Three Mysuru Dasara elephants, including the elephant carrying the golden howdah, visited Hazrat Imam Shah Wali Dargah in Chamaraj Mohalla on Tuesday, continuing a tradition associated with the festival while Muslim leaders questioned why only three elephants were brought this year.
The elephants—Dasara ambari elephant Prashantha and kumki elephants Kaveri and Roopa—arrived from the Brahmapuri gate on the southern side of Mysuru Palace. They travelled through the Jaganmohan Palace route and reached the dargah on Krishnavilas Road, where hundreds of people gathered to watch the ritual.
At the shrine, devotees raised slogans invoking Sufi saint Imam Shah Wali and Goddess Chamundeshwari. The elephants were given a ritual welcome, including incense worship and the application of vibhuti on their foreheads. Dargah head Mohammad Nakheebulla Shah Qadri blessed them with a peacock feather placed on the shrine’s chadar.
The visit takes place on the eve of Vijayadashami and has reportedly continued for 85 years. According to the account associated with the tradition, an elephant participating in the Jamboo Savari developed a health problem during the reign of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. The elephant recovered after prayers were offered at the dargah, after which Dasara elephants began visiting the shrine every year.
The ritual has also become a visible public expression of Mysuru’s shared festival culture, bringing a ceremonial procession into a busy city neighbourhood. The gathering on Tuesday placed the dargah, the palace precinct and the surrounding roads within the movement network of the Dasara celebrations, although the report does not provide details of traffic restrictions or crowd-management arrangements.
Muslim leaders criticised the decision to bring only three elephants this year. They said all the elephants had been brought to the dargah in previous years and claimed that 18 elephants had traditionally participated in the visit. Abdul Razak questioned the reduction and sought an explanation from the government, alleging that the decision reflected a political conspiracy.
Those allegations were made by the Muslim leaders quoted in the report and were not accompanied by a government response in the supplied account. The report also does not state which authority decided the number of elephants attending the visit or whether the change was linked to veterinary, logistical or administrative considerations.
The three elephants’ visit concluded the reported ceremony at the dargah. The official account of the wider Dasara procession and any response from the state government or festival administration were not included in the report.
