Curtains come down on Mysuru Dasara celebrations without crowds

Mysuru: The curtains came down on the 10- day Dasara celebrations here on Monday without people’s participation in thousands on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, the key attraction was the ‘Jamboo Savari’, the procession of the city’s presiding deity Goddess Chamundeshwari, an avatar of Durga, mounted on a golden howdah (seat) on the caparisoned elephant Abhimanyu. It was accompanied by other caparisoned pachyderms. Behind them were the tableaux, the cultural troupes of dancers of various art forms such as Yakshagana, Dollu Kunita and Nadaswaram players.

Earning the recognition of the ‘Naada Habba’ or state festival, the Dasara celebrations were dedicated to the coronavirus warriors with a tableau of a nurse wearing a mask following the Jamboo Savari.

Unlike the five-km-long procession from the Mysuru palace to Banni Mantapa, the Jamboo Savari procession was taken out to a distance of only 400 metres. Amid the chant of Vedic hymns, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa performed the Nandi Dhwaja by showering petals on the idol of Chamundeshwari Devi in front of the Balarama Gate along with the Mysuru royal family members.

The heir of Mysuru royal family, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar took out the Vijaya Yatra from the Amba Vilas Palace. Wadiyar’s aunt Pramoda Devi, who adopted him to continue the lineage of the royal family, and his wife Trishika Devi too attended the celebrations.

Speaking to reporters, Yediyurappa said the Mysuru Dasara has its own tradition, which has been passed on for a long time. He said the Mysuru Dasara is an event to showcase the art and culture of Karnataka.

“Due to COVID-19, we are organising it in a simple manner by sticking to the basic rituals this year. To avoid crowds, many of the events were dropped. Besides COVID-19, a large number of people are in distress due to floods,” the Chief Minister said.

The Dasara procession is held on ‘Vijayadashami’, signifying the victory of good over evil. The rulers of Mysuru or the Wadiyars had been the worshippers of Durga and had established their family Goddess atop a hillock, which has been named as Chamundi Hills. Raja Wadiyar I (1578-1617), the first ruler of independent Mysore kingdom in 1610, had started the Dasara festivities and they have since been on.