Srirangam Elephant

Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ranganathaswamy Temple Srirangam is a delighted man for he has finally managed to demolish the new modern type construction that had come up adjacent to the Vellai Gopuram in the middle of the previous decade on the East Uthira Street and restore the  Eastern Tower to its grand historical old looks.  As part of yet another restoration initiative undertaken over the last 15-18 months at the Srirangam Temple, a new home has been found for Andal, the sacred elephant of the temple within the temple complex, next to the Ul-Andal Sannidhi.

The last decade and a half had been a torrid time for Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple’s other ‘Andal’, the sacred elephant who wakes up early every morning and brings water for the Lord ahead of Vishwaroopam. In 2005, a new modern building was constructed adjacent to the famous ‘Vellai Gopuram’. While on the one hand, the new building destroyed the architectural beauty of the historical Tower on East Uthira Street, for the view from the Northern side of the East Uthira Street was completely blocked, on the other, it made for a dungeon like stay for Andal. 

With road traffic having increased substantially over the last 15 years, there has seen a rise in vehicles from the Northern side of Srirangam passing through the East Uthira Street. With the new large sized construction having coming up right next to the Vellai Gopuram, Elephant Andal had to endure many a sleepless night amidst the noisy movement of vehicles late into the night. The auto stand was just opposite the home. The tall building was also constructed alongside the towering Eastern wall and this prevented ventilation into Andal’s Home. There was minimal air circulation within this complex for the building was flanked on two sides by the Huge Temple Wall and the Vellai Gopuram. The building was also a RC based construction.  There was no drinking water facility inside. And bathing too was an issue.

The new large building also posed a challenge during the processions in Thai and Maasi when the Lord provides darshan around the four Uthira Streets for it consumed a lot of space restricting movement of devotees around the Vellai Gopuram.

Overall, it was a challenging phase for the elephant. With the devotional wave striking temples in Tamil Nadu over the last decade or so, the focus of the temple had largely been on devotees and issues relating to them with the welfare of the elephant remaining sidelined.

Finally as part of the larger restoration exercise of the Srirangam Temple, Venu Srinivasan was insistent on the demolition of the modern complex. As with the removal of many of the ugly constructions (that had come up over the last 50-75 years) within the very many Sannidhis  of this huge temple, he was keen that this high rise building too be removed. 

The authorities went through the process of securing the approval of the Commissioner and the Committee. A plan was rolled out to move the residence of Andal into a comfortable zone within the temple complex. A number of unauthorized constructions leading to the Ul-Andal Sannidhi had been removed as part of this restoration programme that began in 2014-15.  And the huge open space adjacent to Goddess and Saint Poet Andal was identified as the new home for Andal, the temple elephant.

As has been the case with the larger restoration at the Srirangam Temple, the focus of this new home for Andal has been on Ventilation, Free Air Circulation, a Hygienic Environment, constructing a Traditional Structure  and most importantly on providing a peaceful environment for the elephant to help her perform the daily service to Lord Ranganatha in an energized manner. 

Venu Srinivasan’s Trust which has undertaken this activity has spent around Rs. 30 Lakhs on the construction of this new home for Andal. The entire complex is a Granite construction using similar stones that one finds across other parts of the temple. The East facing home provides for a lot of sunlight into the complex both from the East and the West (in the evenings). There is enough breathing space for Andal with large open spaces at this new residence. There is a new shower coming inside the complex that will allow for bathing of Andal every morning. Very soon, only is likely to find a small nandavanam in the outer precincts of this complex. Drinking water facility has also been taken care of for Andal.

Mahout Rajesh, who takes care of Andal almost as a parent would of a child, says that in the fortnight after the move, Andal has found this new home very peaceful “After 9pm, there is almost no noise for about 8 hours and this provides for a solid sleep. Very often, over the last 15 years, vehicular movement in the night and during the day disturbed the rest patterns. There is now a solid sleep pattern and Andal seems lot happier at this new home.”

He jocularly remarks that while this new home is good news for Andal, it is challenging for him. While earlier he stayed in the temple quarters, with the moving of the elephant into the temple complex, he too has moved in along with Andal. And thus he spends well over three fourths of the day (and night) in the same complex.  But the peace and happiness that he now finds in Andal far overshadows the personal challenge of him having to spend almost his entire time at this new home away from his family.

Joint Commissioner of the Srirangam Temple, Pon Jayaraman says that given the attention that was paid to keeping the traditional looks of the temple, the new home for the temple elephant took around a year to construct with granite stones used for construction “We went through the whole approval process and hence did not hurry this move. Once we set up the Nandavanam, we will allow devotees to visit the new home of Andal.” 

Devotees of East Uthira Street are delighted at the demolishing of the tall complex that they say took away the sheen from the Vellai Gopuram. For the first time in almost 15 years, we are now able to view the Gopuram in its entirety from our home on the Northern Side of the East Uthira Street.

Interestingly, there has been a space allocated for another elephant in this new home and the word is that the Srirangam Temple could very soon have a 2^nd elephant under its fold.