The Temple Elephant is a novel meant for all those with a young heart, a vivid imagination and a thirst for divine love.
Narrated from the viewpoint of an elephant, it may be called a bestiary with a socio-political and spiritual message. The novel opens with an eloquent description of an ancient South Indian temple in which the aged elephant, Kesavan, is serving God. As he ambles along the streets of a temple town with the silver image of Krishna on his back, Kesavan recalls the events of his past life. His turbulent youth and manhood in the jungle, his capture in a keddah operation, his sufferings at the hands of his tormentors, his revenge, and finally his willing submission to the Maharishi, his guru, who not only saves him from slavery and death, but also shows him a path of love and self-surrender that eventually brings him to serve in an ancient temple.
Set against the backdrop of the British Raj, the novel takes its readers on an odyssey from the beautiful jungles of South India through the opulence of palace life to the serene simplicity of an ashram.
