Hyderabad, July 5 -- With just a day remaining for Ashura, a trained elephant named Laxmi from Tumkur, Karnataka, has been organised to carry the iconic Bibi ka Alam in Hyderabad's ancient Ashura procession scheduled for Sunday, July 6.

The announcement comes after a long delay when the Telangana Forest Department had previously refused permission for an elephant from Delhi, allegedly due to transportation logistics.

For centuries, Bibi ka Alam, a major relic remembering Bibi Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad, has been taken on a caparisoned elephant on the 10th day of Muharram, Ashura, a practice going back to the Qutb Shahi and Asaf Jahi periods.

The standard contains six black bags that are packed with diamonds, rubies and em...