Mysuru: In yet another treat for Mysureans, all eight Dasara elephants being prepped for the famed Jumbo Savari in the palace courtyard, ambled up to one of the oldest weighing bridges on Danwanthri road Friday morning to check their weight. Elephant Arjuna, who has often carried the golden howdah during the famed Dasara procession, weighed the most at 5250 kgs.
Elephant Balarama, a veteran of the Dasara festival, came next , at 4990 kgs. He was followed by Abhimanyu (4850 kgs) Gajendra (4600 kgs), Cauvery( 2820 kgs) and Vijaya (2770 kgs).
The elephants will return much heavier as Rs 15 lakh will be spent on their food in the days leading up to the Jumbo Savari to make sure they are fit enough to participate in it. On Friday a team of 10 cooks began preparing the special nutritious diet which will include boiled rice cooked with jowar, green and black grams, wheat, carrot, beetroot, cucumber, white rice, salt topped with butter, kusre-paddy coconut, jaggery, groundnut cake packed in hay straw in addition to green grass, banyan tree leaves, sugarcane, vitamins and mineral supplements.
Arjuna, Balarama, Abhimanyu and Gajendra will begin training in a few days to lift weights to prepare them to carry the 750kg golden howdah on Vijayadashami day.
