The first rehearsal for the scaled-down Jamboo Savari on the day of Vijayadashami was conducted on the palace premises on Thursday.
Dasara elephants led by Abhimanyu and a limited number of participants, including the mounted police, were present.
The rehearsal was restricted till the Balarama Gate of the palace.
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‘Pattada Ane’ Vikrama and ‘Nishane Ane’ Gopi could not participate in the rehearsal since they were participating in the Dasara related rituals of the Wadiyar family. They are expected to join for the next rehearsals.
Abhimanyu, along with ‘Kumki’ elephants Kaveri and Vijaya, were taken near the elevated rostrum in front of the palace where the police officers standing on the elevated platform showered petals on the elephants to rehearse for the low-key procession.
Abhimanyu would be carrying the 750-kg golden howdah for the first time on the day of Dasara finale on October 26. At the rehearsal on Thursday, Abhimanyu was not carrying the wooden replica of the howdah but the tusker had undertaken weight training with sandbags and the wooden replica since its arrival from the forest camp.
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After the showering of flowers on them, the jumbos moved towards the Balarama Gate which were followed by the Mounted Police and other police personnel. The rehearsal ended at the gate.
However, when the rehearsal was about to end, a horse of the mounted police panicked and the rider (policeman) fell off. However, the horse calmed down and the rider climbed back to complete the procession.
The final rehearsal will be conducted on Saturday, a day before the Ayudha Puja, besides another rehearsal scheduled on Saturday.
Sources told The Hindu that a couple of cultural troupes and one or two tableaux are expected to be part of the procession but there was no clarity on it yet.
Entry to the palace for Jamboo Savari will be restricted to less than 300 on advice of the COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee, Bengaluru. Accordingly, the arrangements would be limited with the seating only for the shortlisted participants, similar to the way it was done for the inauguration atop the Chamundi Hills.
Meanwhile, senior forest veterinarian D.N. Nagaraj, who has been looking after the elephants, told The Hindu that all five elephants were in good health and completed scheduled rehearsals for the big day.
Abhimanyu has been successfully handling the tasks as it was not new for him since such tasks he had carried even before as a stand-by to Arjuna, the outgoing lead elephant, which was retired from the tasks as it turned 60 years. “Abhimanyu is perfectly handling the tasks. All training so far went off smoothly,” the vet said, after the rehearsal.
The Forest Department has full faith that Abhimanyu will pull off the task with perfection as it has been in the elite Dasara jumbo team for over two decades. It is best known for its astuteness in the operations for capturing errant elephants and aged and injured wild tigers straying out of forests. Called an “all-rounder”, the jumbo makes the job easier for the forest authorities with its expertise of tracking the target jumbo in operations because of its quickness on any terrain. Abhimanyu is known to perform its job with finesse, according to forest sources.