Female elephant disguised as male for temple ritual in Kerala due to shortage

Palakkad: In a first in Kerala, a female elephant had to disguise herself as a male elephant for a temple ritual. The female elephant Lakkidi Indira was dressed up as a Kollengode Kesavan, a male elephant for Ezhunallathu at the Thotta Pooram temple festival in Kerala's Palakkad.

The last-minute hack seemed to be working fine during the Thotta Pooram function, except during the climax when Indira’s walk seemed out of place when compared to other male elephants.

15 male elephants are needed for Ezhunallathu, the temple practice, but as they were one short, temple officials had to go through great lengths to pull off the hack. Indira didn't have a tusk and the authorities had to fix a fibre tusk to make her look like a male elephant.