Elephant Festival - Jaipur
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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