Decorated Elephants of Jaipur for Brazilian Soap Opera
We were really lucky to witness decorated elephants of Jaipur!
Usually Elephant festival is held in Jaipur on the day of Holi festival. But that day was neither Holi nor Dusshera! It took a while to understand a movie shoot was on in the premises of Amber Fort.
Decorated Elephants of Amer Fort Jaipur
Brazilian Soap Opera Shoot
At Amber Fort, Jaipur we witnessed the shooting of a Brazilian soap opera showcasing Indian culture. Caminoho das Indias meaning ‘A Passage to India’ is about a love story between a dalit boy and an upper caste girl.
I am not sure whether I saw the main actors or not, there were so many of them all dressed in traditional clothing of India. The Brazilian actors were dancing to the beats of Indian music; it looked like a ‘celebration scene’.
Decorated Elephants of Amer Fort
There were the 30+ elephants; all dressed and painted going round in circles and making other formations!
The Mysore Dusshera festival too has several well decorated and painted elephants participating in the functions and celebrations. Sadly I have never been able to attend one. Other tourists around too stood awestruck at the sight of these decorated elephants.
All elephants embellished with vibrant colors; they were a sight to see. The jhool (saddle cloth) were heavily embroidered and bright in color. Female elephants wore anklets, and it is a pleasant sight compared to those chains.
In the din the tinkling was not audible, but I am sure they tinkled. The foreheads had shiny head plates. Elephant tusks were tied with colorful scarves. It seemed as if a wedding a procession of a King was on.
However I noticed there were absolutely no protecting barricades, what if one runs amuck?
That colorful saddle cloth on the elephant is called jhool.
Painted Elephants for festival in Jaipur
The ‘Elephant Festival’, a major festival of Rajasthan is held in Jaipur. The opulent festival begins with an enthralling parade of magnificent elephants adorned with colorful patterns, embroidered garments and gold and silver ornaments.
The tusks tied with colorful scarves.
Here is a portrait of a painted elephant.
Interested in Indian Elephants? Check:
Blessings from Elephant in Temples of India
Bathing Elephants in India at Dubare Elephant camp
The Government in 2010 created an Elephant village called “Hathi Gaon“. Hathi Gaon is a housing project for more than 100 elephants and their Mahouts located at the foot of the hill of the Amber Palace and Fort near Jaipur.
Elephant ride cost – Incidentally The Elephant Safari ride costs 450INR per elephant. The ride on elephant accommodates up to four people. (I have not taken one, so please do check.)
Elephant safari in Amer Fort timing – The rides on elephants in Amer Fort takes place only in morning hours, from 8.30 AM to 12 PM.
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(Updated post. This post was first written on Mar 26, 2009.)
How does one pull oneself away from such a wonderful, colorful event? Great, great pics too!
I love to ride on an elephant – so big and gentle.
Beatifully painted… I just hope they were treated properly.
I’ve never seen so many elephants decorated so elegantly. Thanks for an interesting and colorful post.
That is completely awesome! The detail on those elephants is…well I’m speechless..and that’s not usual for me. What a photographic treasure!
Fantastic!
I love all of Your photos. They are so great. Wonderful blog.
Fantastic and beautiful elephants. I’m so glad you had your camera with you.
I think your photos and your link to the added info about the show are wonderful but I think using the elephants this way is absolutely criminal and the people making this soap opera have a lot to learn about respecting animals as well as other cultures
Oh, they are so beautiful…I am glad you were able to see this.
I am going to attach a link in an edit to my post with an elephant.
What a colorful event!
wow! great post so fabulous and amazing. Visit my Canadian geese here and thanks.
What an absolutely fantastic post! THIS post is what Camera-Critters is all about!
Don’t you just love to stumble upon something truly spectular and unexpected? Great photos.
Beautiful photos. Amazing how the animals are painted and dressed in such finery.
Great photos! So colorful! Thank you!
Loved the face painting and the “costumes.” I rode on an elephanat in India and in Thailand. Quite an experience…not the smoothest gait but interestng!
wow, so pretty with their faces painted.
