Devotees of Swasthishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sanstha, a religious body in Maharashtra‘s Kolhapur, bid an emotional farewell to their temple elephant, which was shifted to Anant Ambani-owned Vantara in Gujarat’s Jamnagar district.

The 36-year-old female elephant, Mahadevi alias Madhuri, was handed over the pachyderm to Radhe Krishna Elephant Welfare Trust run by Vantara, after the Supreme Court dismissed to quash the Bombay High Court‘s order.

On July 16, the high court ordered Mahadevi to be rehabilitated at Vantara’s facility, after concerns raised by an NGO with the Maharashtra Forest Department and the Supreme Court-appointed High-Powered Committee (HPC) on her “deteriorated health and psychological suffering”.

According to HPC, Mahadevi suffers from foot rot, overgrown toenails, arthritis, and stereotypic behaviour such as constant head bobbing, which is a sign of psychological trauma due to long-term solitary captivity.

A bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Gokhale noted that the mental and physical health of the elephant suffered when it was with a Kolhapur-based trust.

Devotees and hundreds of locals could not hold their tears back as the temple elephant prepared to leave for Vantara. The elephant was reportedly brought from Karnataka to the Kolhapur math in 1992 when she was around three years old. She was with the Shri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Jain ‘math’ (monastery) at Nandani for over three decades.

In 2017, the elephant allegedly killed the chief priest by repeatedly slamming him against a wall.

On Sunday, August 3, thousands of people participated in a ‘silent march’ in Kolhapur demanding her return. More than 2 lakh persons have signed forms demanding Mahadevi’s return to the Jain math at Nandani. These forms will be sent to the President’s office via speed post.

BJP MP Dhananjay Mahadik and Shiv Sena MP Dhairyasheel Mane, both from Kolhapur district, are working to get the Centre to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court for bringing Mahadevi back, Abitkar said.

Mahadik met Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav and submitted a memorandum for bringing back Mahadevi to the Jain monastery in Nandani.