Dasara Festival - Elephant Procession
Satyameva Jayathe: Golden Howdah at Mysore Dasara Festival It is said that golden howdah weighs around 800 kg. The howdah is made of pure gold. The howdah has two wide seats in rows, bigger than the interiors of a family car. This golden howdah will be mounted on the back of a decorated elephant selected specially for the occasion in view of the strains and stress that animal would be put through the traveling of a distance of about 2.5 miles from the Mysore Palace to the Banni Mantapa grounds. The sacred idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari will be installed inside this howdah. The Elephant carrying the Howdah is trained and groomed to do the job years before it actually does it. Now a days the honor of carrying the Golden howadh and the statue of Chamundeshwari has fallen on Elephant Balarama. Elephant Balarama which is around 51 years old, had again got the honour of carrying the howdah for the 10th year in a row. The experts says that this is a task for which not every elephant is qualif