ELEPHANT

ELEPHANT (AANA) I beg permission to use few Malayalam terms like aana (elephant), kompan (tusker) and pidi-aana (cow elephant) in this write up. A sad news item that a wild aana attacked and killed a pidiaana, in a wild life sanctuary at Parambikulam in Keralam is the inspiration for choosing this topic. Tuskers do attack each other for supremacy or simply because of envy; but one killing a pidiana is unheard of. My suspicion is that refusal to have sex may be the reason. Rape is impossible in the animal kingdom, the tail being an effective lid for the vulva. In the case of aana, it is all the more difficult because the pidiaana has to remain in the same position for some time. The tallest aana’s skeleton is preserved in the museum at Trichur. This aana belonged to Chengallur family. It stood in the centre, being the tallest, in pooram festival at Aratupuzha . On its side, was the aana (Govindan is its name, I think) belonging to my grandmother’s maiden home Veembur Kadalayil. Normally this one used to occupy the centre, proudly bearing the deity of Sastha on its head. In a fit of rage, it pierced the neighbour with its tusk and the victim died. In Karnataka State, the tip of the tusk is sawed off, but here in Keralam, the tip is occasionally chiseled to make it pointed, as a beauty treatment. Every year a number of mahauts are killed by aanas, because of ill treatment by the former. They are crushed with its foot, kicked off like a foot ball or caught by the trunk and whirled in the air, before being thrown off to a distance. Once, Kirangatu Kesavan aana was being made ready for the pooram at Peruvanam, by putting on the caparison with golden embroidery, by the mahaut sitting on its neck. The one standing at its side, was trying to pull it for adjusting properly ( like ladies tucking their sari). Suddenly the aana tried to pin him against the platform made of masonry for visitors. The mahaut deftly moved away and the tusk pierced at least one foot in. My uncle who actually saw it, sitting on the platform, described this to me