Guruvayur: The famous elephant shelter where over 65 elephants owned by Guruvayoor Sri Krishna temple devaswom are housed is all set to get a major facelift. With over 4 crores development aid from the Central Government in the anvil, this ambitious project is expected to complete in 11 months according to Tourism Secretary V Venu. Though the fund allotment of the project was completed way back in 2006 the work made little head way all these years due to an array of minor snags. The work was assigned to Kitco and now it is expected to pick up pace to ensure completion of the first phase in a time bound manner.
Punnathur Kotta is considered the single largest congregation of domesticated elephants in the world. Located at Kottapadi, 3 km away from Guruvayur temple, all these elephants were offered to the temple by the ardent devotees of Lord Krishna. The 10 acre elephant park set in a sprawling 10 acre compound is open to public where they can watch the timeless charm of these magnificent animals at close quarters and can see them being fed and bathed. There are six female elephants and two tuskless males and the rest are male tuskers.
This compound also has a naalu kettu, the traditional Kerala home in rectangular shape with an open central courtyard, which originally belonged to the Punnathur Raja. However now these remain in a bad condition for want of maintenance. En route to Punnathoorkotta visitors also stop by the giant sculpture of the legendary temple elephant, Guruvayur Kesavan.
Punnathur Anakkotta all set to get a facelift
February 12, 2008 by usha123
