The march of the golden elephants

The Ettumanoor Mahadevar Temple is situated in a place known as Ettumanoor in the Kottayam district of Kerala, South India.

The specialty of this temple is its Ezharaponnana, or seven-and-a-half golden elephants, which are seven golden elephants of 2 ft height and one smaller one of height 1 ft, which is considered half an elephant. The elephants are made of wood and plated with gold and were given to the temple in 1759 by Karthika Thirunal, the then Maharaja of Travancore.

During the temple festival of Ezharaponnana Ezhunnallathu, these golden elephants are ceremonially paraded.