The sudden and dramatic death of Lakshmi, the temple elephant in Puducherry, led to an outpouring of emotions from thousands of devotees, most of whom came to realise after her death that she was leading an unnatural and solitary life in a concrete jungle, and was possibly abused, at times. While activists argue that it is no longer advisable to hold elephants temples, within cities where freedom of movement and the lack of wide open spaces for the pachyderms can cause trauma to the animals, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department, in charge of most temples in the State, insists that the living conditions of the temple elephants have vastly improved and that tradition will have to continue.
