How elephants brought for Dasara perfect their festive walk

Elephants are prepared for Mysuru Dasara in two stages, and the Jamboo Savari, the grand finale, calls for special training.

Abhimanyu, who has been carrying the golden howdah since 2020, is known for his majestic looks. He looks grander when caparisoned for the procession on the last day.

V Karikalan, deputy conservator of forests, and wildlife, says: “Training is mainly about keeping elephants in good health and acclimatising them to a city environment.”

Brought in from their respective camps, the elephants are trained to walk on hard surfaces so that they can walk on the streets of Mysuru. Over two months, they get used to the noise of vehicles, loud speakers, firecrackers and cannons.

The streets are illuminated for Dasara, and elephants take time to acclimatise themselves to the dazzle.

For days, the elephants are taken through the Jamboo Savari procession route, as they have to walk through the very same streets for the finale.

“They should not feel they have come to a strange place. And they should know that they will return to the camp,” Karikalan says. Training an elephant for Dasara is not like training an elephant for a circus, says a mahout.

“We are caretakers, not ringmasters. We look after an elephant as a member of our family, our own child,” he says.

The preparation starts a couple months ahead of the annual October event, with the shortlisting of elephants to be brought to Mysuru.

“This year, we had shortlisted 17 elephants, but only brought along 14, in two batches. We drop an elephant and find a replacement, even at the last minute, if we are unsure about its abilities,” says Karikalan.

Male elephants in ‘mast’ and pregnant female elephants don’t qualify for training.

“The history of each elephant is studied, to find out if it has suffered an injury in the recent past, and to see if it is suffering from any pain or disease. We need a minimum of six elephants for Jamboo Savari. The rest are standbys. If we are fully confident about all of them, we use them as ‘saalanes,’ or as a line of elephants, to add grandeur to the procession,” Karikalan says.

The routine for Dasara elephants under training begins at 6 am, when they are given green fodder and a bath. Castor oil is applied on the legs, forehead and chest, to keep them cool. The oil keeps their skin lubricated.

“They are taken out for a walk from the palace to Bannimantapa. Once they return, they are given a special diet and left to relax, with kavadis and mahouts bathing them,” he says.

The elephants are fed a special meal again at 4 pm, before they begin their evening walk. They return by 7.30 pm, when they are splashed with hot water and left to rest. “The diet has a balance of carbohydrates, fibre and proteins as recommended by veterinarians,” he says.

Elephants are vegetarian. Their meal includes green fodder, green leaves (especially from banyan tree), sugarcane and grass. Their dry diet is a combination of jaggery, coconut, hay and paddy.

The special diet under training is rich in protein—a combination of black gram, green gram, parboiled rice and butter, mixed with carrot, radish and cucumber.

The urine and dung of elephants are checked regularly to ensure food is digested well, says Karikalan.

The elephants are weighed at a weigh bridge on Dhanvantri Road, on their arrival. They are again weighed after Jamboo Savari to gauge improvement in health.

Animal rights activists express concern over the weight of the howdah.

“Only male elephants, weighing about 5,000 kg, are made to carry the golden howdah. It comes to about 20% of their body weight and is thus not deemed a burden,” Karikalan says.

The success of the festivities depends on the elephants’ physical health and state of mind. “We involve all male elephants in rehearsals to carry a wooden howdah,” he explains. A mahout talks about the subtle transformation in an elephant’s demeanour when it is chosen to carry the howdah.

“The howdah holds an idol of goddess Chamundeshwari. Only a special, chosen one gets the opportunity to carry it,” he says.

Once elephants are painted with festive colours, he observes, they start behaving in a special way.

“When we place the golden howdah on a male elephant, we discern a change in his attitude. Once the procession starts, and flowers are offered by dignitaries, he becomes more charismatic,” he explains.