Mysuru: The Heritage City on Sunday bid adeiu to the special Dasara guests, the pachyderms which had cast their spell with their very presence at the courtyards of Mysuru Palace and with their stroll every morning and evening on the Dasara procession route over the past 50 days.
The pachyderms which returned to their respective forest camps in lorries, stole the show with their significant roles, especially Arjuna who carried the 750kg golden howdah with Goddess Chamundeswari in it during the Jumbo Savari procession on Friday. Tourism minister Sa Ra Mahesh and Mysuru DC Abhiram G Shankar offered pooja to the elephants, fed them jaggery and sugarcane and honoured their caretakers before the farewell.
Arjuna returned to Balle Camp in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Balarama, Abhimanyu, Varalakshmi, Gopalaswamy and Drona returned to Maththigodu camp in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, Kaveri and Dhanajaya returned to Dubaare camp in Madikeri forest division and Chaithra returned to MHole in Bandipur Tiger Reserve. Sidramappa Chalkapure, DCF, wildlife, Mysuru division, who served as incharge of the Dasara elephants for the first time, 31 year old Vinu, mahout of Arjuna who led it for the second year and Dr D.N. Nagaraj who served as veterinarian incharge of Dasara elephants for the 19th year, expressed their satisfaction over the success of Dasara.
