Watch: Temple elephant tosses mahout to the ground in Kerala, video goes viral

In a shocking incident, an elephant left devotees in a state of fear and panic after it got restless and agitated, following which it threw off a man who was sitting on top of it. Among the many states in the country, Kerala has a large number of wild elephants who are seen taking part in everyday prayer rituals in most of the temples. But this time, things did not go as planned during a recent evening ceremonial. According to Manorama News, this horrific incident took place on 24 September at Thiruvilwamala Vilwadrinatha Temple. This temple is located in the Thrissur district of Kerala. Reports suggest that the elephant identified as Pananchery Parameshwaran got out of control during a nirmalyam ritual that was held in the evening. Apart from throwing the man on the ground, the tusker even kicked down a deepastambham (lamp) of the temple that totally brought fear and panic among the onlookers. Check the video here:

The video shows the animal vigorously shaking its head and forcing the mahout, who is seated on top of it, to fall. As the mahout fell off the elephant, the annoyed tusker is seen turning to attack the man and even attempting to stamp him. Somehow, he got up and managed to flee away quickly but has suffered minor injuries due to the incident. However, the temple elephant was controlled after long efforts that lasted for nearly 1.5 hours, Manorama News further reported. Currently, the video of the incident is going viral on social media which will make your heart almost sink. For the unversed, Kerala takes care of more than seven hundred domesticated elephants. Many are owned by temples and individuals for religious ceremonies while others are used at timber yards. Elephants are featured on the Kerala government’s emblem as it is regarded as the state animal. Keywords: Temple Elephant, Kerala, Mahout, Kerala elephants, Elephants video, viral video