Happy Critturday!
Tink *~*~*
Just hangin’ around at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
You were very blessesed to see such pagentry and beauty Sandy
You always seem to be at the right
place at the right time..!!!
The beauty parlour lady has done a
wonderful job on the elephants.
Saw the ingredients for grooming a
luxurious hair lying in the floor
(ref your recomendations in Aug 2nd blog :)))
Amazing!!
These elephants are simply marvellous. And more remarkable is a Brazilian story being shot here.
A Brazilian journalist’s writeup on this appeared in Deccan Herald recently.
lovely pics…btw in the second pic from the bottom, the elephant looks like it’s weeping
Great captures. Where can we see such colourful elephants ? Only in Rajsthan and Karnatak.
I would have been clicking to fill my memory card there too! What a feast for the eyes. I´m just thinking about the logistics of that display. The eating and droppings, not to mention the painting. There must be a lot of work.
Interesting to read about the Brazilian soap featuring indian stuff! I hope all these elephants were born in captivity and trained by kind mahouts. The methods used to train elephants captured from the wild are heartbreaking, so I see the beauty of the elephants with a little uneasiness … your photos are beautiful.
Hi Indrani! «Caminho das Índias»; that’s amazing, and you just caught them in action… 😉
The elephants are so well painted. I saw some of them like that, but here it’s a full show!!
Have a great weekend! Blogtrotter
The elephants are beautiful, and I’m amazed at their patience not only to parade, but to be painted beforehand – that can’t be done quickly! Great link too, never hurts to be reminded to be respectful!!
I guess if anyone could handle a bhangra beat it would be the Brazilians, na? But I’m a little surprised they came to Rajasthan rather than Goa since they’d have a connection to Goa (Brazil and Goa both being settled by the Portugese).
Glad they opted for Jaipur though so you could bring us these great photos! Looks like quite a party!
wow! superb clicks all!!! you sure must have had a fun time!
That was a truly wonderful post! The elephants looked so majestic and so many all together. That must surely be a rare sight.
Different Health & Safety rules there!
the photo’s are marvellous, but I see the elephants rather lose, free in the nature. I know that these paintings are made with honour to the animals, I hope I don’t hurt you to say so, so please forgive me, It must be, because off my character. I’m a nature person, a Shaman. That’s my way of living. But, I can imagine that this must be truly wonderful to see. Again, the pictures are so beautiful taken. With great honour to you, best wishes from Jeany
lovely pics…. they look so much more colour ful…
i remember i went to amer… but at that time we had the roll wala camera…
and the pics were so awful…
lovely pictures… !!
I dont think there are more beautiful and elaborate elephants than in India…happy weekend.
I don’t know about my ‘stunning’ picture – that makes these of yours something else.
I don’t imagine this film bears much resemblance with E.M.Forster’s novel but it will certainly produce a colourful film.
I hope the elephants enjoyed the fuss and attention.
I am definitely going to make changes at my site – I will let you know what.
These are so creatively decorated.
And yes, seeing them live, in large numbers,in discipline must have been a great experience…
You were indeed lucky to witness it!
I love the crayon drawings on the elephant, what beautiful colours!
I remembered elephants from the circus. And the zoo. But yours are beautifully decorated. I’ve never seen them this way before.
Wow.. that’s just marvelous! I think elephants are beautiful – preferably without paint but they must be awfully patient creatures to allow the artist to paint them this way. Great post.
They are so beautiful. What a spectacular sight.
Here even elephants but real and what are they biggggg…… LOL
What a coincidence that you get at the good moment at the good place:)
What a wonderful drawings on their skin……….BEAUTIFUL 😉
The last picture, the elephant has eye pencil around his eyes! 🙁
Thanks for sharing it was like a movie for me .. (@^.^@)
That looks quite an interesting dance. 😉
Aw, I love elephants!! These guys look very well trained! I have never seen elephants with body paint before so this was a new one for me! Fabulous post!
What fantastic photos! Wow! And to enlarge them to really see the details makes them even better! Very interesting article, too. This is just a terrific post! Thank you so much!