Guruvayur Krishna Temple – Seeveli (Elephant Procession)

Editor October 20, 2023November 18, 2023 0 Comments guruvayur, kerala temples, vishnu temples

Guruvayur temple is located in the Thrissur district of Kerala. It is dedicated to Lord Krishna and one of the most popular shrines in India. Seeveli is a daily ritual procession carried out in the temple. It is a procession of caparisoned elephants marching with one of them carrying the idol of Lord Krishna.

It is done thrice a day – 7 AM , 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM. The night seevali is the most majestic one, with three or more elephants marching with the sounds of Drums, Nadaswaram. The entire temple is lit up with around 1 lakh lamps. Incense sticks and special herbal sambrani are also lit up. It is a mesmerizing scene to watch the seeveli. On festival days, this ritual is much more grander, with five elephants joining the procession.

There is an elephant center located around 3 kms from the temple.It is called as Anathavalam or Punnathoorkotta. Local autos will quickly take you there. It is open from 9 Am to 5 PM and has around 60-80 elephants. All of them are owned and managed by the temple.You can take photographs inside for a small fee. The elephants are brought from this place to the temple for the seeveli.

Some of these photographs were taken sometime around 2002. So the quality might not be that great. But since then the temple has banned taking photos inside. So these pics are rare 🙂