Mysore, September 23, 2013: The second batch of Dasara elephants is expected to arrive here on Monday and Tuesday.

Of the seven pachyderms, two are from the Mathigodu camp (Gopalaswamy and Durgaparameshwari) and are expected to arrive here on Monday while the rest (Harsha, Vikrama, Vijaya, Gopi and Prashantha) are expected to arrive from the Dubare camp on Tuesday.

Forest Minister Ramanath Rai is camping in Kodagu on Monday and Tuesday.

His itinerary also includes a meeting with farmers in Kodagu.

Mr Rai will halt at the department’s Nisargadhama resort in Kushalnagar on Monday, and visit the Dubare elephant camp on Tuesday morning and perform a puja to herald the march of the five elephants.

S.N. Devaraj, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Mysore, who confirmed Mr. Rai’s plans to camp in Kodagu, said it might prove difficult to shift the elephants from Dubare by truck, because of the traffic restrictions imposed on account of the President’s visit on Monday.

The ‘Gajapayana’, the march of the first batch of elephants, had begun from Nagapura, near Hunsur, on August 28.

The five elephants included the howdah elephant Arjuna, Balarama, Abhimanyu, Sarala and Varalakshmi. The sixth elephant in the first batch, Gajendra, joined them later from K. Gudi in B.R. Hills. The elephants are going through regular rehearsals as part of the preparations for the Dasara procession, Jamboo Savari.

Dasara is slated to be held from October 5 to 14.

Meanwhile, Indira, a female elephant that was with the Mysore Palace here since 1995, was shifted to the Mathigodu camp on Sunday from the Mysore palace premises.

The first batch of Dasara elephants helped the 24-year-old tusker into a truck in the afternoon.

Veterinarian Nagaraj, who is in charge of the Dasara elephants here, told The Hindu that the same truck Indira was travelling by would also bring back the elephants from the Mathigodu camp. Palace authorities had written to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) recently, requesting that the elephant be shifted from the palace, Mr. Devaraj said.

The department had given the elephant to the palace in 1995 when she was six years old.

The ownership certificate was surrendered by palace authorities to the Forest Department, he added.

Source: The Hindu, September 23, 2013