Five tuskers enter final race for Dasara ‘ambari’ task

Even as rains forced the Forest Department to postpone the third phase of training involving the wooden replica of the golden ambari on Friday, five shortlisted tuskers successfully completed the second phase of weight training as part of preparations to select the lead elephant for the Jamboo Savari.

Mahendra, Dhananjaya, Ekalavya, Sugreeva, and Prashanth are among the shortlisted elephants.

The Forest Department has begun the process of identifying a successor to veteran tusker Abhimanyu, who carried the golden howdah for six consecutive years and was retired from active Dasara duties owing to his age. The department is evaluating the shortlisted elephants based on their performance in different stages of training before selecting the lead elephant.

The third phase of training, involving the carrying of a wooden replica of the golden ambari, was scheduled to begin on Friday. The replica, along with the cushion and other equipment, weighs around 1,000 kg.

The wooden replica was mounted on Mahendra and the training commenced on the palace premises. However, heavy rains interrupted the exercise, forcing officials to postpone it as the cushion and ropes became wet. The training will be conducted on another day, officials said.

Deputy Conservator of Forests I.B. Prabhu Gowda said the training with the wooden replica had to be postponed due to rains. “The line taleem and weight training have been successfully completed. The third phase of training has commenced, but the ambari replica training had to be put off due to rains,” he said.

He said all five tuskers would be trained to carry the wooden replica on different days. Based on their performance and various other factors, one of them would be selected as the lead elephant for the Jamboo Savari, he said.