Jumbos given traditional farewell

With the Dasara elephants getting accustomed to the atmosphere on the Amba Vilas Palace premises, it took some effort to coerce the elephants to climb onto lorries to go back to their respective camps.

This year, too, Cauvery and Durgaparameshwari were a bit reluctant to leave the palace premises. “We used Abhimanyu and Gopi to guard these elephants in order to ensure that they climbed the lorry,” said Deputy Conservator of Forests, V Karikalan.

He said it did not take much effort to make the other elephants board the lorries. On Tuesday, the 14 elephants which had participated in Dasara celebrations, mahouts, kavadis and their families were given a traditional farewell.

The elephants were taken back to the respective elephant camps, with elephants Harsha, Vikram, Gopi, Cauvery and Prashanth returning to the Dubare camp, Somwarpet taluk, Kodagu district; Abhimanyu, Mary, Varalakshmi, Balarama and Gopalaswamy to Tithimathi camp, Virajpet taluk, Kodagu district; and howdah-bearer Arjuna returning to Balle camp in Virajpet taluk. The remaining three elephants of K Gudi camp in H D Kote taluk – Durgaparameshwari, Srirama and Gajendra – will return tomorrow.

A lunch was organised by the district administration for the mahouts, kavadis and their family members. During the programme, clothes and blankets were distributed to them. Speaking at the programme, Revenue and district in-charge Minister V Sreenivas Prasad noted the contributions of the mahouts and kavadis towards the success of Dasara celebrations. He said arrangements such as tent schools, free health checkup camps were held for the welfare of the families who looked after the Dasara elephants.

Weight gain

V Karikalan said the Dasara elephants on an average had gained 340 kg during their stay in the city. The maximum weight, he said, was gained by the veteran Balarama - 650 kg.