Meet The Artists Who Created The Robotic Elephant That Debuted In A Kerala Temple Festival
When Irinjadappilly Raman was inducted by the Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple in Kerala's Thrissur, it scripted history.
That is because it was for the first time a Kerala temple has used a mechanical elephant for its festival.
Meet Irinjadappilly Raman, the robotic elephant?
Irinjadappilly Raman?is a robotic elephant that was donated to the temple by the animal rights organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India.
The temple welcomed the 11-foot-tall robotic elephant, which can move its head, eyes, ears, mouth, tail and trunk like a real elephant, on Sunday in a traditional ceremony called 'Nadayiruthal' in which offerings are dedicated to the deity.
Kerala temple welcomes first robotic elephant?
Following this, Irinjadappilly Raman made his debut in the afternoon when he was decked up and paraded during the temple festival procession, accompanied by a performance by the percussion ensemble led by legendary artist Peruvanam Satheesan Marar.
?"We are extremely happy and grateful to receive this mechanical elephant which will help us to conduct our rituals and festivals in a cruelty-free way, and we hope that other temples will also think about replacing live elephants for rituals," the Head priest of the temple Rajkumar Namboothiri, who welcomed Irinjadappilly Raman, said.
Can robotic elephants free captive jumbos??
According to PETA India, which has been campaigning for long to end the use of elephants in temple festivals, robotic elephants like Irinjadappilly Raman can become a viable alternative to real jumbos.
The use of captive elephants in temple festivals across Kerala has always been controversial.
Animal rights groups have long accused elephant owners and temple authorities of ill-treatment of the jumbos.
Elephants running amok, killing or injuring mahouts, spectators and even other jumbos are not uncommon during this time of the year in Kerala, which is the peak of the festival season, when the tuskers are in high demand.
"We wanted to offer an alternative to using elephants in temple festivities. Because elephants are wild animals that should live freely in the wild. We wanted to show that when there are alternatives like this mechanical elephant, there is no reason we should put elephants through such torture and also endanger the lives of people," Khushboo Gupta, Director of Advocacy Projects at PETA India, told?Indiatimes.?
Meet the artists who made Irinjadappilly Raman
The life-like elephant that left festival-goers amused on Sunday was built by four young artisans from Thrissur for Rs 5 lakhs.
"The elephant figure has a height of 10.8 feet and with the wheels, it will be around 11 feet tall. The core structure is made using steel and the outer material is rubber to give it a life-like feel. It weighs around 800 kgs and took us two months to complete," Prasanth Prakasan, the co-founder of Chalakkuduy-based Four He Arts, which created the elephant, told?Indiatimes.
The electric-powered elephant has five in-built motors to move its tail, eyes, ears, head and mouth. While these are automated, the robotic elephant's trunk, which is also mobile, can be controlled manually.
Like real elephants, the robotic elephant also can carry up to four people on its back.
How they started?
Irinjadappilly Raman, however, is not the first life-like elephant made by Prakasan, who has been an artisan for nearly 15 years.
"We had been making cement sculptures for around 15 years now. We used to rent out some of these sculptures including a miniature elephant, for events and exhibitions. After a video of our miniature elephant went viral, we were contacted by some people from Dubai asking if we could make a life-sized elephant for a temple festival there. We shipped two completed elephant figures from here and also assembled one in Dubai. The festival and elephants became a superhit there," Prakasan said.
Robotic elephants become a hit?
Since then, Prakasan and his friends, Santo, Jinesh and Robin, have been flooded with inquiries and orders.
The friends who used to work from their backyards, creating sculptures and storing them, also set up a small garage called Four He Arts.?
Had no idea it was for PETA
He, however, said they had no idea that the elephant would be offered to a temple.
"After Dubai, we received many orders, including one from Udaipur. So, when we received this order from Delhi, we were under the impression that it was to be exhibited there. Only later, we go to know that it was for PETA India and that they are going to gift this to a temple. For us, this is our job and we don't bother what the customer is going to do with the elephant," he said.
Given how elephants have become inseparable from temple festivals, especially in Thrissur, Prakasan said he is still unsure of the future.
"Maybe this will start a larger debate about the use of elephants in temple festivals. Maybe there will be backlash from elephant owners and fans, I don't know," he said.
Captive elephants should be rehabilitated: PETA India
PETA India, however, is confident that if more temple authorities come forward to accept mechanical elephants like Irinjadappilly Raman, the abuse of captive jumbos can be ended.
"Elephants continue to suffer because there is demand for them and their use is still being allowed. At PETA India, we are ready to guide and assist any temple or individual elephant owners to sanctuaries for rehabilitation. Elephants are highly social animals and they live in a group. Capturing them, keeping them in isolation, in chains all their lives, is wrong. We feel that it is time that governments also invest in providing sanctuaries for these elephants, rather than letting their abuse continue," Khushboo Gupta said.
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