GURUVAYUR, KERALA, December 9, 2001: After Jayalalitha, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, donated an elephant to her favorite deity here four months ago, there is a big rush to make the jumbo offering. The media glitz over Jaya’s offering spurred four more devotees, including a Malayalam actor, to offer elephants to Lord Krishna, taking the temple’s collection to 56. The temple already has perhaps the world’s largest private collection of elephants. Its officials are worried whether they will have enough money to look after any more. The food bill for all the elephants is totalling US$520 a day. Besides their staple diet of palm leaves and green grass, the temple feeds the pachyderms the special temple offering, Ana Ootu consisting of rice, green dal and jaggery.
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