Pennies for the Pondicherry Pachyderm

Geography Quiz: Where in the world can you be greeted on the street with a smart “Bonjour!”, buy a freshly-hacked open coconut and drink its refreshing elixir from a street cart, and then contribute your temple donation via an obliging cucumber-fed elephant?

We were stumped, too, before our trip to the old French colony of Pondicherry on the Bay of Bengal.

Our weekend getaway to the east coast was filled with great religious wonder and spectacle. We have visited many Hindu temples. Each temple has greeted us with its own personality. We have seen the ancient ruins of the temples in the former capital of the Vijayanagar empire in Hampi, and the near-carnival atmosphere of Chamundi Hills outside Mysore, but we never anticipated finding a personable pachyderm accepting donations from passersby in Pondicherry.
Our elephant encounter was far from intended. We were on our way to visit the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and decided to walk past a local temple. Areas surrounding temples are typically filled with vendors selling the wares (e.g., coconuts, flowers, garlands, etc) needed for pooja (worship) and we were not disappointed to find a rich array of goods for sale. What we were surprised to find was our pachyderm pal.

We watched with a “we didn’t expect that (video)” look on our faces as people stood before the colorfully decorated elephant with a hand extended holding a rupee coin. Recognizing a coin offered in donation, the elephant would divert his truck from popping cucumbers into his mouth and extend his trunk to accept the coin from the offering hand. It is the custom of temple priests to offer a blessing and apply a bindi to one’s forehead following a donation. Here, once the offering was taken, the elephant would extend his trunk and gently tap the top of the head of the faithful in a blessing-like fashion.

The elephant then deposited the coin with the mahout (elephant handler) and resumed popping cucumbers awaiting the next opportunity to accept a donation and offer a personal blessing in return. Amen….Shalom….and May It Be So!