Dasara elephant send-off.
Credit: DH Photo
Mysuru: It was an emotional moment at the Mysuru Palace premises on Thursday morning, as the Dasara Elephants who were in the city for 55 days and were the main attraction of Dasara Jamboo Savari procession, left for their respective forest camps after their prime task around 12 noon.
The traditional pooja was offered to them, and they were fed with sugarcane, fruits, and jaggery. Their Mahouts and Kaavaadis were honoured and given an honorarium of Rs 15,000 each from the Mysuru Palace Board.
Mysore Deputy Commissioner and Dasara Special Officer K V Rajendra, Palace Board Deputy Director T S Subramanya, Forest officials including Chief Conservator of Forest, Mysuru circle, Malathi Priya, DCF of Mysuru wild life division and in-charge of Dasara Elephants Saurab Kumar, DCF Mysuru territorial division, K N Basavaraju, RFO Santhosh Hoogar, Chief Veterinarian in-charge of Dasara Elephants Mujeeb Ur Rehman and others joined the occasion.
DC K V Rajendra said that they could do Dasara successfully with the cooperation of 18 Dasara sub committees and mainly district in-charge minister H C Mahadevappa and the entire district administration.
He will be holding closing proceedings of all officials, to review if there are any changes which need to be made to improve the Dasara experience for the next year. He will soon give the details of Dasara expenses, but it has crossed Rs 35 crore, he already said.
DCF Saurab said, "Abhimanyu gracefully faced the cheering crowd all through the 4.8 km procession route with all composure. Mahendra and Dhananjaya were trained to carry full weight equivalent to 750 kg golden Howdah. Mahendra has successfully handled crowded Srirangpatna Dasara. We have already trained five additional Elephants including Sugreeva and new Elephants Kanjan, Rohith, Hiranya and Lakshmi who did not participate in Dasara as were supposed to be taken in the procession in view of the safety of animals and people. So we are getting ready with the second and third line of Elephants to replace the aged Elephants for future Dasaras."
He also thanked the district administration for the co-operation.
Mahout of Abhimanyu, Vasantha, said that he could perform the prime role of managing Abhimanyu with the blessings of Goddess Chamundeshwari. Abhimanyu will be fed with boiled rice, jaggery, coconut, ragi flour and horsegram before he leaves for the forest in the morning and after he reaches camp in the evening. He will continue to participate in combing operations to capture elephants and tigers whenever there are any man-animal conflicts, he said.
Abhimanyu carried the golden howdah for the fourth time, Vijaya and Varalkshmi participated as Kumki elephants both in Srirangapatna and Mysuru Dasaras. Arjuna played the role of Nishaane Elephant. Gopi and Bheema participated as Nauphat Elephants. Mahendra, Dhananjaya, and Prashantha performed the roles of Saalaanes. Bheema and Dhananjaya also participated as Pattada Aane for Sharannavarathri rituals of the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru Palace.
Mahendra also participated in Srirangapatna Dasara.
Abhimanyu (along with Mahout Vasantha and Kaavaadi J K Raju), Mahendra (along with his Mahout Rajanna and Kaavaadi Mallikarjuna), Bheema (along with his Mahout Gunda and Kaavaadi Nanjundaswamy) left to Maththigodu Elephant camp of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. Arjuna (along with his Mahout Vinu and Kaavaadi D Raju) left for Balle Elephant camp in NTR . Varalakshmi (along with her Mahouth J K Ravi and Kaavaadi K S Lava) left for Bheemanakatte Elephant camp of NTR. Lakshmi left to Doddaharave camp in NTR. Gopi (along with his Mahout P B Naveen Kumar and Kaavaadi J R Shivu), Dhananjaya (along with Mahout J C Bhaskar and J S Rajanna), Vijaya (along with her Mahout J K Bhojappa and Kaavaadi B P Bharath) left for Dubaare Elephant camp in the Madikeri division.
Prashanth and Sugreeva left for the same camp. Rohith and Hiranya left for Ramapura Elephant camp of Bandipur Tiger Reserve.
All elephants, their care takers, and their families are expected to reach their respective forest camps by around 4 pm.