Elephants take centre stage

The Hindu
MYSORE:

A slice of the royal Orient of yore will be seen on Monday when majestic elephants take centre stage to add lustre to the Vijayadashami procession to mark the grand finale of the Mysore Dasara celebrations.

Three of them — Srirama, Gajendra and Abhimanyu — are `stars,' having made an appearance in a Panda Award-winning documentary. The Panda Award is also referred to as the `Green Oscar.' These elephants, brought from their jungle camps, have been camping here for 45 days now, but not many are aware of their `celebrity' status.

They are among the 12 elephants that will take party in the `Jumboo Savari.'
In the early 1990s, Srirama, Gajendra and Abhimanyu were taken into the dense jungles on the Madhya Pradesh-Bihar border (now in Chhattisgarh) at the behest of the local authorities who were at their wits' end with a few rogue elephants on the rampage near Ambikapur. The herd had killed at least 45 people.

The responsibility of bearding the rogues in their den fell on Abhimanyu, Srirama and Gajendra, who were known to be tough and aggressive with a no-nonsense approach to work. Assisted by a female elephant, Shobha, who did not make it to the Dasara this year, the three entered and vanquished the rogue herd much to the delight of the local people.

The tracking down of the rogue elephants and their capture was filmed by veteran wildlife filmmaker Mike Pandey, and the documentary "The Last Migration: Wild Elephant Capture in Sarguja" won the coveted Panda Award and was nominated for several other international awards.

Elephants take centre stage
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When the cannons are fired and the 12-gun salute sounds to signal the beginning of the Vijayadashami procession around 1.15 p.m. on Monday, these three elephants, along with nine others led by Balarama, will hog the limelight.

Balarama, who is 48 years old and a veteran of 12 Dasara processions, will carry the Golden Howdah with the idol of the goddess Chamundeshwari. He was captured in 1987 in the Kattepura forests and succeeded Drona who was electrocuted in 1998 in the forests of Nagarahole.

The eight other elephants are Bharatha, Kanthi, Prashanth, Revathi, Harsha, Vikram, Mary and Vijaya, all of whom have graced Mysore Dasara in the past.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/10/01/stories/2006100102382400.htm