Given the title Gaja Muthassi or elephant granny, Dakshayani took part in temple rituals and processions at the Chengalloor Mahadeva Temple in the southern state of Kerala.
But her vet said the elephant stopped taking food and died on Tuesday.
Keepers started feeding her pineapples and carrots in recent years after she began to have trouble moving around.
She had not taken part in any public event for several years.
The Travancore Devaswom Board, which runs the temple where she lived, says she was the oldest elephant in captivity and estimated her age at 88.
