The “Anayottam(Elephant race)” marks the start of the 10 day Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple festival. The winning elephant doesn’t receive any prize but gets the privilege of carrying the Thidambu which is the replica of the idol of Guruvayurappan on all special religious occasions for a year.In Kerala festival dates are decided on basis of the Malayalam calender and local traditions and customs. Hence the “Anayottam” dates are different every year
The “Anayottam(Elephant race) starts at the “Manjula Aal( Banyan Tree) in East Nada of Guruvayur and ends inside the temple precincts, a distance of approx hal a kilometer..There is a religious mythological reason for the “Anayottam” starting from “Manjula Aal” where Aal means Banyan tree in Malyalam.It was a hot and humid afternoon and all the elephants were being either cooled with water hoses or given drinking water..A beautiful tusker was being given final dressage by its mahout and two attendants.Onlookers were busy clicking photographs and to a pet owner it was unbelievable to see a giant of a animal behave better than a pet dog or cat.