Mysuru: The pachyderms which are here in Mysuru for the Dasara activities will be treated with utmost care. As many as 12 elephants including 3 female are put on a strict one-month-long diet including a special diet which is protein nutritious food. The expense last year for the transportation, makeshift shelter for mahouts and kavadis families and food for the 14 elephant’s was nearly Rs 42 lakhs.

Each elephant is expected to gain anywhere between 200kg to 500 kg in a month. There is a special diet that includes boiled cereals and pulses with onions and salt, ‘normal’ fare like jaggery and coconuts and also snacks like sugarcane. The elephants are put on a diet so rich, that they put on enormous weight within a month. The government will be spending Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 on each elephant’s food daily. The average expense for food will be Rs 20 lakh.

Dr D N Nagaraj, a veterinarian who looks after the health of the Dasara elephants said, “They have to gain sufficient weight to ensure they withstand the six-hour march on a sunny afternoon. Moreover, some of them have to carry heavy loads. These special foods will enable them to put on more weight and get ready for the finale. The quantities of protein, grams, cereals, pulses, sugarcane, vitamins and green grass which the elephants are fed, vary. The elephants which carry weight are given additional food. They are put through special exercises from dawn to dusk to ensure they are ready for the grand spectacle”.

Special Diet which is also called Protein nutritious rich food (for toning up muscles and increase stamina of elephants) Ingredients: Black gram, green gram, boiled rice, wheat. Method: All cereals and pulses are boiled along with sliced onions and salt. Later, it is cooled in big trays and vegetable like cucumber, carrot, beetroot, and radish is also mixed with the food. The well-boiled mixture is then fed to every elephant, twice a day – at 6.30 in the morning and 7pm in the evening. Each time, each elephant is given two and half kilos of special food. For those elephants which carry more weight, especially Howdah elephant Arjuna, Balarama, Abhimanyu and Gajendra are given additional half or one kg more than that of regular elephants.

Once the elephant comes from rehearsal both in the morning and in the afternoon, it is given normal food which is rich in carbohydrate.

Normal food ingredients

15 kgs of paddy, 250 gms of jaggery, 2 coconuts, 500 gms of groundnut cake (Indi) Method: Mixture of paddy, jaggery and groundnut cake are poured into closely-woven circular bowls made of paddy grass. Each elephant is fed 15 such bowls of the mixture. It is given in the morning soon after coming from rehearsal and once again at 4pm. The food also includes liver tonic, vitamin and mineral supplements and B-complex tablets. All these supplements are given in the form of syrup mixed with jaggery.

Snacks ingredients

After normal food, the elephants in between are given snacks which include sugarcane, branch fodder, green grass, beaten rice (poha) Method: Several tonnes of sugarcane are cut into one-foot pieces. Each elephant is fed 40 kg of sugarcane pieces all through the day. The elephants are fed unlimited quantity of grass and branch fodder.

Massage to soften rough skin

Castor oil, neem oil and cinnamon oil are thoroughly mixed and applied on each elephant’s body. Mahouts massage elephant’s head, back and legs with the oil before giving them a cold water bath spanning more than an hour. According to mahouts, the oil mixture helps soften the rough skin especially around the joints.

On the day of Jambu Savari

After giving them a bath, mahouts and artists decorate the elephants with drawings, water soluble paint and organic colours. Apart from special and normal diet, the elephants are also provided with food supplements that keep them refreshed all through the Jamboo Savari. Officials set-up food points along the route where they will be fed green grass along with an unlimited quantity of poha, glucose powder, coconut, jaggery and sugarcane.