The five elephants from the jungle camps shortlisted to participate in what will be a low-key Dasara due to COVID-19, left Veeranahosahalli for Mysuru on Thursday.
The symbolic march of the elephants from the jungle camps to the city is a grand event every year and entails a huge gathering. But given the imperatives of maintaining social distancing and the need to discourage people from congregating in large numbers, Gajapayana – as the event is called - was a simple affair devoid of any paraphernalia.
But the elephants were given a traditional send-off complete with prayers for their collective safety during their short sojourn in the city and completion of the festival. Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri, Deputy Conservator of Forests of Nagarahole Mahesh Kumar and other officials from the district administration were present.
Normally, the elephants stay on for nearly 45 days in Mysuru to get acclimatised to the din and noise of the crowd and familiarise themselves with the procession route. But as the festivities have been curtailed this year due to the pandemic, the elephants will not be subjected to the rigours of marching along the procession route daily.
Abhimanyu (54), known for his formidable courage and who tends to be the team leader in operations to capture tigers or elephant herds straying into human landscape, led the herd of five elephants to Mysuru.
The other elephants accompanying him were Vikrama, Gopi, Vijaya and Kaveri. Normally, 11 to 12 elephants take part in Dasara but their numbers have been reduced to 5 as the procession will be confined to the palace premises and will be a symbolic affair.
Abhimanyu has taken over the mantle of carrying the golden howdah and the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari – during Jamboo Savari - from Arjuna who has been rested due to his advancing age.
The elephants reached Mysuru by 3 p.m. and rested overnight at the Aranya Bhavan campus from where they will be taken to the palace premises on Friday. Over the next 3 weeks till the completion of the procession within the palace to be held on October 27, the elephants will train and carry sand bags matching the weight of the golden howdah. But the length of the procession route this year is hardly 500 metres against 5 km which used to be the distance from palace premises to Bannimantap, every year.