Visiting
Mysuru during Dasara time was one of my dream from childhood. Though I visited
Mysuru many times, could not visit during Dasara time. My wish to visit Mysuru
during Dasara time was fulfilled when one of my friend from Mysuru, invited me
to his home during Dasara.
Every
year during Dasara time, Mysuru will be decorated very beautifully. Especially
with lights, during night time walking across the roads is festival for eyes.
When Vinay asked me to join him, he told about the plan of capturing the beauty
in our cameras. We went for the ride across the each corners of the city and
captured the pics in our camera. Vinay’s other friends also joined us for the
photo shoot.
Vinay has
a bunch of amazing people in his friend circle, though I met them for the first
time didn’t felt I am interacting for the first time with these guys.
We didn’t
had any specific plan, we just took out our bikes and started visiting the
different famous monuments around and capturing those in our cameras.
The Mysore Palace is lit with 100,000 light
bulbs and looks splendid on all the 10 days.
This ride was most memorable part of my life,
though we could not click many pics because of crowd.
The time
spent was awesome. Sitting at the top of Chamundi Hills and watching the Mysuru
under lights is another super experience and beautiful moment of this
visit.
For the
next day we planned to witness world famous Jambu Savari.
About
Mysuru Dasara and Jambu Savari:
The
festivities were first started by the Wadiyar king in the year 1610. The
Wadiyar royal couple performs a special puja to Goddess Chamundeshwari in the
Chamundi Temple, which marks the beginning of the celebrations. This is then
followed by a royal assembly in the Mysuru palace and is attended by the royal
family members and special guests amongst other people. The successors of
Wadiyar king have religiously followed the tradition and do it with the same
fervor till today.
The ninth
day of Dasara, called as ‘Mahanavami’ is considered to be very auspicious and
special worship for the royal sword is done on that day, which is taken on a
procession with elephants, camels and royal horses.
On the
10th day i.e. Vijayadashami, the ‘Jambu Savari’ or the procession is taken to
the streets of the city and people come in thousands to see the same. The
highlight of the procession is the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari, worshipped
by the royal couple, which is placed in a golden Ambari over a magnificent
elephant. The procession starts from the royal palace and stops at the
‘Bannimantap’ where the famous ‘Banni’ tree is worshipped. It is believed that
the tree gives power and victory and the warriors of the old times used to
worship this tree before going for war to pray for their victory.
It’s very
difficult to get a proper place, so we went early morning to get a proper place
for the photo shoot and waited almost 5 hours Jambu Savari. Even after Jambu
Savari there are lot of other events take place but I could not attend those
due to time constrains.
Missed to
attend ‘Panjina Kavayithu’ (Torch-light parade). The program includes some
dare-devil acts and stunts by trained and respected men of the Indian Army,
laser show and some marvelous fireworks that light up the night.
I am very
much thankful to Vinay for inviting me to his home and giving me an opportunity
to witness world famous Mysuru Dasara.
