Aanayude Lakshanangal

How do you say about a good car or a beautiful lady....it should look good to our eyes...isnt't it....Like that an elephant is said to be beautiful when it gives a majestic feeling...Why we are having a set of Lakshanashashthram is that we had developed those Shashtrams on the basis of the best Elephants we had in our land ....obviously those were Naadan elephants....Thats why we have a set of Lakshanams to judge a good elephants...This is my Belief and perception about Lakshanams.....It has evolved on the basis of Various Books like madangaleela...and Ithihyamala....which has(especially madangaleela) a lot of scientific observations about elephants.....Wy I have said this is becoz opinions about Good Elephants may Differ from person to Person....now go on
LakshanamsThese are the Lakshanams ....That I know and I look at....pls note I have only very few knowledge...1)Kombu(Tusks)-The Kombu should be white....without any scraps ....and it should be bend like crescent...of course not exactly cresent.....The best Kombu for Elephants nowKuttankulangara ramdas....Kongadu KuttiShankaran.....Pambady raajan...Ollukkara Rajagopal....Kodungallur GireeshanLegendary Elephants with Good Tusks-Kirangattu Keshavan....Vaikom Thiruneelakantan .... Guruvayur Keshavan
2)Thumbi Kkai-(Trunks)-The Thumbi is one of the main attaraction of an Elephant.Thumbi of an elephant should touch the ground....even if the Heads are held High.....Ie.....Nilathizhayanam....It should be like the letter J.....u got it...ha...ha...Some good examples are GVR Padmanabhan....Pambady Raajan....Olllukkara Thiruvanikkavu Rajagopal...Legendary Elephants with Good Trunks....Gvr Keshavan....Kirangattu keshavan....Kudallattupuram Ramachandran.....Avanamanakkal Gopalan...etc....3)Thalakkuni-In one word it is proportion(size)of the Head with the Body....This is part where many of the elephants who are tall go wrong...If you look an elephant from side you will feel the difference....Tall elephants like Bastian vinayasankar...Kandambully Balanarayanan etcc...are bad in Thalakkuni....It is best for Kerala Naadan elephants....like Kodungallur Gireeshan....ThiruVambadi Shivasundar...Pambadi raajan....Eerattupetta AyyappanBut Elephants like Pallathamkulangara Gireeshan....Ezhuthachan Sreenivaasan....Cherpulassery Shekharan etc...should be noted...4)Kannu & Pallu-The eyes of the elephant should be Honey coloured....Teeth should be good and strong....bad teeth can lead to Erandakettu in Elphants which could be Fatal5)Chevi-It is said that the Ears...ie Chevi of the elephant should be like Butterfly....It should be without any Scrap or wholes....and when the elephant does "Cheviyattal" it should cover its eyes...Thiruvambady Shivasundar....Thrikadavur Shivaraju etc....are good specimen...6)Madagiri-It is the spots on elephant....When we talk about Madagiri the elephant that comes into mind is Ollukkara thiruvanikkavu Rajagopalan....it shoould be round ...and evenly spaced....Generally it gets better as the elephant grows older....
7)Nada & Amaram-Front leg and Back legs....naadan elephants have good strong and stout (thoonu pole)legs....See Kuttan Kulangara Ramdas'legs...If you can get a photo of Guruvayoor Pazhaya Padmanabhan....Kizhakkuveettil Gopinathan....it can be easily understood8)Nakhams-The nakhams (nails) should be pure white and it is said that 18 or 20 nails can be auspicious...19 brings bad luck...It is heard that Great Guruvayur Keshavan had 20 nakhams...9)Idaneelam-Length of the body....simple to understand....collect photos of Kizhakkeveettil Gopinathan/Narayanan/Damodaran...Deshamangalam Ayyapankutty....It is said that the great Poomully Shekharan had the best Irikkasthanam or puramvirivu....4 people could sleep.....10) Val- tail of course ....it should be straight....strong and with whiskers....it should not touch the ground..These are the easily noticeable lakshanams....there may be more others contribute please....So on th basis of all these I feel that the following elephants should be considered as the bestNaadan-1) Pambady raajan2)Nandilath Gopalakrishnan(late)3)Ollukkara Thiruvanikkavu Rajagopalan4)eerattupetta Ayyappan5)Kuttankulangara Ramadas6)Kodungallur Gireeshan7)Kongadu Kuttishankaran8)Thiruvambady Shivasundar9)Mangalamkunnu Ganapathy10)Thrikadavoor ShivarajuBihari1)Thechikkottukavu Ramachandran2)Ezhuthachan Sreenivaasan3)Guruvayur Valiya Keshavan4)Guruvayur indrasen5)Paramekkavu Shriparameshwaran(late)6)Puthrukovil Ganapathy7)Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan8)Thiruvambady Cheriya Chandrashekharan9)Kuttankulangara Arjunan10)Saj PrasadUpcoming Heroes1)Cherpulassery parthan2)Chirrakkal Kalidaasan3)Edakkunni Arjunan4)Thayamkavu Manikandan5)Puthrukovil Parthasarathy6)Techikkottu kavu Devidaasan7)Chulliparambil Vishnushankar8)Annamanada Umamaheshvaran(naadan)9)Puthupally keshavan10)Palakkad Muthan GanapathyThis is my personal opinion...so do send in your suggestions