Lakshmi, elephant of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple in Puducherry, collapses on road, dies

The 32-year-old animal is suspected to have died of a cardiac arrest while on its daily morning walk; an autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death, officials said

Lakshmi, the 32-year-old elephant of Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple in Puducherry, collapsed and died of a suspected cardiac arrest on Wednesday morning. Lakshmi, accompanied by her two mahouts was on her daily morning walk from her enclosure at Sri Vedapureeswarar Temple on Eswaran Kovil Street when she died.

The collapse occurred when Lakshmi neared the campus of Calve College Government Higher Secondary School on Kamatchi Amman Kovil Street: she showed signs of fatigue and stopped walking. She then suddenly swooned and collapsed on the road. The elephant did not respond to commands from the mahouts, and died soon afterwards. When they received this information, the temple authorities, with the help of the traffic police brought in a crane. The body was lifted and brought to the Sri Manakular Vinayagar Temple to enable devotees to offer homage.

Lakshmi was donated to the temple as a 10-year-old when R.V. Janakiraman was the Chief Minister of Puducherry.

A senior official of the Forest Department said that there was no other known reason for the elephant to collapse on the roadside, and cardiac arrest is suspected. An autopsy will be performed to ascertain the reason behind the death.

The official added that Lakshmi was under the care of the best veterinarians and her health condition was good. There were no grounds for concern about the animal’s health and all her recent blood reports had also been normal. Though she was a captive elephant, the authorities had left no stone unturned to make sure she was treated well.

Sources said that the Government had allotted a two acre plot at Chinnayapuram in Muthialpet, and construction of an enclosure for the elephant was underway.

Meanwhile, the temple authorities have made arrangements to bury Lakshmi’s carcass on Wednesday evening.