Mysuru: The second batch of six more elephants including the jumbo champion 60-year-old Balarama from the Mathigod Elephant Camp will arrive at Mysuru Palace on September 14.
The second batch of six elephants are 60-year-old Balarama, 52-year-old Abhimanyu, 37-year-old Drona all three from Mathigodu Elephant camp (Nagarhole forest) while 40-year-old Kaveri, 61-year-old Vijaya and 62-year-old Prashantha are from Dubare Elephant Camp. The elephants will join the first batch of six elephants including Howdah elephant Arjuna and company for rehearsal after a day’s rest. The elephants will be put on a special diet to gain additional weight and will walk along the procession route twice a day to get acclimatized to the noise and crowd.
It may be recalled that the first batch of six elephants including Arjuna, Varalakshmi, Gopi, Chaitra, Dhananjaya and Vikrama arrived at the palace on September 5 and started walking on the procession route from the very next day. Last year, 15 elephants were part of the Dasara celebration but this year it has been restricted to 12 elephants.
