Ahead of Dasara festivities, the second batch of elephants for the processions are set to reach Mysuru.

As per reports, the second group of elephants will reach the premises of the Mysuru Palace on Tuesday morning. Eight elephants, Cauvery, Vikrama, and Gopi from Dubare; Durga Parameshwari from K. Gudi; Jayaprakash, Lakshmi, and Rohit from Bandipur will reach the city on Tuesday. The last three are new additions to the Dasara festivities.

Earlier, the first batch of elephants for the procession reached the city in August. The six elephants brought then were Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Dhananjaya, Eshwara, Varalakshmi and Vijaya who made it to the Palace grounds on August 26. Eshwara is also a new addition to the procession.

On Sunday, another Dasara star, the 61-year-old jumbo Balarama reached Mysuru. Balarama, who belongs to the Mattigodu camp, has been a familiar sight in the processions. It has reportedly carried the Golden Howdah, or carrier of the idol, 13 times between 1999 and 2011. It has been a part of the Dasara festivities 18 times. Balarama was captured from Kodagu district’s Kattepura forests in the 1980s and succeeded the jumbo Drona, who was tragically electrocuted while in a forest in the 1990s.

Each year, the same elephants are brought to the city from Nagarhole and remain in the Palace until the end of the 10-day Dasara festival, under the care of animal husbandry and caretakers.

The festivities for Dasara this year begin on Sunday, September 29 and will continue until Tuesday, October 8.

An elephant march was held earlier on August 22, as part of the preparations for celebrations in the city, with several residents taking part in the march.