Karnataka’s famous Dasara begins with ‘Gajapayan’ of 9 elephants to Mysuru

As a prelude to Mysuru Dasara, a 10-day festival observed on the tenth day in the Hindu calendar month Ashvina, ‘Dasara Gajapayan’ was held on Wednesday. During ‘Gajapayan’ every year, ‘kumki’ elephants from the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve go to Mysuru to train for the Jamboo Savari procession at the Dasara festival.
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This year’s first batch of nine elephants include Abhimanyu, who has carried the golden ‘howdah’ for four years now, Dhananjaya, Gopi, Bheema, Rohit, Kanjan, a new elephant Ekalavya as well as female elephants Varalakshmi and Lakshmi. The elephants bid farewell to the forest and began their journey from Veeranahosahalli of Hunasur taluk on Wednesday. Their journey was heralded with a puja, offered by H C Mahadevappa, Dasara executive chairperson and Minister in charge of Social Welfare and Mysore District. “Gajapayan is one of the main attractions of Mysuru Dasara. Due to the good rains in the state, this year’s Dasara will be grand, and it will be a people’s Dasara,” he told the gathering.
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The Gajapayan was also ushered in with cultural events, including by the tribal communities living in and around Nagarhole forest. During the event, a short book on Dussehra elephants was also released.
On this occasion, Cabinet members and Forest Minister Eshwara Khandre, Animal Husbandry Minister K Venkatesh, MP Sunil Bose, MLAs G D Harish Gowda, Anil Chikkamadu, D Ravishankar, Vice-Chairman of Guarantee Schemes Implementation Authority Pushpa Amarnath, Chairman of Material Display Authority were present.