Mysuru: Goddess idol reaches Chamundi hills

Mysuru: With ten days to go for inauguration of world famous 410th Mysuru Dasara, idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari was taken from Mysuru Palace to Chamundeshwari temple atop Chamundi hills on Wednesday.

The 10-day Dasara festivities are inaugurated with the floral benediction to the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari, housed in silver mantap near Chamundeshwari temple atop Chamundi hills between 7.45am to 8.15am on 17 October, by inaugurator of Dasara (who is yet to be finalized) along with Chief Minister Mr B S Yeddyurappa and other dignitaries.

This idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari will be brought back from Chamundi hills to Mysuru Palace on the Vijayadashami day on 26 October for Dasara jumbo savari procession which will be held within Mysuru Palace premises owing to the Covid pandemic. And once the idol is brought from Chamundi hills, it will be housed inside 750-kg historical golden howdah. And the golden howdah will be lifted with the help of a crane at the Palace premises, and tied to Dasara elephant Abhimanyu over the cushion of Namda (made of coconut fibre), Gaadi (made of hay straw), Chaapu (made of coconut fibre) which is covered with Joola (a silk cloth). And after, five tableaux, 10 cultural troupes proceed in jumbo savari procession, Abhimanyu will walk majestically carrying golden howdah housing the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari near the podium in front of Mysuru Palace.

Speaking to The Hans India, Mr M Lakshminarayan, Huzoor secretary of erstwhile royal family of Mysuru, said, "Earlier Maharaja of royal family of Mysuru sat in golden howdah in Dasara jumbo savari procession on the Vijayadashami day. And 25th Maharaja Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar was the last king who sat in golden howdah in 1970 before the privy purse was abolished. After that industrialists like F K Irani and a few other private people came together and formed committee to celebrate Dasara to attract tourists to Mysuru. And it was in 1980 when Mr Gundu Rao was Chief Minister of Karnataka, State government started celebrating Dasara as "naada habba" (State festival)," he said.

"It was HNK Gowda and sons of Ashoka Road in Mysuru who donated this idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari. Since then, the then Chief Minister Mr Gundu Rao started borrowing golden howdah from 26th scion of erstwhile royal family of Mysuru Sri Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar. And from then on the idol is housed in golden howdah and it is carried by an elephant and taken in jumbo savari procession on the 10th day of Dasara on the Vijayadashami day. Also Mr Gundu Rao started holding musical concerts in the same year, in the darbar hall of Mysuru Palace during Dasara. Later in 1980s, the concert was shifted to downstairs of Mysuru Palace, when IAS officer Mr Chiranjeevi Singh was in the department of archaeology, as the experts felt that the pillars of darbar hall would not take large population," Mr Lakshminrayan explained.

Mr Prahlad Rao, the priest at Ganapathi temple at Mysuru Palace, who also offers pooja to the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari at the palace, told The Hans India, "This idol of Goddess which is the form of "Mahishasura Mardhini" is made of panchaloha (five metal alloys) and it is two and half feet tall. Earlier pooja was offered to the during Dasara. But now for the past few years, pooja is offered to this idol daily at the palace," he said.