Mysore :

After spending days together in the royal city, it was time for the Dasara jumbos to bid farewell to each other and return to their abode in the forests. Of the 14 elephants camping in the city, 11 left on Tuesday while three jumbos, Gajendra, Srirama and Durgaparameshwari, will head to their habitat in K Gudi in Chamarajnagar district on Wednesday.

Before they bid adieu to city life, they got a traditional farewell at the Mysore Palace from bureaucrats and politicians led by district minister V Srinivas Prasad. The herd led by howdah elephant Arjuna started their journey at 3pm as they were loaded on to trucks. Their mahouts, kavadis and family members too accompanied the jumbos in the trucks. By 6pm, Arjuna had reached Nagarahole national park.

Veteran Abhimanyu too has returned to the forest. “He is healthy and doing well. That is why we chose to send him back along with the 10 other jumbos,” vet D N Nagaraj told TOI denying that the 48-year-old tusker was injured. Abhimanyu has been part of Dasara festivities for 15 years now and is traditionally assigned the job of pulling the musical chariot, known as Aane Gaadi.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mysore / by H.M. Aravind, TNN / October 08th, 2014