Palace of lights – Mysore

Festivity is synonymous with Mysore Dasshera, during which the city celebrates this festival for 10 days. One has to witness this mega festival of lights, dance and music and experience the grandeur of the royal palaces, the spectacular silks, the fragrance of sandalwood and the mouthwatering delicacies. According to the legend this festival is celebrated to mark the victory of Goddess Chamundeshwari of Chamundi Hill over the evil demon Mahishasura.

We were lucky to visit this grand city during Dussehra in September 2009.

The Amba Vilas Palace, which is the home to the Wodeyars was built in 1912. Marking the festive celebration, this palace is illuminated every evening, with 96,200 bulbs, which is indeed a visual treat ! The entire city too is brightly lit with numerous bulbs during this season.

This palace is considered one of the grandest palaces in the world and perhaps houses the most number of light bulbs too !

We visited this palace including the marriage pavilion (thrown open to public only during Dusshera) and were amazed and astounded by the grandeur of this magnificent abode.

Mysore city is rich in culture and heritage is famous for many other specialities too. Thus, Geographical Indicator (GI) status have been conferred on Mysore Silk, Mysore Agarbathi, Mysore beetle leaves, Mysore Sandal Oil, Mysore Sandal Soap, Mysore inlay work, Mysore paintings.

In the evening, we proceeded to visit the famous Brindavan gardens with grand memories of the royal city.

For more information visit: http://mysoretourism.org/
To be contd………

Experience Karnataka !

Would you like to experience: Variety, Heritage, Wildlife, Romance, Festivity, Divinity and More ?

The official Karnataka tourism website describes the state of Karnataka as: One state, Many worlds. Truly justified !

Recently, in September 2009, we spent four days on a coach trip, starting from Bangalore and explored and discovered the majesty, splendour and the magic of Karnataka !

We booked the three day Karnataka tourism department tour (KSTDC) which covered Mysore, Srirangapatna, Brindavan Gardens, Ooty, Coonoor, Doddabetta and Nanjungud. After completing this 3 day tour, we were so much enthused to discover more of the beautiful state that we booked the one day KSTDC tour covering Sravenbelagola, Halebid and Belur too.

Day 1 - Srirangapatna
On Day 1 at 7.30 am, we departed from the tourist office at Badami House, Bangalore and reached Srirangapatna, here we saw Tipu Sultan's summer palace, Daria Daulat Bagh, which houses a museum too. It is a completely wooded structure, made of teakwood and the structure stands on a raised platform which is around 1.5 meters in height. This stately artifact was constructed in the year 1784 and is situated on the banks of Cauvery river.

Timings of Museum : 9 am. to 5 pm
Admission fees : Rs.5/- per head and free on Fridays.

We then proceeded towards the Srirangapatna Fort. The ramparts of this fort signify the historic battles which were fought here. And the most significant battle was Tipu Sultan's struggle against the British. which ended in his death in 1799.
Within the fort is a mosque and the huge Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple which has an impressive gopuram and fort like walls. In this temple, Swami Ranganatha is depicted as reclining on the bed of Aadi Sesha, the serpant lord.
We then headed towards Mysore ….. to be continued ……

Note: For details about tour packages log on to: www.karnatakaholidays.net