Mysuru: The countdown for the world renowned Mysuru Dasara has begun with the start of ‘Gajapayana’ or the march of caparisoned elephants from the forests of Veerannahosahalli, Hunsur Taluk in Nagarhole National Park here on Sunday.
After the ceremonial welcome of the pachyderms at the welcome arch at Veeramahosahalli and puja to elephants, host of dignitaries including district minister HC Mahadevappa, Deputy Commissioner D Randeep and other elected representatives and officials welcomed the elephants by showering floral petals.
Though the first batch was supposed to have six elephants, one of the elephants could not make it to the event. Hence the first batch of five elephants including golden howdah elephant Arjuna were offered puja before their walk towards Mysuru began. Gajapayana is only symbolic in the present times unlike in the past when the elephants would walk the entire distance from the forest to the palace. In the recent years the elephants walk a short stretch and then are carried in trucks and shifted to Mysuru.
Priest Prahalad Rao who is performing Gajapayana rituals for the past 18 years offered padapuja and flower petals to the elephants before performing ‘Shodashopachara puja’. After doing 18 types of pooja the elephants were offered five types of fruits including sugarcane and jaggery. The rituals were performed during Abhijit lagna. “For the first time since Gajapayana began, this year is the most auspicious day because Gajapayana has fallen on Sankastahara Chaturthi of Krishna Paksha in Shravana masa” added priest Prahalad Rao.
The elephants frequently raised their trunks, flapped their ears and nodded giving an impression of enjoying the rituals. All the five elephants stood in a line on reaching the welcome arch with their respective mahouts on their backs giving necessary command to raise their trunk as mark of respect to the assembled dignitaries. School children from Nagapura Camp and surrounding villages presented a cultural program while Tibetans from the Gurupura settlement pitched in with colorful dance item.
The first batch of Dasara elephants included Balarama, Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Vijaya, Kaveri and Gajendra. Gajendra, which is in K.Gudi Camp in Chamarajanagar, would be brought to Mysuru directly to Aloka Campus. All the six elephants will stay at Aloka Campus till August 26 and they would be brought to Aranya Bhavan in Ashokapuram on August 26.
Among six elephants, Gajendra aged 61 is the eldest while Kaveri which is 38 year old is the youngest. Howdah elephant Arjuna who will be carrying golden howdah for sixth consecutive year this year is aged 56 while Balarama, Abhimanyu and Vijaya aged 58, 50 and 59 year old respectively. Abhimanyu is from Titimathi elephant camp and was captured in 1977 in Hebballa forest. A veteran of 16 dasaras. Abhimanyu is vested with the responsibility of drawing the carriage carrying the palace musicians during the Vijayadashmi procession. Abhimanyu is an alpha male who brooks no nonsense in the jungles while subduing the rampaging wild elephants. His services are sought by the forest department in capturing and taming elephants that stray into human landscape. Gajendra is from K Gudi camp and has taken part in the dasara on 18 occasions. The second batch of six more elephants, Vikram (43), Gopi (34), Harsha (49), Prashanth (60), Durgaparameshwari (49) and Gopalswamy (34) are expected to arrive
The forest department officials will offer pooja to all these elephants and later after 10.30am, all these six elephants by road will leave to Mysuru Palace Jayamarthanda gate where they will get traditional welcome.
