Elan marks Arjuna's trial run in Mysuru

MYSURU: The mighty Arjuna, who is tipped to be the howdah elephant, on Friday trekked the five-kilometre Dasara procession route in two hours, indicating that he would be able to manage the high stress job with elan.
The Dasara authorities put a sack on his back and made him trek from Mysuru Palace to Banni Mantap early on Friday. He completed the job easily.
After the Dasara jumbos arrived in the city, they were being taken on a walk twice a day for practice sessions. On Friday, for the first time this season, Arjuna, the howdah elephant, walked the distance carrying a sack weighing 350 kilograms. According to veterinarian Nagaraj, caretaker of the jumbos, Arjuna walked briskly to Bannimantapa carrying the sack. “The 59-year-old howdah elephant reached the destination in one hour 29 minutes,” he told TOI.
Nagaraj said that it has been more than a week since the elephants were brought to the city. In the first few days, they were fed with nutritious food and were trained with regular walk. From Friday, Arjuna, Dhananjaya, Ishwara and Abhimanyu will walk with the sack on their back every day. In the next term, the weight of the sack will be increased. “Within two weeks, Arjuna will walk with wooden howdah as well. In the final days of the training sessions, the wooden howdah will be tied to the elephant following the methods of Golden Howdah itself,” Nagaraj said.
Nagaraj also stated that the second batch of elephants will arrive in the city next week and later cannon fire sessions will begin.