Dasara elephants
elephant integral part mysore dasara festival elephant form core mysore dasara procession vijayadashami day lead elephant carry golden howdah chinnada ambari goddess chamundeshwari golden howdah weighs kilogram made gold elephant start arriving mysore city group arrive mysore month start actual festivity undergo practice march final day elephant accompanied respective keeper mahout elephant usually brought truck occasionally walked km distance home base nagarahole national park mysore villager greet sacred animal along designated trekking route party pachyderm arrives veerana hosahalli forest checkpost hunsur taluk forest received district minister host official prominent person mysore people nearby village villager perform folk dance beat drum sing song welcome elephant keeping royal tradition mysore maharaja respective camp elephant served ragi mudde mixture ragi horse gram fodder branch royal guest royal city mysore preparing dasara served ‘royal’ food till grand dasara finale jamboo savari elephant get eat uddina bele black gram green gram wheat boiled rice onion vegetable morning evening get rice groundnut coconut jaggery sugarcane salt add taste diet return regular rehearsal food served twice day also get branch fodder like banyan leaf extra care taken serving food jumbos highcalorie proteinrich food served elephant improve physical fitness dasara elephant usually caught elephant trainer via khedda operation wodeyar rule elephant thus caught inspected open field strength personality character walking style weakness seduction facial charisma factor considered selection chosen elephant trained festival said king would oversee training sometimes abandoned young elephant also trained dasara abode elephant rest year usually training camp surrounding national park around elephant camp dubare elsewhere mahout kavadis care elephant elephant named kannada usually name hindu god historical figure elephant drona balarama carried idol deity chamundeshwari housed golden howdah combined total year balarama took responsibility drona electrocuted nagarahole national park balarama granted retirement year yearold arjuna replaced balarama carried golden howdah dasara jamboo sawari procession mysore october later abhimanyu replaced arjuna arjuna died december fight wild tusker elephant participating event bharatha kanthi gayathri kokila sri rama gajendra biligiriranga vikram varalakshmi sarojini dasara procession faced increasing pressure activist campaigner end controversial use elephant elephant provided good care period highly nutritious food open environment make sure home sickness mysoresamachar archived may wayback machine elephant mysore dasara dasara elephant go grind festivity hindu news accessed january