Mysuru: Elephants begin weight-training for Nada Habba Dasara

Mangalore Today News Network

Mysuru, Sep 4, 2025: The Dasara jumbos that have been participating in the daily rehearsal for the Nada Habba Dasara 2025, started weight-training from the Mysuru Palace premises and completed it successfully, on the first day, on Wednesday.

With just 28 days left for the ’Jamboo Savari’ procession, special pujas were conducted and the weight-training started with the probable howdah elephant Abhimanyu, so that it can be trained to carry the howdah with ease.

Abhimanyu, the five-time golden howdah carrier, carried 500-kg weight from Mysuru Palace to Bannimantap, approximately covering around five-kilometre stretch. He was accompanied by kumki elephants Kaveri and Hemavathi. He was followed by the other jumbos on line. Jumbo Gopi was on rest, according to the Forest department.

The weight-training for the jumbos was launched in front of Kodi Someshwara Swamy temple, on the premises of Mysuru Palace, supervised by DCF I B Prabhu Gowda.

Palace priest Prahllad Rao conducted the puja rituals, and the forest department officials also performed pujas on the occasion.

The jumbos were made to sit and the padded bed (Namda Gadhi) was tied on their back. Later, it was loaded with sand bags weighing approximately 500 kg.

Elephants Abhimanyu, Kaveri and Hemavathi were followed by elephants Bheema, Ekalavya, Sugreeva, Mahendra, Prashanta, Lakshmi, Kanjan, Roopa, Srikanta and Dhananjaya.

A large number of people had gathered on both the sides of the road to have a glimpse of the jumbo rehearsal. They were seen taking pictures and recording videos.

Prabhu Gowda said, in the coming days, elephants Mahendra, Dhananjaya, Bheema and Ekalavya will be given weight-training. Along with weight-training, they will also be trained to carry wooden howdah. Already, 14 jumbos are participating regularly in the training activities, he said.