religious associations, elephants are said to have originally been used primarily to transport water from the nearest river to the temple; they had to stand near the temple during certain 'auspicious hours', but lived freely in the forest near the temple the rest of the time. It is only later that other ritual functions are said to have developed. Some researchers suspect that war elephants were once also housed in temples between battles (Ghosh, 2005) - this mainly related to temples with a tradition of male elephants, such as in the Indian state of Kerala.Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, ..., Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 87
India
Origin and general characteristics Important temples, especially in South India, keep their own temple elephants in the modern era, which are acquired either by purchase or as gifts.Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, ..., Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 6 However, it is possible that elephants declared as a 'gift' to a temple at the end of the 20th or in the 21st century were actually acquired on the illegal black market. This was a common practice after India banned the trade in elephants in 1972 and the capture of wild elephants in 1982. Illegal elephant trade (e.g. in Sonpur Mela) continued until the present day (2024). Protected birds, animals sold openly inside Asia’s ‘biggest cattle fair’, Artikel auf der Website von: FIAPO – Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations, 8 November 2017 (Retrieved on 19 July 2023)A prominent example of a donated elephant is Sundar, who was a gift from an Indian politician and lived in catastrophic conditions in the Jyotiba temple in Kolhapur; Sundar was later rescued in a sanctuary. Sangita Iyer: Gods in Shackles – What elephants can teach us about empathy, resilience and freedom, Hay House, Carlsbad (California)/New York/London/Sydney/New Delhi, 2022, p. 153 (capture of wild elephants forbidden in 1982) and p. 157—166 (Sundar elephant)
Temples and festivals in Tamil Nadu and Kerala and other states were determined to be involved in the illegal elephant trade. According to Suparna Baksi Ganguly, founder of the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Bangalore City, elephant babies or children are usually caught illegally in the northern forests of Assam, Bihar or Arunachal Pradesh and smuggled across several state borders to southern Indian states, utilizing corruption and bribes.Here after: Sangita Iyer: Gods in Shackles – What elephants can teach us about empathy, resilience and freedom, Hay House, Carlsbad (California)/New York/London/Sydney/New Delhi, 2022, p. 153-154 Only very rarely has an elephant been explicitly "rescued" in a temple;In 2009, out of 267 temple elephants observed in 112 temples, only one (in 1936) had been rescued. Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, ..., Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 6 conversely, maltreated elephants have to be rescued from temples more often.Sangita Iyer: Gods in Shackles – What elephants can teach us about empathy, resilience and freedom, Hay House, Carlsbad (California)/New York/London/Sydney/New Delhi, 2022, p. 156, and pp. 157-166 (Elephant Sundar)Gajraj FAQ and Updates, 14 June 2017, and In Memory of ‘Gajraj’, Our Beloved Elephant King, 15 July 2020, on the Website of Wildlife SOS (Retrieved on 15 March 2025)
Elephants that are already born in a temple are extremely rare, as many temple elephants are kept alone and in isolation. These elephants have little or no contact with the opposite sex, and the reproductive capacity of female elephants in captivity is greatly reduced, especially if they are not comfortable. Furthermore, male elephants in musth - an important requirement for mating - are usually isolated and strictly chained.In a study published in 2009, only 26 females out of 267 studied temple elephants had contact with bulls, but only 5 had a baby - it is not clear from the study what became of these five calves. Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, ..., Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 30–31, 46–47, 71–72, 99–100, 122–123, 141A rare exception is a girl elephant named Shivany born in Dharmasthala on 1 July 2020. See Youtube videos: 1) Baby elephant in Dharmasthala temple named as Shivani, in: Tv9 Kannada. Retrieved on 31 August 2020; 2) Dharmasthala Shivani || ಮುದ್ದು ಗಜರಾಣಿ ಶಿವಾನಿಗೆ ಇದೀಗ 3 ವರ್ಷದ ಹುಟ್ಟುಹಬ್ಬದ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ –ಕಹಳೆ ನ್ಯೂಸ್, in: Kahale News, 29 June 2023 (Retrieved on 14 July 2024) Furthermore, according to Richard C. Lair (1997) "Hindu temples ... have specific prohibitions against breeding".See in the chapter India, the section: Captive breeding, in: Richard C. Lair: Gone Astray - The Care and Management of the Asian Elephant in Domesticity. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Forestry Department, Rome, Italy and Forestry Department Group, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP). Printed by Dharmasarn Co., Ltd., Bangkok, 1997 (Retrieved on 23 July 2023) In 2009, there were no animals under 6 years of age among India's temple elephants, with most of them aged between 16 and 60 years old.
In the states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, mainly female temple elephants are found.In 2009, out of 32 observed temple elephants in Karnataka, only 5 were male, and in Tamil Nadu, out of 25 elephants, only one was male. Surendra Varma, S. R. Sujata, M.C. Sathyanarayana, E.K. Easwaran, T.S. Rajeev, Mahesh Agarwal, N. Mohanraj, Nilesh Bhanage: Captive Elephants of Temples of India - An Investigation into the Status, Management and Welfare Significance, ..., Bangalore, India, 2009, p. 57 (Karnataka) and p. 134 (Tamil Nadu) In the age of social media, some of these elephants are particularly well-known or popular, such as in Tamil Nadu the temple elephants Andal (or Andaal) at the Srirangam (or Sri Ranganathaswamy) temple in Tiruchirappalli,There are currently (2024) two female elephants named Andal (or Andaal) and Lakshmi living there. See the YouTube videos: 1) Video with both elephants in ceremony, playing harmonica at the end, 2) Video with both elephants, 3) Video with both elephants, at the end in the swimming pool (Retrieved 22 June 2024). Akila at Jambukeshwara temple in TiruvanaikkavalSee: 6 videos on Youtube (Retrieved 15 July 2024) or Mangalam at the Kumbeswara (or Kumbeswarar Kovil) temple in KumbakonamSee the Youtube videos: 1) Portrait of Mangalam with Mahout on Indian TV, 2) Mangalam with Mahout in ceremony (Retrieved 22 June 2024) (2024).