Mysuru: To make Dasara elephants know about the procedures to be followed and acclimatise them to the crowd and sound during Jumboo Savari, the grand finale of Dasara festivities which will be held on Oct. 12, the first round of Jumboo Savari inauguration rehearsal was held successfully at Mysore Palace premises here this morning.

In all, six platoons of Armed Police force from CAR and Railway Police, Home Guards, two Mounted Police battalions and Police Band, led Ambari elephant Abhimanyu with Kumki elephants Lakshmi and Hiranya on either side to the stage specially erected for the dignitaries to shower flower petals on the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari placed inside the Golden Howdah, marking the formal inauguration of Dasara procession.

When Abhimanyu reached the stage, MLA T.S. Srivatsa, DCPs M. Muthuraju (Law and Order) and S. Jahnavi (Crime and Traffic), CAR DCP Maruthi, Palace ACP Chandrashekar, CAR ACP Ashok, Devaraja ACP Shanthamallappa and DCF (Wildlife) Dr. I.B. Prabhu Gowda showered petals on Abhimanyu and took the salute.

When the Police Band played National Anthem, 21 shots were fired using seven cannons during which the dignitaries showered petals on the elephants. Mounted Police Commandant V. Shailendra was the Group Commander while S.D. Sasanur was the Assistant Group Commander during the rehearsal today.

DCF Dr. Prabhu Gowda said that today’s Jumboo Savari rehearsal was successfully held inside the Palace premises.

Pointing out that the rehearsal was held to make the elephants get used to the sound of the Police Band and other types of sounds which occur during Jumboo Savari, the DCF said that the second and final round of rehearsal will be held tomorrow.