Dasara surprise: Elephant Lakshmi gives birth to calf on Mysuru Palace premises

It is a Dasara surprise on Mysuru Palace premises. Dasara elephant Lakshmi gave birth to a male calf, baby elephant, on Tuesday night. She was separated from other elephants in the Dasara camp and kept in a restricted area, within the palace premises from Wednesday.

Lakshmi, a part of the 14-member Dasara contingent, looked normal and was thus transported from her Ramapura forest camp in Bandipur to Mysuru for participation in the festivities and also Jamboo Savari, the last leg and the grand finale of Mysuru Dasara.

As Lakshmi is a female elephant, she was to discharge the role of a ‘kumki’, mainly to keep the male elephants under control, along the Jamboo Savari route. This is the second time that a Dasara elephant has given birth to a calf on the Mysuru Palace premises.

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Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF), Wildlife, V Karikalan said, “Both Lakshmi and baby elephant are doing good. She should not be disturbed for the next few days. Earlier, around 20 years ago, a Darara elephant had given birth to a calf on the Palace premises, in a similar way. On a couple of occasions, the elephants were found to be pregnant and were sent back to their respective camps”.

Dasara begins on September 26 and Jamboo Savari will be held on October 5, Vijayadashami day. Weight carrying and procession rehearsals are under way for elephants to acclimatise them with the crowd and huge sound of the ceremonial cannon salute.

Lakshmi was in the first batch of elephants, which reached Mysuru on August 10, along with Abhimanyu, Arjuna, Gopalaswamy, Dhananjaya, Mahendra, Bheema, Kaveri and Chaitra. She debuted in Dasara festivities in 2020 as a 19-year-old. She weighed 2,540 kg in 2021 and was 2,920 kg on August 12, this year. Her weight increased to 3,150 kg by September 9. Lakshmi participated in the Jamboo Savari, during the launch of three-day Dasara in Srirangapatna, on October 9 in 2021.

Lakshami stayed on the Mysuru Palace premises for over a month. She also participated in the rehearsal of the Jamboo Savari route. On Tuesday afternoon, she behaved abnormally and thus her caretakers, mahouts and kavadis, alerted the Forest department officials. The officials rushed to the spot, along with veterinarians. The veterinarians were surprised to learn that Lakshmi had almost reached the end of the gestation period. She was immediately secured in an enclosure near the Palace, where she gave birth to the male calf in the presence of her caretakers, officials and veterinarians.

Usually the elephants shortlisted to take part in Dasara festivities are subject to general health check-up. If an elephant is pregnant, it is not transported to Mysuru. However, Lakshmi’s pregnancy was not detected during the check-up.