Yaanai Pongal: Tamil Nadu Forest Officials Celebrate Harvest Festival With Elephants At Anamalai
As Pongal, the traditional New Year continued to be celebrated across Tamil Nadu, a group of Forest Department officials and tribals marked the occasion with elephants.
They celebrated Mattu Pongal by serving a special banquet pongal to the captive elephants of Anaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) and Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR).
Special pongal for Anaimalai's elephants
At the Kozhikamuthy elephant camp of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve, the captive elephants including the legendary Anamalai Kaleem, were bathed and decked up for the occasion by their mahouts.
On Tuesday, Kaleem who led the Tamil Nadu Forest Department's kumki squad was adorned with traditional caparison as the jumbo was honoured for its four-decade-long career.
Kaleem retired from service last year after being involved in the capture of nearly 100 wild elephants across Tamil Nadu and other states.
All 26 elephants at the camp were fed pongal, sugarcane and fruits by the officials and tribal families who take care of them every day.
The elephants performed special pujas at the temple located in Kozhikamuthi camp.
Elephant pongal in Mudumalai?
A similar celebration was also organised for the elephants at the Mudumalai Theppakadu Elephant camp in Nilgiri on Tuesday.
Jallikattu during Pongal
While celebrating the harvest festival with the elephants is relatively new, one of the integral parts of Pongal is the bull-taming sport Jallikattu.
Jallikattu is an age-old event celebrated mostly in the state of Tamil Nadu as part of Pongal celebrations. In the sport, a bull is released into a crowd of people and participants of the event try to grab the large hump on the bull's back, attempting to bring the bull to a stop.
About 42 people, including 14 tamers and 16 spectators were injured in the Jallikattu season held at Palamedu in Madurai on Tuesday.
The best tamer who embraced 14 bulls and the owner of the best bull that stubbornly refused to be subdued were each presented with the coveted Chief Minister's car as a prize.
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