Dasara jumbos arrive at Mysore Palace
Ministers and authorities give grand reception to pachyderms
For the next one and half month, the temporary camp at Mysore Palace precincts will be home for the elephants taking part in Dasara festivities scheduled to begin on October 8.
The first batch of jumbos which had arrived in city on Sept 3 were given a warm reception at the palace here on Monday. The ceremony saw grand traditional rituals being performed according a royal welcome to the pachyderms. As the elephants arrived at the Jayamarthanda gate, they were given a guard of honour. District-In-charge Minister Suresh Kumar and Tourism Minister Janardhana Reddy joined the officials for the ‘aarthi’ performed to the jumbos.
Nadaswara was played in the background with dignitaries showering flowers on elephants. Balarama, Abhimanyu, Varalakshmi, Gajendra, Arjuna, Sarala, the six elephants were offered jaggery, sugarcane and fruits, even as colourful rangolis with pokkalam-like flower designs adorned the path leading to Jayamarthanda gate and within the palace premises too.
The majestic walk of the caparisoned jumbos from Jayamarthanda gate to entrance of the Ambavilas palace held the visitors captive, and foreign tourists were all eyes watching the rarest sight.
Talking to reporters, Minister Suresh Kumar refuted allegations that there was a delay in preparations for the Dasara event and political intervention in constituting sub committees.
“There was no such intervention. All department officers are asked to actively engage themselves in making the event a grand success. All decisions are made in Mysore. We will begin to invite guests and dignitaries for the event starting from Tuesday,” he replied to a query.
The State should have a sense of pride about the event, he said. Mayor Sandesh Swamy, Deputy Mayor Pushpalatha Jagannath, ZP president Siddhartha, Deputy Commissioner and dasara special officer Harsh Gupta, MCC Commissioner K S Raykar, DCF Yathish Kumar and others were present.
The administration is putting up a temporary sheds for the families of mahouts and kavadis who would stay here for next one and half months, the work on which will began on Monday.
The three families who have accompanied the first batch are staying put in temporary tent.
