Royal spectacle revisits Mysuru

Mysuru: Neither the pouring rain nor the long wait took away from the spectacular Jumbo Savari, that brought the curtains down on the 11 -day Dasara celebrations, watched by over five lakh people lining its route in the city of palaces on Tuesday, Vijayadashmi Day.

Tourists not just from across the country , but also France, Australia, USA and Netherlands stood  behind barricades and even climbed trees on either side of the 4.2 km route of  the procession to get a better view of  the caparisoned Dasara elephants  majestically making their way through the streets accompanied by performing cultural troupes.

The star, as expected, was Arjuna, 56, carrying the 750 kg golden howdah, flanked by khumki elephants, Vijaya and Cauvery to  the tunes of the Nadaswara played by Vidwan B Nataraja and his team, who  brought up the rear of the two kilometer long procession.

Leading at the front was  Nishane elephant, Balaram, 58, carrying the insignia, followed by Nauphat elephant Gajendra, and Saalaanes, Abhimanyu, Gopi, Harsha, Prashantha, Gopalswamy. Adding colour to the spectacle, were 42  tableaux from all 30 districts of the state based on themes as diverse as water conservation,  Swachch Bharath, and even the Siachen glacier. Then came 62 cultural troupes from different parts of Karnataka  performing folk music and dances. While a troupe from Kerala performed the Singari Melam, another from Andhra Pradesh did a  tiger and lion dance, and a Rajasthan troupe did the Chakri dance.

Earlier over 22,000 people at the palace grounds watched Chief Minister Siddaramaiah offer a floral tribute to the statue of goddess Chamundeswari ensconsed  in the golden howdah at 5.05 pm even as  21 rounds of cannon shots sounded,  to set the procession on its way. Leaving the palace at 5.10 pm, the Jumbo Savari culminated as always at Bannimantap at around 7pm.

Addressing the people on  the occasion, the Chief Minister said the state was praying for justice in the Cauvery issue and he was confident the order on its special leave petition coming up for hearing on October 18 would go in its favour.
The scion of the royal family, Yaduveer Chamaraja Wadiyar, was not present on the occasion.

Troupes, tableaux enthrall visitors
As colourful tableaux from the 30 districts of the state wound their way through the streets of Mysuru as part of the Jumbo Savari on Vijayadashami Day, one tableau stood out.

By Dharwad, it paid tribute to soldier Hanumanthappa Koppad from the district, who survived under snow for six days at the Siachen glacier and breathed his last in a hospital later.  

Mysuru district focused on the contributions of the Rajamatas of the royal family in its tableau and Ramanagar district, on the Gombe Parase.  Raichur highlighted the  Hutti gold mines, and Haveri, its freedom fighters.

Achievements
While  various government departments and corporations  displayed their achievements in their respective tableau, the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam came up with one that spoke of the importance of water conservation. Not unexpectedly, the health department devoted its tableau to the fight against dengue.

The five lakh people lining the route of the procession were also entertained by  62 cultural troupes and the performance of around 38 different traditional folk art forms, reflecting the rich culture and tradition of different parts of the state.  Women performers stunned the audience by doing the Tamate and Pooja Kunitha, usually confined to men.

New scion’s Vijaya Yathre
The royal Dasara celebrations concluded with a symbolic “Vijaya Yathre” by the scion of the family, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar in a silver chariot on Tuesday.

Wearing a white sherwani and turban with traditional jewels, Mr Yaduveer took off in the chariot at 12.30 noon  to the temple of goddess Bhuvaneswari in the palace grounds and offered a Shami pooja.

Meanwhile,  the idol of goddess Chamudeswari which was moved to the Kannadi Thotti on day one  of the Dasara celebrations, was reinstalled at the Chamundi Thotti, concluding the rituals of the royal family. All rituals were conducted to the tunes of the Nadavaswara and the Mysuru police band.

 On  Monday, the Ayudha pooja  rituals began with the arrival of the “Pattada aane, pattada kudure and pattada hasu” at the Mysuru palace. Wearing an orange sherwani, turban and jewels, Mr Yaduveer performed a Chandika homa  and then offered pooja to the royal weapons before doing pooja to the car collection of the late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, including his favourite BMW five and seven series. Later, the young scion held his last private durbar of the year at the durbar hall of the palace.

Dare Devils steal the show
The curtains came down on the 406th Mysuru Dasara celebrations with the breathtaking performances and cultural programmes during the torchlight parade which enthralled a 22,000 strong audience at Bannimantap grounds Tuesday evening.

The event which began at 8.07pm with the parade inspection by Governor Vajubhai Vala, was followed by the national salute. As many as 23 contigents participated in the parade.

The highlight was the breathtaking Motorcycle display by   the Dare Devils of the military police which electrified the audience. For the first time, Mallakamba, a specialty of North Karnataka, was displayed by Mallakamba Association of Thulasageri, Bagalokot taluk. Owing to the distress situation in the state, the Firecracker show and Lazer show were cancelled.