Thrissur: Braving heavy rains, devotees and elephant lovers flocked to Vadakkumnatha Temple in Thrissur in Kerala to take part in the traditional 'Anayoottu' festival  on Friday.

The annual festival, in which elephants are fed rice and other items, is held in the Malayalam month of Karkkidaka.  

The elephants who attended the rituals include Ernakulam Sivakumar, Paramekkavu Kalidasan, Pampady Sundaran, Puthuppally Sadhu, Puthuppally Kesavan, Bastin Vinayasunder and tame elephants including Thiruvambady Lakshmikutty.  

Each elephant was given 10 bowls of rice prepared using 500 kilogram of rice mixed with Ashtachurna and herbal mixtures.  

Along with this, a sumptuous meal was prepared that included apples, grapes, sugarcane, fruits, watermelon, cucumber, 10 palm leaf for each elephant, and 2,000 kilograms of grass.

A Mahaganapathi Homam began at 5 am with the temple thantri Puliyannur Sankaranarayanan Namboothiri leading the rituals.

The famous elephant feeding ceremony began at 9.30 am. The ceremony was inaugurated by temple Melshanthi Payyappally Madhavan Namboothiri by giving the first food to the elephant.

Public representatives, Devaswom authorities and prominent figures from various fields participated in the ceremony by feeding the elephants. Minister O J Janeesh, MLAs Chandy Oommen and Rajan Pallan also attended the ceremony.