Gaja Festival in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve
Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve is famous for tigers, but these days there’s an elephant festival going on here. Elephants are not used for any work during this 7-day festival. Rather, after taking a bath in the morning, sandalwood paste is applied, massaged with oil and vermilion is applied. Similarly, they are being fed food of their choice. In addition to selected fruits, roti is served mixed with honey along with coconut, jaggery, sugarcane and banana-apple.
According to the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve Management, these elephants work throughout the year, but they were given complete leave for these seven days. In such a situation they have only one thing to do now: eat, drink and be merry. Elephant festival is celebrated every year in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. During this time, a large number of tourists and local people also come here and take photographs with the elephants. However, this time there is no outsider in sight. In fact, the park management has kept the general public away from the Gaj festival this time.
Biodata is made up of all elephants
According to the management, there are currently 15 elephants here. All these elephants have biodata too. Among these, Gautham, a male elephant born in 1946, has turned 77 years old. He was brought here from Kanha Tiger Reserve on March 9, 1978. Similarly, the female elephant Anarkali, born in 1964, has also turned 60 years old. It was also brought here from Sonpur Mela in the year 1978-79. Similarly, a 41-year-old black male was captured from the wild in 2018 and was kept as a pet. Ram, born in 1986, is also wild and was rescued from Anuppur forest and brought to Bandhavgarh on 7 April 2011.
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Elephants are getting their favorite food
Sundargaj was born on 11 June 1987 in Bandhavgarh. Laxman the elephant was born in 1997 and was brought to Bandhavgarh in May 2017 after being caught from the forest of Thiri. While the male elephant Ashtam was born on 13 October 2002 in Bandhavgarh itself. Mahila Bhabhi was also born here on 30 November 2011. Deputy Director of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve PK Verma said that the 7-day elephant festival is being celebrated. This involves keeping all the pet elephants together inside the tiger reserve and providing them with full service. Their regular diet has been prescribed by experts and they are being fed according to this diet.
