Jamboo Savari will be late & hurried this year

MYSURU: The elephant carrying the fabled golden howdah, insured for Rs 27 crore, and an idol of goddess Chamundeshwari will leave the the palace premises at 4.45pm on October 11 and join the procession route in 15 minutes. Tourists may get to watch the proces sion for a short duration because the jumbos will be hurried through the 5-km route.
While it is an uphill task for foresters to ensure that the howdah elephant makes it on time, another security challenge is that it will be dark by the time the procession winds up at the Banni Mantap grounds.
District minister HC Mahadevappa on Saturday said the gun salute to the goddess will be presented at 4.45pm. Admitting that time is short, he said they have reduced the number of tableaux to 30 and folk performances to 50.
The torchlight parade at the Banni Mantap grounds has been rescheduled to start at 8pm. Traditionally, it begins at 7pm. The tiff between the state government and the royal family over the ownership of Doddakere grounds, opposite the palace, is affecting preparations for the Vijayadashami procession, sources say . The procession, scheduled for Tuesday , will not start around noon because the royal family is holding rituals as part of its private celebrations.
The procession will, instead, start at 2.16pm after puja to Nandi Dhwaja at Balarama Gate of the Palace, but visitors will have to wait about three hours before they see the howdah. The gun salute to the goddess will be given after Rahu Kala, a time considered inauspicious, ends at 4.30pm.
“Arjuna, who will carry the howdah, takes a little over 90 minutes to reach the Banni Mantap grounds. People won't be able to see his majestic walk enough if he is hurried through the crowd. But we have constraints of time,“ a source said. The procession, which usually reaches its destination by 6pm, will end by 7pm this year.