An 11-foot robotic elephant weighing 800 kilograms was introduced by IIrinjadappilly Sri Krishna temple in Kerala for performing rituals on Sunday in a traditional ceremony called 'Nadayiruthal'. The robotic elephant has been donated to the temple by PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals India) and is named ‘Irinjadappilly Raman’.

The authorities of Irinjadappilly Sree Krishna Temple have taken this initiative as a part of their pledge to not use real animals for any festivities.

The mechanical elephant made its debut during the temple festival procession.

The mechanical elephant has salient features

The life-size mechanical elephant has some salient features as it is a movable machine and can also be used in the processions. It moves its head, eyes, ears, mouth, tail, and trunk like a real elephant as it has five in-built motors. Like the real ones, this elephant also can carry up to four people on its back.

The quality that is used to develop this unique real-like animal is the iron frame with rubber coating outside and it costs around Rs 5 lakhs. The robotic animal has been donated with the support of cine artist Parvathy Thiruvoth.

The mechanical elephant was built by four young artisans from Thrissur. One of the four artisans told that it took them took months to complete the structure of the elephant.

Head priest welcomes the robot elephant

The Head priest of the temple Rajkumar Namboothiri welcomed Irinjadappilly Raman and said they were extremely happy and grateful to receive this mechanical elephant which will help them to conduct their rituals and festivals and hoped that other temples will also think about replacing live elephants for rituals.