Elephants participating in Jumboo Savari were accorded a traditional welcome at Aranya Bhavan in the city on Saturday.
Following the traditional welcome ceremony, six elephants were brought in a procession through Ashokapuram, Ballal Circle, Ramaswamy Circle and Basaveshwara Circle, before they headed off to temporary shelters set up inside Palace premises.
While the ritual of welcoming the pachyderms is usually held at Jayamarthanda Gate of Amba Vilas Palace premises, with considerable fanfare, the venue of the ceremony was changed this year.
At Aranya Bhavan, Revenue Minister V Sreenivas Prasad, along with Cooperation minister H S Mahadeva Prasad, officials and elected representatives participated in the ceremony.
A large number of local population too thronged Aranya Bhavan to witness an important aspect of rituals associated with Jumboo Savari. Performances by folk artistes, police band, and other troupes added colour to the ceremony.
Crowd
Following the traditional welcome, the elephants, Arjuna, Gajendra, Balarama, Abhimanyu, Varalakshmi and Mary were brought in a procession along Ashokapuram, Ballal Circle, Ramaswamy Circle, Basaveshwara circle, before they entered the Palace premises. A good number of people gathered along the road to witness the procession.
The procession, which started at 11.30 am at Aranya Bhavan, reached the Palace premises at around 1 pm. Following the procession, the elephants retired to their shelters set up inside the Palace premises.
Arrangements
During the day, works on the construction of a warehouse to stock food required for elephants and a shelter for Ambari elephant Arjuna and Kumki elephant Mary, were taken up.
According to sources in the Forest department, weighing of the elephants will be held on Sunday, before starting rehearsals of Jumboo Savari for the elephants.
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