A TRIBUTE TO GURUVAYUR GAJARAJAN KESAVAN

To whom the tribute is paying? Is he a freedom fighter? Musician? Politician? Other than the keralites, all people will think what was the specialty of this elephant to which keralites are paying tributes? Of course so many people other than keralites who went to guruvayur asking me whats the speciality of this elephant? Well, I narrate the heart touching real incident of this Hero. This real incident has been told as a story by my achan & amma while I was a kid. Heard of an elephant observing Ekadasi vratam? To understand the greatness of this elephant we have to be a true/pure human being. So leaving behind all the animal instincts hidden in ourselves (if any), let us have a close look at the divine qualities of this animal. The name of this famous elephant was Guruvayoor Kesavan.  

Guruvayoorappan Lord Krishna is one of the famous God of God’s own country who has a distinct place in every heart and every household and of course my achan’s favorite deity. Guruvayur temple has very good facilities to maintain elephants at Punnathurkotta. Guruvayur kesavan is regarded as the most prominent devotee elephant of Guruvayoor, the deity at Kerala. It was one of the majestic elephant which served the Lord in all its sincerity and uniqueness.  Valiya Raja of Nilambur once prayed to the Lord to save his family and property from the enemies attack. He promised to offer one of his many elephants if his wish is fulfilled. (It is a common Hindu custom in Kerala and many devotees offer cows, gold, silver, and elephants to Lord Krishna at Guruvayoor, as a demonstration of their devotion). So his wish was fulfilled and he offered an elephant in the year 1916, which later became the famous Guruvayur Kesavan.

On his arrival, Kesavan was 10 years old and elephant Padmanabhan was the undisputed king. Young Kesavan acquired all the kingly gestures and nobleness of Padmanabhan and even excelled him. He had his own rules. He is very choosy in food habits; He will never allow anyone to climb on his top through his front leg. This place was reserved only for the person who holds the Lord's idol. All others need to climb through his behind leg. Kesavan was sometimes referred to as eccentric and wonder. People say’s that the elephant held his head always higher in comparison to his peers and demonstrated a weird perceptivity or sixth sense. There were occasions when Kesavan got annoyed by the action of his mahouts. But he never caused any bodily harm to anyone. He sometimes was called "Lunatic Kesavan", but never spoiled any sanctity.

Once he was hurrying to the temple, disobeying the mahouts.  Everybody in the unity fled for fear of being trembled once by it except a poor, helpless leper. As the people watched with fear, they were astonished when they saw that Kesavan had actually lifted the leper with his trunk, placed him safely in a corner, and proceeded straight to the temple. Even if he became wild outside Guruvayur, he would straightaway come to Guruvayur, go round the temple and stood where he used to be chained. This transformed him into an ideal elephant.

In the year 1973 Kesavan was conferred the unique title "Gajarajan" (Elephant King), by the Guruvayoor Devaswom for his intelligence, good behaviour and his love and devotion towards the Lord Guruvayoorappan. He served the Lord in the temple for all processions, festivals and ceremonies until his death in 1976. Even his death was on the auspicious day of Guruvayoor Ekadasi, the elephant also observed fast that day and turning towards the temple, looking at the temple, with his trunk raised as if saluting the Lord, he left his body and attained his Moksha.The Guruvayoor Devaswom erected a life-size statue of Keshavan in its precincts as tribute to the services he rendered to the presiding deity of the temple. Its tusks, along with a majestic portrait of the elephant, can be still seen adorning the entrance to the main temple enclosure. The anniversary of its death is still celebrated in Guruvauyur. Many elephants line up before the statue and the chief elephant garlands it.

All of us feel the need to be loved, to be cared for, and be it a human or an animal. Humans express their feelings, not all animals/pets do, but even they have their own ways of expression. Extreme love and devotion towards the God not the specialty of man only and there are numerous examples of animals who were remembered for there deep love emotion and their faith towards the Lord. Gajendra moksham from Bhagavatham and the Guruvayoor Keshavan are the best examples of elephants who were illustrious devotees and their reverence and devotion to the Lord are much higher in plain than that of human beings. The devotion of Kesavan to the lord is no exaggeration. An elephant who served the lord with utmost devotion without ever chanting the slokas for 54 years, without anticipating anything. These legends are the most common in the state of Kerala and told to the young children in order to create a sense of love and respect towards the faith and their religion in their mind, from the young age.

The elephant, Guruvayur Keshavan still lives in the heart and mind of the Keralites through the narratives they get to hear from their older generations. The anniversary of its death is still celebrated in Guruvauyur. My father use to say that who have seen him will never forget Kesavan and we have his photo in my house. Every keralite where ever they are, will have the photos or calendars of this gajaraja kesavan. When ever I visit guruvayur I will bow infront of his statue and ask to give his blessings towards pure path of faith and devotion.

So on this special dwadasi day after my fasting rituals a small tribute in my own way,  posting this article in my blog. Even though I literally have not seen this great soul as I was unborn while he is alive but my heart always pays a great respect towards his dedication true faith and devotion. It does not matter if it is human being or an elephant. All Beings big and small are part of the Lord. Several beings took birth as birds and animals to be close to the Lord, when He existed in His body. Many beings take birth to be close to the Lord even now. This story of a devotee in the body of an elephant is quite an example. Bhakti (Devotion) always is holier than the Knowledge and associated ego. Love conquers all. Eternal love unmistakably flows from the Lord to all beings, who are receptive to it. Last but not least I believe 'Human life is the most precious thing that God has gifted us, with time being the most essential content of it'. So I desire to live each and every moment of life with full happiness and satisfaction.

courtesy: Image from net and

Few real incident narration from Bhaktha priya. 

Especially thanks to my Amma.