Gajapayana: Jumbo start to Dasara fest today

Mysuru: It's that time of the year again when the  Dasara elephants begin their journey from the forests in Hunsur  taluk to Mysuru city for the 10-day celebration that culminates with the magnificent Jumbo Savari.

The Gajayapayana or the formal ceremony to launch the journey of the elephants will be held at 11am in Veeranahosalli village, near the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve in Hunsur taluk of Mysuru district. The first batch of six elephants  which will leave for Mysuru, includes Arjuna , who is participating in his 21st  Dasara and is likely to  carry the 750 kg golden howdah for the ninth year on Vijayadashmi Day. The other elephants in the batch are Abhimanyu, Dananjaya, Eeshwara, Vijaya and Varalakshmi.

Taken to Mysuru in lorries, the elephants will be accommodated in  Aranya Bhavan before being given a traditional welcome on August 26 in the courtyards of Mysuru palace , where they will remain with their caretakers till the end of Dasara.

This year, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest has picked 14 elephants  to participate in the Dasara celebrations, including four new elephants, Jayaprakash, Eeshwara, Rohith and Lakshmi. While, only 12 of them will participate in the Dasara procession,  the two additional young elephants will be used as standby.

The Mysuru Dasara celebrations will be inaugurated on  September 29 and the Jumbo Savari procession will be taken out on Vijayadashami day on October 8.

Gajapayana will be held in the absence of the local MLA, A.H. Vishwanath as he has been disqualified following the recent toppling of the Kumaraswamy government. Mr Vishwanath had re-started the Gajapayana tradition when he was forest minister in 2002. The formal invitation for the event has not been printed allegedly due to his absence.