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Dear all:

 

I have posted the photo of seven and a half gold elephants standing in front

of the great Shiva of Ettumanoor.

Ettumanoor Shiva is unique in that he is worshipped as Shiva family in the

morning as Aghora in the afternoon and at night as Sharabha - the combination of

Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu and Shakti and Lakshmi together as a fierce deity with the

face of lion, body of a deer with two wings

The face is Shiva, the body is Brahma, and the wings are Parvathy and Lakshmi

and on its leg hang the body of Narasimaha that has its vital energy absorbed

into the sharabha.

Whatever the reasons for the symbology, it is said that the deity is really

powerful.

On two days an year the deity is brought out in procession and in the hall he

presides over the exhibition of 8 elephants 7 lathe and one half sized,

representing the 8 elephants mythically holding yp the earth.

The names of the elephants are airavata, pundareeka, Kumuda, anjana,

pushpadanta, saarwabhauma, supreetaka and Vamana. Vamana being small, he is

represented as half the size of others.

They were donated to the temple in 1754 by the King Marthanda Varma as

compensation for destruction of temple properties by his army as part of his

expansion wars.

They are made of mature core of Jack tree wood and are covered by 7143

kazinjus (tolas?) of gold. If it is tola it is about 11.11 grams. That is a

total of 79.35873 Kilos.

 

 

 

 

 

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