† Arjuna is a dead Male ♂ Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), , who died 2023-12-04 at Balle Elephant Camp, in India, . Official death reason described as fight with a wild elephant.
Arjuna was born wild 1961 at Kakanakote forest, captured 1965 .
captured 1965 in Mathigodu. Mahout: Sannappa (Mahesh), son of Dodda Masti Arjuna was the immediate successor of Balarama and had carried the golden Howdah once. But he was kept off the festivities after an accident.
One day Arjuna went to bathe in a river with his buddy Bahadur and Bahadur's trainer Annayya. While crossing a road, the elephants were startled by a vehicle and in the chaos that ensued, the rider Annayya fell down to the ground, only to be stamped on the his head by Arjuna. He was crushed to death. People opined that an elephant that had killed a man was unfit to carry the religious duties of Dasara. So Arjuna, while being as capable as Drona, never got to be the bearer of the prestige.
In 1996, when Arjuna and Bahadur, the two tuskers were taken to Karanji lake for bathing, Bahadur's Mahout Annaiah fell down and he was trampled upon. It was an accident. Even the mahouts and kavadis say that it is not clear whether it was Arjuna who trampled him, explained vet D N Nagaraj. But Arjuna was blamed for the tragedy given his temperament.
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