Abhimanyu begins weight training for big day

Mysuru: With just a week to go for the Dasara jumbo savari procession at Mysuru Palace on Vijayadashami day on 26 October, training for veteran Dasara elephant Abhimanyu began on Sunday morning, to prepare him to carry 750-kg golden howdah.

On the first day training, Abhimanyu carried a wooden howdah filled with sand bags weighing 600 kg, which was placed on its back with Namda (made of coconut fibre), Gaadi (made of hey straw), Chaapu (made of coconut fibre, which is thinner and smaller in size to match the size of howdah) serving as cushion. The weight of the sand bags will be progressively increased to 750 kg, that is equivalent to the golden howdah.

A special crane has been deployed near the residential area of Mysuru Palace to lift the wooden howdah and place it on Abhimanyu's back. While Abhimanyu stood between two rows of over three-meter tall metal stands, forest department employee Akram, who is assisting the team in training elephants, and mahout Idaayath tied the wooden howdah to the elephant

While Abhimanyu walked with all majesty carrying wooden howdah, and finished the exercise in under 20 minutes on his 16th day of training, there was a sense of pride in DCF Alexander M G and veterinarian in-charge of Dasara elephants, Dr D N Nagaraja who patted on Abhimanyu's face to appreciate him.

Female elephants Cauvery and Vijaya flanked Abhimanyu as Kumki elephants. Dasara veteran Vikrama participated as "Pattada aane" for festival rituals of erstwhile royal family of Mysuru.