Jamboo Savari marks culmination of nine day Navratri festivities

The procession, which used to attract lakh of tourists from all over the country and world to the City of Palaces during this period, was limited to only to about 300 invitees and also the number of elephants was limited to 5 from the usual 11 and for the first time ‘Abhimanyu’ is carrying the golden howdah in which goddess Chamundeshwari was placed.

The procession strictly followed Covid-19 guidelines and it lasted only 40 minutes against its usual time of 4 to 5 hours.

The 410th year Dasara finale on Vijayadashmi will be simple and subdued due to state restrictions to contain the virus spread, with the victory parade in the palace grounds without pomp and grandeur.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa performed pooja to the ‘traditional Nandi dhwaja in front of the Mysore palace. He later flagged off the procession consists of only few troops followed by two Nadaswaram troupes, each led by G. Krishnamurthy and A. Puttaswamy with five artistes each troupe, Chande Mela, Stilt walking, Veeraghase Kunita, Chilipili Gombe, tableaux depicting Aane Gaadi with Police Band artistes, Health Department tableau on COVID-19 awareness, Pattada Nadaswara team, Jumboo Savari procession led by Abhimanyu accompanied by four other elephants, Police personnel, Mounted Police, Veterinarians, fire tender and ambulance. Chief Minister offered jasmine flowers to goddess Chamundeshwari, the presiding deity of this heritage city, the goddess was placed on tusker abhimanyu carrying the 750kg golden howdah for the first time in front of the imposing mysore palace.

District in charge Minister S T Somashekhar, scion of royal family Yaduveer Chamaraja Datta Wodeyar, Mayor Taslima and Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri shared the dais.

The majestic 54year old tusker ‘Abhimanyu’ was flanked by Kumki elephants Vijaya and Kaveri, with Vikrama and Gopi as ‘Nishane’ and ‘Naufat’ pachyderms behind. Incidentally Abhimanyu has been participating in the festival for the last 12 years.

Howdah carrying Abhimanyu. As soon as they offered flowers, the Police Band played national anthem ‘Jana, gana, mana’ and the canons fired for 21 times as a mark of respect to Sri Chamundeshwari, the deity of Mysuru.

Due to scaling down of Dasara festivities this year, Police personnel from other districts have not been drawn into bandobast duty in and around the Palace, as it was managed by Mysuru City and District Police.

The tradition of the grand finale to dasara festivities originated during the Vijayanagar empire and later passed on to Wodeyars of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom; the golden period of dasara celebrations began from Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar. The benevolent prince who worked for the development of the Mysore region. The state government is holding Dasara as a State Festival (Nada Habba). (Agency)