WVU Libraries

by Cat Melillo, Archives Processing Assistant, West Virginia & Regional History Center (WVRHC) 

In the 1980s, Moundsville, WV’s Hare Krishna community, New Vrindaban, was home to the state’s only elephant. 
 
You may have heard of New Vrindaban, the Palace of Gold, and the many controversies surrounding its original leader, Swami Bhaktipada. If you haven’t, let’s just say it involved arson, money laundering, a massive fraud scheme, two murder conspiracies, and a federal indictment. 

Palace of Gold, mid 1980s.  

 
Setting aside the grislier details, did you know that in its heyday, the hills of rural Moundsville were home to a two-ton elephant imported from India? That’s right, the first Asian elephant imported into the U.S. in more than 30 years was a four-year-old female named Malini in 1986. At the time, she was the only elephant in the state of West Virginia. 

Malini performing in a procession, undated. 

 
Elephants are considered an auspicious animal in Hindu culture. New Vrindaban leadership spent two years cutting through bureaucratic red tape to get her to Moundsville. To prepare for her arrival, the devotee who would serve as her primary caregiver took a five-week training course in advanced elephant care at the San Diego Zoo. The two quickly formed a bond, and Malini became beloved in the community and a huge draw for tourists. 
 
Malini performed tricks such as bowing, balancing on a stand, offering flower garlands in parades, and waving a yak-tail whisk used in religious ceremonies. While employed in religious processions and festivals, she was lavishly decorated with jewels, fabrics, and paint. The devotees even brought Malini to their protests outside the Marshall County Courthouse and the West Virginia Penitentiary. 

Malini balancing on a stand, undated. 
 
Visitors would travel from all over West Virginia and the surrounding states to catch a glimpse of the Palace of Gold and its elephant. In fact, Malini was so popular, a plan was made to import an additional 34 elephants for use in religious pageants, as well as other exotic animals including Bengali tigers. Plans were drawn for the elephants to be housed in an area under the Palace of Gold, although thanks in part to the commune’s growing legal troubles, this underground elephant bunker was never completed. 
 
At the height of its tourism success, Swami Bhaktipada dreamed of expanding New Vrindaban to a second location just outside the New Jersey capital city of Trenton. The new community would house upwards of 12,000 residents, and the only way in or out would be by elephant-towed canal boats. And who was to build this new City of God? Why, none other than developer tycoon, Donald Trump! For better or worse (probably better), this plan never came to fruition. 

New York Post headline, 1987. 

Although there are no longer elephants, you can still travel to Moundsville and visit the original Palace of Gold (under new leadership). Day trip anyone?!

 
 
Sources: 
 
Doktorski, Henry, Compiler. Records regarding Kirtanananda Bhaktipada Swami and the New Vrindaban Commune, A&M 4646. West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries. Morgantown, West Virginia. https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/repositories/2/resources/7046 
 
“Imported Elephant Represents Another West Virginia First.” The West Virginia Advocate [Capon Bridge, WV], 4 Aug. 1986, p. 32. 
 
MacDonald, Glenn and Norman, James. “Hare Trumpna!” New York Post, 14 Nov. 1987.