Mysuru: The 405th Dasara celebrations which lasted for 11 days, came to a spectacular end in the city on Friday with the colourful Vijayadashami Jumbo Savari procession. Around seven lakh people witnessed the procession, which was over a km long and lasted a little over two hours. The procession was restricted to 65 troupes and began at 12.35pm, reaching Bannimantap around 6 pm covering a 4 km stretch.
Arjuna, the 55-year-old pachyderm carried the 750 kg golden howdah housing Goddess Chamundeswari along with his eight other mates with rhythmic music and energetic traditional folk dance performances by 30 cultural troupes from various states.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, kick started the procession by performing pooja to Nandidwaja at 12.07 pm near Balarama gate of Mysuru Palace where over 15,000 people had gathered. Speaking to media persons, Mr Siddaramaiah said that he prayed to Goddess Chamundeswari seeking her blessings for the State along with good rainfall to end farmer’s distress.
The cultural troupes featured Bhangra dance by artists from Punjab and Gaangoovar dance by a folk dance troupe from Madhya Pradesh.
The Jumbo Savari, observed in the royal style since the days of the erstwhile Mysuru Maharajas, began with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah showering petals on Goddess Chamundeshwari, the presiding deity of the historic city.
Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the erstwhile Mysuru Royal family, offered puja to the Goddess. US-educated Yaduveer Wadiyar, the adopted son of Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, was in May this year crowned the titular head of the royal family after Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the last descendant of the dynasty, died of cardiac arrest on December 10, 2013.
On Thursday, adorned in golden robes, Yaduveer performed puja to the royal weapons at the Mysuru Palace. He concluded Aayuda puja by offering puja to the car collection of Srikantadatta Wadiyar.
Mysuru scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Wadiyar with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after inauguration of the procession (Photo: DC)
As many as 30 cultural troupes from Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajnagar and Kodagu reflected the traditional folk dance forms of the State with rich rhythmic music and energetic dance performances enthralling the audience.
As many as 23 tableaux by different departments of Mysuru district administration were part of the procession. The procession had a special tableau- an Agriculture chariot on Integrated farming by department of agriculture and allied departments.
Mysuru City Corporation came up with a tableaux creating awareness on Swach Bharath mission of Government of India. The Department of Women and Child Development popularised Acts and provisions of Juvenile Justice Act and provisions of child protection under Integrated child protection scheme.
A troupe performs during Dasara procession in Mysuru on Friday
The University of Mysuru also came up with a tableau to mark its Centenary celebrations.
Mysuru City Police came up with a tableau depicting their programmes in city like Abhaya for senior citizens, steps towards helping farmers from being charged with exorbitant interest.
Balarama star at Dasara finale
While 57-year-old Dasara veteran Balarama, who has been participating in Dasara for the past 19 years and carried the golden howdah 13 times, led the procession at the forefront becoming “Nishaane” elephant, his mahout Thimma carried the royal insignia the Gandaberunda.
He was followed by Abhimanyu as Nauphath elephant. Vikram, Gopi, Prashantha, Harsha functioned as saalaanes. All nine pachyderms were dressed up by an artist, Nagalingaswamy, with even nails of Arjuna, Chaithra and Cauvery painted in golden colour.
The golden howdah was followed by a 91-member police band comprising five units from the State, including CAR South (Bengaluru), 15 KSRP from Kalaburagi, 8th KSRP from Shivamogga, 9th KSRP from Bengaluru, and 5th KSRP from Mysuru that presented the national anthem as 21 rounds of cannon shots were fired from seven, over 150-year-old, brass cannons as per the tradition.
