Dry run to prepare for 21-round cannon salute on Vijayadashami day

Mysore/Mysuru: To ensure that there are no mistakes during the 21 round cannon salute when VIPs shower flowers to the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari, placed inside the Golden Howdah on Vijayadashami Day (Oct. 5), a team of Police personnel from the City Armed Reserve (CAR), who are part of the Pirangi Dal Unit, conducted a dry practice of cannon firing in the Mysore Palace premises yesterday.

Out of the 11 Palace cannons, seven cannons will be used to give 21-round cannon salute. Five personnel are deployed to each cannon and a total of 21 rounds has to be fired in a minute and each cannon will fire three rounds making it 21 rounds from  a total of seven cannons.

The 21-round cannon salute will take place during the Police Band playing the National Anthem and when the VIPs shower flowers on the idol of the Goddess inside the 750 kg weighing Golden Howdah, which is fastened on the back of Howdah carrying elephant Abhimanyu.

As part of the dry run, these cannons are taken out annually for the ritual and a step-by-step practice is followed as per the established tradition where the cannons are first oiled and cleaned for a couple of days.

Later, the cannons along with the carts are brought to the open ground for practicing the gunpowder loading and the actual firing process.