The first batch of the nine Dasara elephants were weighed on Wednesday in the routine assessment in the run-up to the festivities to be held in October by which they are expected to gain weight.
The howdah elephant Abhimanyu was the heaviest of the nine elephants and weighed 5,160 kg. He was followed by Gopi, who weighed 5,080 kg, followed Dhananjaya at 4,940 kg. Mahendra clocked 4,530 kg on the weighing scale, while Bhima was closely behind at 4,370 kg. Kanjan measured 4,240 kg and was the ‘’lightest’’ among the male elephants.
Among the female elephants Varalakshmi measured 3,020 kg and Vijaya at 2,830 kg was relatively ‘’light-weight’’ compared to the others.
The elephants will go through daily drill of walking along the procession route in a bid to get acclimatised to the new terrain and also get exposed to sound and noise of the urban jungle. This exercise in making them familiar with the procession route and the sights and sounds during the next 45 to 50 days is expected to help reduce the stress on elephants considerably.
The elephants, which are camping at the palace grounds along with their mahouts and assistants, will be fed with special diet so as to enable them to put on mass and gain weight. Abhimanyu is vested with the responsibility of carrying the 750 kg howdah besides an additional weight of 250 kg of sandbags and the weight of the mahout as well. Given the immensity of the task the elephants are fed with special diet including sugarcane, jaggery, combination of various grains, rice etc.
But officials point out that merely gaining weight is not akin to being fit for the task of completing the procession with heavy weight balancing on the back. Hence, all the elephants go through the drill of marching from the palace to the Bannimantap grounds and return by the same route covering 10 km in the process.
The actual distance to be covered during the Vijaydashmi procession is 5 km and the nearly 45 to 50 days of rigorous practice makes them fit for the task. In addition, the elephants will also carry sandbags on their backs and the weight will be gradually increased from about 250 kg to 400 kg and the incremental rise will continue till they get accustomed to carry at least 750 to 1,000 kg and cover the distance in a little more than an hour.
A battery of officials including a team of veterinarians are also camping along with the elephants at the palace grounds and monitoring their health and their activities.
