The Dasara elephants, which were the prime attraction in the Vijayadashami procession on October 5, will be returning to their respective camps on October 7.
Fourteen elephants were brought to Mysuru in two batches for the Jamboo Savari (procession of elephants), and they were camping in the palace premises. The mahouts and kavadis of the elephants and their family members were also camping on the palace premises taking care of the jumbos.
After executing their tasks with perfection, it’s time to say goodbye to Mysuru as the Forest Department has made arrangements for giving the elephants a warm farewell on October 7.
Abhimanyu, who carried the golden howday, and the 13 other elephants will head back to their camps in Nagarahole, Bandipur and Dubare in separate trucks.
Lakshmi, a Dasara elephant that did not take part in the procession as it delivered a male calf in the palace premises, will also return to its camp along with its calf. It was for the first time in recent years that a Dasara elephant delivered a calf in the palace premises while on training for the Jamboo Savari. Lakshmi, who belongs to the Ramapura elephant camp in Bandipur, was brought to Mysuru in August as part of ‘Gajapayana’, along with eight other elephants.
Deputy Conservator of Forest V. Karikalan told The Hindu that arrangements for the elephants’ return have been made. After a simple puja around 9:30 a.m., trucks carrying the elephants will leave the palace premises for the forest camps.
“We are yet to decide on whether to send Lakshmi and its calf along with the other elephants or separately, since we need to take certain precautions while sending the mother and its calf together in a truck,” he said.
Apart from Abhimanyu, the other elephants of the first batch that arrived in Mysuru in August were Arjuna, Dhananjaya, Mahendra, Bhima, Chaitra, Gopalswamy, Kaveri, and Lakshmi. The second batch of elephants comprising Srirama, Vijaya, Parthasarthy, Vikrama, and Gopi joined the others in September.
Mr. Karikalan said the ‘Ambari’ elephant Abhimanyu, flanked by Chaitra and Kaveri, reached Bannimantap from the palace around 7.45 p.m. They, along with six other elephants, returned to the palace with police escort around 9 a.m.
