Coimbatore: Ministry of Forestry celebrates ‘Elephant Pongal’ at Kozhikamuthi and Varakaliyar’s elephant camp in Aaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on Saturday.
All 24 elephant prisoners in Kozhikamuthi Camp and the three in the Varakaliyar camp were decorated for that day by their garlanding.
Tribal from the closest settlement cooked with pongal in seven pots, while Abhinaya and Sanjay’s prisoners elephants offer prayers before Vinayaka Idol.
Then, special puja is done.
The elephant was then fed pongal, sugar cane, jaggery, coconut, and fruits.
Friendly attraction was held between two teams, named Kaleem and Ramu, on that occasion.
The event sees their 16 Mahout and Assistant participation (Kavadi).
The Kaleem team won the contest.
The celebration was held before the Atr S Ramasubramanian field director, Director of the Deputy Field, Ganesan and K T T Ashok Kumar District Forest Officer.
Officials have allowed several hundred tourists to participate in the celebration of ‘Elephant Pongal’.
“They are filtered for temperatures at the top slip.
After verifying their vaccination certificate, they were taken to the Kozhikamuthi elephant camp in the forestry department vehicle,” the official source told toi.
Among 27 elephant captives who celebrated the pongal in two camps that day was 18 disruption and nine female elephants.
Forest Dept. Celebrating ‘Elephant Pongal’ in Kozhikamuthi, Vararaliyar Camp
