Medical Education and District-In-Charge S A Ramdas offered traditional puja to all the 12 jumbos and offered them jaggery and sugar cane.
He also felicitated Sannappa, a mahout of the howdah-carrying elephant, Balarama, who is retiring in December and, Sanna, a mahout of ‘Abhimanyu’ who has already retired, but specially drawn into Dasara duty.
The elephants, decorated with flowers, were made to stand in a row and the priest offered puja to every elephant. Deputy Conservator of Forests Yatish Kumar, Conservator of Forests Ravi, Deputy Commissioner Harsh Gupta and Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr C J Betsutmutt were present.
After the puja, the dignitaries offered jaggery, coconut and sugar cane for each elephant. The jumbos made ‘Salaam’ to all those who had gathered at the premises to witness this function.
Then, the elephants boarded trucks allotted for them and proceeded towards their respective camps.
The mahouts, kavadis and their families also accompanied the elephants. As soon as the trucks carrying the elephants came out of the palace, hundreds of citizens waved their hands at them and also clicked photographs.
‘Namasthe’
A few foreign tourists were watching the whole event with curiosity. The elephants were regularly lifting their trunks and doing ‘namasthe’ as if they are overwhelmed by the love and affection showered on them by Mysoreans.
Yatishkumar told Deccan Herald that all the elephants reached their respective destinations safely around 4:30 pm.
It may be mentioned here that the elephants had arrived in two batches to Mysore during first and second week of September and had been staying till today. The district administration had made arrangements for the comfortable stay of both the jumbos and their caretakers within the palace premises. Tourists who visited the Amba Vilas Palace, used to see the Dasara elephants.
