MySuru: Dasara elephant led by Abhimanyu was given a new welcome at Mysuru Palace where they will stay up to the top of the 10-day Dasara celebration on October 15.
The elephant team which is the center of the appeal of the Dasara celebration was greeted with sugar cane and ‘modaka’, sweet dishes, followed by a special gajapooja in Jayamarthanda Dwara, the main gate of Mysuru Palace.
St Somashekar’s district minister offered a special elephant dish and welcomed them while Chamundi Chief Priest Shashishekar Temple Dixit did Pooja.
Gajah-elephant has stopped in Bhavana, the head office of the Ministry of Forestry, in Ashokapuram from Monday.
Led by Gajah Abhimanyu’s leadership, his elephant took away from Bhavan at the beginning of the day and walked far to Mysuru’s palace.
Elephants pass through Circle Ashoka, RTO Circle, Ramaswamy Circle, Chamaraja Double Road and Gun House Circle to reach the palace.
Elephants cover a distance of 3 km in 55 minutes.
The police gave the honorary guard even when they were bombarded with flower petals.
Hundreds of police and forest staff keep elephants along the route.
Traffic is transferred to the route to ensure the movement of the hassle free elephant.
Somashekar said the government would immediately hold a cabinet meeting to choose special guests to inaugurate MySore Dasara immediately after the ongoing session.
Dasara will open on the Bukit Chamundi on October 7 7.
MLA SA RAMADAS and Mayor of Sunana Palanethra are present.
‘Only eight Nights Navratri’ Sri Chamundeshwari Temple Priest Shashishekar Dixit said this year there will only be eight nights during the Dasara celebration because of the change in ‘Tithi’ on the Hindu calendar.
“This happens every three years or five years and there is no problem about it.
But all the poojas and rituals carried out during the celebration will take place as usual,” he said.
The challenge is to keep elephants in pink because mysuru Dasara is limited to the limits of MySuru palace this year too, keeping elephants in good health is a challenging task for forest officers.
Vice forest conservator (wildlife) v kariklan, told toi that because special rations were given to elephants as long as they live in the palace, they tend to gain weight.
This year the elephant will not be taken outside the premise of the palace for training.
This year there will be eight Gajah – Abhimanyu, Gopalswamy, Vikrama, Ashwathama (Timer First), Dhananjaya, Cauvery, Lakshmi and Chaitra, in the celebration such as fighting five elephants last year, he said, adding all healthy and healthy elephants.
Ashwathama, Lakshmi ‘panicked’ Ashwatthama, who was fresher, and Lakshmi was 20 years old, participated in the Dasara for the third time, panicked on the way to Mysuru Palace but did not cause problems.
Ashwaathama jumped into the trail while Lakshmi gasped after honking by a truck.