Mysuru: The State Government decided to celebrate State Festival Dasara in a simple manner like last year. Usually, 12 to 15 elephants participated in grand Dasara Jamboo Savari.
However, this year owing to Covid, the State Government reduced the number of elephants to just 8, which was just 5 last year. This year elephant Ashwathama would be the prime attraction of Dasara as it is participating in Dasara for the first time.
Ashwathama was captured in 2017 from Sakaleshpura in Hassan district. The pachyderm was menacing in villages daily, and destroying crops to the tune of thousands of rupees. Followed by farmers’ pressure, the forest officials planned to catch the lone elephant under the name operation Gajaraja. The experts team finally managed to catch the elephant with help of department elephants Abhimanyu and Arjuna, in a week-long operation.
Initially, the officers planned to translocate the elephant to Bandipur but after seeing its jumbo size, officials decided to tame the elephant. The elephant was shifted to Diddaharave elephant camp and tamed.
Ashwathama was a rowdy elephant hence workers were afraid to go near it, which became mild after taming. The 34-year-old Ashwathama weighed 3500 kgs, with 2.85 metres in height and 3.46 meters in length when it was caught.
The officials selected Ashwathama in first stage itself for Dasara as it has a flatter back than other elephants which would be easier to carry howdah in future. Forest officers says that if Ashwathama is brought to Dasara continuously for 5-6 years then it will be ready to carry the golden howdah.
During the four years of taming, Ashwathama was sincere to mahout and did not show any stubborn attitude. Now they are preparing him to take part in Jamboo Savari in a disciplined manner. He is also a pet of the mahout.
