Mysuru: Air of Dasara has set in Mysuru, as the first batch of nine Dasara Elephants were accorded with grand traditional welcome by Mysuru district administration and palace board at the Jayamarthanda gate of Mysuru Pal…

Mysuru: Air of Dasara has set in Mysuru, as the first batch of nine Dasara Elephants were accorded with grand traditional welcome by Mysuru district administration and palace board at the Jayamarthanda gate of Mysuru Palace on Friday morning. Flanked by Lakshmi and Cauvery Dhananjaya lined up along with Gopi, Srirama, Prashantha, Mahendra, Srikanta and Ekalavya for customary puja amid the tunes of the Police band and Naadaswara by team of Sri Chamundeshwari temple of Chamundi hill.Minister for Forest, Ecology and Environment Ramalinga Reddy offered puja and floral benediction to the pachyderms at 10.12 am during auspicious Tula lagna. Mysuru district in-charge minister Dr S Yathindra, MLAs G T Devegowda T S Srivatsa, MLCs Mysuru DC G Lakshmikanth Reddy, Mysuru division regional commissioner Nitesh Patil, Police Commissioner Seema Latkar, Mysore Palace Board Deputy Director, T S Subramanya, MCC Commissioner M K Savitha, Sri Chamundeshwari Kshetra Development authority secretary M J Roopa and others joined him.Mysuru: Dasara elephants relax at Aranya Bhavan campusSri Chamundeshwari devi Chief Priest Shashishekar Dixit, Mysuru Palace Ganesha temple priest S V Prahlad Rao led the rituals. The elephants were fed with jaggery, fruits and goodies like modaka.City police and 30 member English police band led by B Manjunath offered guard of honour to the Elephants . Later they marched in procession dotted with mounted cops, women with kalashas, men wearing durbar dress, pooja kunitha, dollu kunitha and other folk cultural art troupes. Mysureans and tourists gathered to witness the elephants.Officials of forest department formally handed over elephants to Mysuru DC G Lakshmikanth Reddy for Dasara in front of the palace.A kit comprising a gas stove, gas pipe, regulator and lighter to cook, a saree and a blouse for women, a shirt, a lungi, a towel for women, bucket, jug, two mats, two jamkaanas and two bed-sheets was offered to the families of caretakers of elephants.Idol of Goddess Sri Chamundeshwari which will be carried in golden howdah carried by Howdah Elephant during procession was offered puja at palace.The elephants will stay at nine tents; and their mahouts and kavadis and their families in 18 tents; and support staff including cook at four additional tents at palace premises. The elephants, their caretakers and families will stay here till the end of this year’s Dasara. Elephants will be weighed, fed with special nutritious food to build stamina for the Dasara procession and they will be trained phase wise for this year’s Dasara Jamboo Savari procession in the coming days.On Friday morning, people lined up on either sides of road from Aranya bhavan to Jayamarthanda gate of Mysuru Palace via Ballal circle, Ramaswamy circle, Basaveshwara circle to have a glimpse of the first batch of nine Dasara Elephants who marched in a mini procession amid the tunes of Naadaswara on Friday morning. After Gajapayana at Veeranahosahalli, they arrived at Aranya Bhavan premises in Mysuru on Wednesday and relaxed at Aranya Bhavan on Thursday. On Friday morning, at 8.45am, officials of the forest department led by CF S S Ravishankar, DCF I B Prabhugowda, RFO Yeshma Machamma and others offered puja to elephants and sent them towards the palace. They reached palace premises by 9.50 am.

Source: Deccan Herald