Lead elephant Abhimanyu will be rested till the Dasara finale as it has successfully finished all tasks, mainly the weight carrying training being the golden howdah-carrying tusker on the occasion of Jamboo Savari during the Vijayadashami procession.
For the next fortnight, Abhimanyu won’t be carrying the weight but will take part in the daily march from the palace to Bannimantap and vice-versa. “Abhimanyu had sufficient weight training since last month. It now needs rest from weight carrying. Mahendra and Dhananjay too carried weight and a couple of more sessions are pending for the duo. But Abhimanyu has successfully done all its tasks,” said Deputy Conservator of Forests, Wildlife division, V. Karikalan.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Karikalan said Abhimanyu underwent weight training – first round was carrying sand bags and the second round was carrying sand bags along with the wooden replica of the howdah.
