Elephant's Fort.
Annakotta literally means Elephant's Fort. Earlier it was known as Punnathur Kotta because it belonged to the local rulers, the Punnathur Rajas. After the demise of the last Raja the property went into receivership, and was purchased by the Guruvayur temple committee who relocated all the temple elephants here in 1975 from near the Guruvayur temple. It is about 2 km north of the temple on the Ponnani Road in an enclosure surrounded by a compound wall. There is a spacious pay-and-park area just outside the enclosure.
The small sanctuary is quite well kept with a lot of greenery and trees. There must be around 50 elephants if not more living and feeding here. The elephants are well cared for here. They are given an elaborate bath, lots of greens to chew on and in most cases shelter under the shade of a tree or a covered enclosure. Some of them were not in very good health and were being nursed by their keepers. Some tuskers were in musth and had to be kept restricted in double chains. Some elephants were subdued and pensive while some others were restlessly swaying from side to side. Each one of them seemed to have their own character and personality. One tusker was very friendly and stretched out his trunk to greet me. We almost ‘shook hands’. We went away with mixed feelings towards the poor elephants, who have feelings and emotions just like us humans.
This facility is also used to train the elephants to serve Lord Krishna as well as to participate in many festivals that occur throughout the year. One can also donate for the elephants welfare by doing Gajapooja (elephant worship) or Anayoottu (feeding elephants) as a form of offering to Lord Ganesha (the elephant god).
The small sanctuary is quite well kept with a lot of greenery and trees. There must be around 50 elephants if not more living and feeding here. The elephants are well cared for here. They are given an elaborate bath, lots of greens to chew on and in most cases shelter under the shade of a tree or a covered enclosure. Some of them were not in very good health and were being nursed by their keepers. Some tuskers were in musth and had to be kept restricted in double chains. Some elephants were subdued and pensive while some others were restlessly swaying from side to side. Each one of them seemed to have their own character and personality. One tusker was very friendly and stretched out his trunk to greet me. We almost ‘shook hands’. We went away with mixed feelings towards the poor elephants, who have feelings and emotions just like us humans.
This facility is also used to train the elephants to serve Lord Krishna as well as to participate in many festivals that occur throughout the year. One can also donate for the elephants welfare by doing Gajapooja (elephant worship) or Anayoottu (feeding elephants) as a form of offering to Lord Ganesha (the elephant god).
Date of experience: November 2019
Ask EkMusafir about Punnathur Kotta (Anakkotta)
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
No comments:
Post a Comment