Elephant topples car and gold shrine during Karnataka Navaratri procession

In the midst of Karnataka’s Navaratri festival, the elephant Somananna, selected from thousands to lead the main procession, broke formation and caused chaos on the streets, flipping a car and dislodging a 650 kg gold-plated Howdah that houses the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari. Footage showed crowds scrambling while authorities attempted to restrain the animal, which was later sedated and taken to a temple for recovery.

Forest, ecology and environment minister Ramalinga Reddy said that elephants participating in the ceremony will now undergo a minimum of 20 days of training. The episode occurs against a backdrop of rising human-elephant conflict in India, where deforestation and settlement encroachment have led to over 2,800 deaths between 2019 and 2023, according to government data. Conservation groups such as the World Wildlife Fund note that more than 100 wild elephants die annually from human-related causes. Some states, including Andhra Pradesh, are deploying AI-based early warning systems to mitigate future incidents.