Subbaraya Gounder, a rich landlord, who had plenty of agricultural lands adjacent to the reserve forests at Chinnaya Goundenpudhur near Ettimadai, used to dig Koppams (large pits dug to trap wild elephants) near his lands to prevent the entry of pachyderms. On one occasion, he came across a mother elephant with her baby trapped in the Koppam. But, as the mother-elephant died, Subbaraya Gounder brought home the baby and reared it by providing Buffalo’s milk poured in a Thaazhi (A large-mouthed big earthen pot).
At a time when establishing human habitations on elephant corridors is banned, it is interesting to know that once people, who cultivated lands adjacent to reserve forests in Coimbatore, used to catch wild elephants, tame and sell them before the government banned the act. And one such elephant was Janaki, which served at the Perur Patteswarar Temple and went on a procession through the streets of Coimbatore carrying on its back the Tirumurai, a twelve volume compendium of hymns composed in praise of Lord Shiva.
Subbaraya Gounder, a rich landlord, who had plenty of agricultural lands adjacent to the reserve forests at Chinnaya Goundenpudhur near Ettimadai, used to dig Koppams (large pits dug to trap wild elephants) near his lands to prevent the entry of pachyderms. On one occasion, he came across a mother elephant with her baby trapped in the Koppam. But, as the mother-elephant died, Subbaraya Gounder brought home the baby and reared it by providing Buffalo’s milk poured in a Thaazhi (A large-mouthed big earthen pot).
As Subbaraya Gounder displayed his pride of rearing the elephant tethered in front of his house, his rival landlord Velappa Gounder of Ettimadai, from whom Subbaraya Gounder had borrowed much money, filed a case to seize the elephant for the money he owed him. Having known this, Subbaraya Gounder drove the elephant inside the woods. Nevertheless, Velappa Gounder, with the help of some expert hunters from Cochin, captured the animal and brought it to the court!
As the elephant was in the court’s custody, the judicial body had difficulties in solving the issue and feeding the elephant while the case was pending. But, C.K.Subramania Mudhaliar, noted Tamil scholar, eminent lawyer and former Vice-chairman of Coimbatore Municipality, held talks with both the parties and solved the issue by legally handing over the elephant to the Perur Patteswarar Temple.
When Mudhaliar ran Vidwan Kanthasamy Mudhaliar Saiva Prasanga Salai, an organization to propagate the doctrines of Saivism in Coimbatore, he led a grand procession through the streets of Coimbatore, in which the elephant carried on its back the holy texts of Tirumurai.
The scholar, who is popularly called as ‘Sivakavimani’ C.K.Subramania Mudhaliar for his copious contributions to Tamil Saivite literature, wrote detailed commentaries on Sekizhar’s Periyapuranam. Toiling hard for 19 long years, when he completed writing the commentaries, the magnum opus came out in seven volumes in 1954. Honoring his priceless contribution to Tamil Bakthi literature, the people of Coimbatore led a grand procession through the streets of Perur, in which the elephant Janaki carried the seven volumes of his book on its back.
In his autobiography Piththan Oruvanin Suyasaritham, Mudhaliar writes that the elephant was blessed in its previous birth to serve Lord Patteeswarar.
Janaki, who was affectionate towards the people of Coimbatore, died in 1975 after 14 years from the demise of C.K. Subramania Mudhaliar.