Bengaluru: A ‘thulabharam’ ritual was conducted for an elephant with coins at Hubballi. Champika, the elephant of Shirahatti Fakeereshwara Math, was put on the scales for the rare ceremony marking the 75th birthday of seer Fakir Siddharam Mahaswamiji. This was also the 60th anniversary of the pachyderm’s arrival at the Math.

The weighing was done on a specially prepared scale. The elephant dressed with a head ornament (nettipattam), with a howdah made of teak in which the seer sat and the mahout standing atop were on one side of the scale. On the other side were bags of Rs 10 coins. 5555 kg of coins, worth Rs 73,40,000 in 376 sacks. 

A 44 feet long, 20 feet wide and 30 feet high iron scale, worth Rs 20 lakh was used for weighing. The coins for the simultaneous weighing (thulabharam) were collected from SBI. This money will reportedly be spent on the education of poor children. 

Many people, including ministers witnessed the ceremony held at Nehru Maidan in Hubballi city.