The Elephant Festival is
an inimitable event held annually in Jaipur. Groomed flawlessly,
rows of elephants do a catwalk before an enthralled audience liked
best fashion models to make this festival an amazing one. The
elephants move with poise in pageant, run races, play the regal
game of polo, and finally participate in the spring festival of
Holi. It is festival time with elephants typically celebrated
one day before the Holi, Indian festival of colours.
Staged
at Jaipur Chaugan Stadium elephants put up a variety programme
and the arena is brought alive with musician and dancer. The crowd,
which includes sizable presences of foreign and Indian tourist,
electrify the atmosphere. The festival starts with an impressive
procession of the majestic animals lovingly painted and tastefully
attired with glittering ornaments and embroidered velvets. There
are deadly and fierce elephant fights.
A ceremonial procession is recreated with caparisoned elephants,
lancers on horses, chariots, camels, cannons, and palanquins.
Elephant is the centre of attraction in the many races and beauty
pageants.
Most of the participants are female elephants. The mahouts (elephant
keepers) take great care to decorate the elephants painting their
trunks, foreheads, and feet with floral motifs and adorning them
from tusk to tail with interesting trinkets. Female elephants
wear anklets with and make music as they walk.The game of polo
forms the highlight of the festival. Dressed in saffron and red
turbans, the teams try to score goals with long sticks and a plastic
football.
Finally,
the tourists are invited to mount the elephants and play Holi.
Participants dance with great vigour and the excitement rising
to a crescendo.
The Rajput kings had extraordinary implication for elephants not
only during war but also during the royal festivities-a must at
royal pageant. Nishan-ka-hathi, the flag bearer, led the procession.
The king always mounted a caparisoned elephant. Special hunting
programs and elephant fights were organized to entertain the royal
guests. Jaipur was a favourite spot with the important personalities
of the British Raj and the Maharajas always arranged for their
guests of honour elephant rides up to the Amber palace. Even today,
the mahouts take tourists up to the Amber Palace on elephant back
like shuttle taxis.
Rajasthan Tourism revitalized the ritual by including the Elephant
Festival in the cultural calendar. The present-day pageant, originated
only a decade ago, was worked out especially with the tourist
in mind. The inclusion of the game of polo is more recent, being
inspired by a cartoon in Punch magazine that showed the Indian
polo team atop an elephant after it won all the international
tournaments. Every year on Holi, the old stadium at Jaipur, the
Chaugan (originally planned for elephants), makes the setting
for a stunning fete.
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