Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was an Indian Carnatic singer. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna - India's highest civilian honour, the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974 and the first Indian to perform at the United Nations General Assembly in 1966.
A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. Mahouts were used since antiquity for both civilian and military use. Traditionally, mahouts came from ethnic groups with generations of elephant keeping experience, with a mahout retaining his elephant throughout its working life or service years.
Guruvayur Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Guruvayurappan, located in the town of Guruvayur in Kerala, India. Administrated by the Guruvayur Devaswom Board, it is one of the most important places of worship for Hindus in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and is often referred to as Bhuloka Vaikunta. The temple is classified among the 108 Abhimana Kshethram of Vaishnavate tradition.
Elephants found in Kerala, the Indian elephants, are one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant. Since 1986, Asian elephants have been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be between 25,600 to 32,750 in the wild. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. Along with a large population of wild elephants, Kerala has more than seven hundred captive elephants. Most of them are owned by temples and individuals. They are used for religious ceremonies in and around the temples, and some churches, and a few elephants work at timber yards.
Punnathurkotta is a fort and former palace located in Kottapadi, about 3 km from the Guruvayoor Sree Krishna Temple, in Thrissur District of Kerala State in South India.
Pratima Barua Pandey was an Indian folk singer from the royal family of Gauripur in Western Assam's Dhubri district. Barua Pandey, a national awardee, best known for her Goalpariya songs Hastir Kanya and Mur Mahut Bandhure, was the daughter of Prakritish Chandra Barua (Lalji) and niece of filmmaker Pramathesh Barua of Devdas fame.
Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran is an Indian elephant owned by Thechikottukavu devasom, a temple in Kerala. Commonly known as simply Raman, he is the tallest living captive elephant in Asia, standing at 314 cm. They gave Ramachandran the title Ekachatradhipathi. He reportedly formerly had the name Moti Prasad until he was purchased by a new handler in 1984.
The Nari Shakti Puraskar is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is the highest civilian honour for women in India, and is presented by the president of India on International Women's Day at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The award was instituted in 1999 under the title of Stree Shakti Puraskar, renamed and reorganised in 2015. It is awarded in six institutional and two individual categories, which carry a cash prize of 200,000 and 100,000 rupees, respectively.
Pepita Seth is a British-born writer and photographer, known for her accounts of the temple arts and rituals of Kerala and her photographs of the widely celebrated captive elephant, Guruvayur Keshavan. The Government of India honoured her, in 2012, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her services to the field of art and culture.
Malvika Iyer is a social worker and disability rights activist having lost both her hands as a child when she picked up a grenade. She is also a model for accessible fashion. Iyer obtained her Doctorate in Social Work from Madras School of Social Work in 2017. Her doctoral thesis is on the stigmatization of people with disabilities.
Chitra Iyer is an Indian playback singer who has worked in Indian and Italian films across five different industries primarily in Malayalam.
Prajna Chowta is an Indian conservationist, wildlife researcher, writer and filmmaker specialised in the Asian elephant. She is the co-founder and managing trustee of the Aane Mane Foundation, founded in Bangalore, India, in 2000.
Chengalloor Dakshayani was a female Asian elephant owned by Travancore Devaswom Board and kept at the Chenkalloor Mahadeva Temple in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India, which at the time of her death on 5 February 2019 was believed to be the oldest elephant in captivity in Asia. She was also known as Gaja Raja Dakshayani and as "Dakshayanamma" and "Gaja Muthassi".
Suparna Baksi Ganguly is an Indian activist concerned with the treatment of animals and in particular elephants that are held captive. She was given the highest award for women in India, the Nari Shakti Puraskar in 2016.
Karthyayani Amma was an Indian woman who passed a literacy examination with top marks at the age of 96. She received the Nari Shakti Puraskar award, the highest civilian award for a woman, by the government of India.
Gods in Shackles is a 2016 Indian investigative drama feature-length documentary film written, directed and executive produced by Sangita Iyer on her documentary directorial debut. The documentary is based on the captive elephants in Kerala culture and inspired by the filmmaker's own personal experience witnessing the torture and suffering faced by the temple elephants during cultural festivals. The documentary was screened at the Legislative Assembly of Kerala on 21 May 2016 following a suggestion by speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, who formally approved the release.
Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky, is a German–Swiss Indie filmmaker. She directed multiple award winning feature documentaries like God No Say So, Imagine, the Sky.,Where the Elephants Sleeps, Elephants From Zero to Hero (2023) and The Fall and Rise of Elephants`Paradise, as well as numerous short films like Cheetal Walk, Sugarcane Village, Elephant Kitchen and Behind Bars.
K. Syamalakumari aka Syamala Kumari is an Indian temple painter. This was an occupation traditionally carried out by men. Her work includes painting at the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala. She has been awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar.
Divya Sesha Iyer is an Indian bureaucrat, medical doctor, editor, and author who is part of the Indian Administrative Service in Kerala. She is the managing director of Vizhinjam International Seaport. She previously has held the posts of District Collector of Pathanamthitta and Mission Director of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.
