Watch | Elephant Blesses PM Modi at Tamil Nadu Temple, Plays Mouth Organ in Tiruchirappalli

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited Tamil Nadu’s Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Tiruchirappalli on Saturday, sought blessing from an elephant. The visit to the Tamil Nadu temple comes days ahead of the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on Monday.

Modi, the first Prime Minister to visit the temple, wore a spotless ‘veshti’ (dhothi) and an angawastram (a shawl) and prayed with folded hands in the Lord Vishnu temple.

On his arrival, he was accorded a ceremonial ‘poorna kumbha’ welcome amid Vedic chanting by priests. PM Modi took blessings from the temple elephant after feeding it.

A video of the elephant blessing the prime minister with his trunk has gone viral on the internet.

PM Modi then passes a mouth organ to the elephant who curls his trunk and starts playing the musical instrument.

The Prime Minister arrived in Tiruchirappalli on Saturday from Chennai and on his way to the temple, stood on the running board of his car and waved at the people and BJP workers who gathered at vantage points to greet him.

He prayed to Sri Ranganathaswamy and he was blessed with ‘Sadari’ (Crown, symbolising Lord Vishnu’s blessings) by temple priests.

The PM prayed at several ‘sannadhis’ (separate enclosures for deities) including those dedicated to Vaishnavite saint-guru Sri Ramanjuacharya and Sri Chakkarathazhwar. He also took blessings from the temple elephant after feeding it.

The Srirangam temple has a religious and Tamil literary connect to the Ramayana. According to religious scholars, the idol of Sri Ranganathaswamy –a form of Vishnu– at Srirangam was originally worshipped by Lord Ram and His ancestors.

When Vibhishana sought a precious gift from Shri Ram, the God presented this idol to him and asked him to worship it. Under Vibhishana’s watchful eyes, the Lord Ranganatha idol was installed at Sri Rangam temple in accordance with divine will.

In effect, Modi has sought blessings from Ranganathaswamy, worshipped by Shri Ram for the consecration of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

At the temple, Modi listened to Kamba Ramayana verses, one of the very old versions of Ramayana. The Kamba Ramayana was composed by the great Tamil poet Kambar in the 12th century.