Date of travel: 22-12-2008 (Monday)
(This is part 2/5 of this series of memoirs. Part 1 is here)
It was December 22 - the shortest day in India, the day of winter solstice. We were at Mysore.
Mysore is said to be the "battlefield of Gods, abode of kings, muse of poets and playground of athletes". Its so full of inspiration and excitement! The palatial architectures, the historical monuments, the beautiful gardens, the divine temples and churches - every single sight holds the ability to freshen up any tired soul, to charge up any neutral body.
A silhouette glimpse of an illuminated Mysore Palace against the virtually lit-up black sky while entering Mysore the previous night had made us madly excited about the city. We were nothing short of excited when we woke up early morning, to explore the full grandeur of this city, the cultural capital of Karnataka.
Chamundi Hills
We started off the day with a visit to the auspicious Chamundi Hills, the abode of Sri Chamundeshwari, considered to be the universal Mother.
Chamundeshwari Temple
There's a piece of interesting mythology behind it - the demon Mahishashura, who used to be the king of this place (infact, this place was initially named Mahishur, which was later refined to Mysore), was slaughtered by Goddess Chamundeshwari. This temple, built in her honour atop the Chamundi Hills (named after her), houses a terrifying idol of the Goddess wearing a garland of skulls. A huge figure of Mahishashura, guarding the entrance, is a popular site for photography. A localite informed us that Mahishashura has become a good soul now and safeguards the residents of the city.
The Gigantic Mysore BullAlso on the hills is located the widely famous Mysore bull - a gigantic monolithic statue of Nandi (the vehicle of Lord Shiva), adjacent to a Cave Shiva Temple.
Mysore Palace
If it's the Taj Mahal in the north, it has to be the Mysore Palace in the south - symbols of exotic beauty and architectural wonder. This palace, originally wooden, was destroyed in a fire in 1897. It was completely rebuilt, using only non-combustible material (mostly granite, marble and cast iron), during 1897-1912 under the leadership of Sir Henry Irwin, a British architect.
An innovative idea in place for the visitors was the "Audio Guide". You would be given (upon payment of Rs.100) a hand-held device (containing a keypad) and a headphone. There would be number-marks at various locations inside the palace; you would have to press that number on your keypad upon reaching there to hear a description of that particular site on your headphone.Inside the palace, the public and private durbar halls, the marriage mandap, the wrestling courtyard, the ivory doors and a host of other stuff simply took our breath away. Outside, the majestic view of the palace and the well-maintained gardens were quite refreshing to watch.
A number of bronze figures of tigers were installed in the palace premises. The word "touch" in the message "Don't touch me" underneath all the figures had been horribly mis-spelt as "toutch". With so many foreign tourists staring at the mistake, it's quite an embarrassment for any Indian. It's a pity that the error hasn't been rectified yet!St.Philomena's Church
Another architectural beauty and a holy place in the city of Mysore, this church was built in honour of St. Philomena, a 14-year old Greek girl martyred in the 4th century. I found out an interesting bit of history behind this patron saint on Wikipedia. Read that article here if you are interested.Srirangapatna
It was the capital of Mysore during the rule of Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore. We spent sometime at the beautiful Daria Daulat Bagh (Tipu's summer residence), Gumbaz (mausoleum of Tipu and his parents) and the obelisk marking the death-spot of Tipu Sultan. We dipped our palms in water at the holy Sangam, the confluence of Cauvery and its branch, Lokpavani. We sought blessings for all at the Ranganathaswamy Temple, where a smiling Lord Vishnu reclined over the serpent, Adisesha.
With the fragrance of the extensive rose-fields on either side of the road on our way back keeping us mentally refreshed at the dusk hour, we set off for the Brindavan Gardens.
Brindavan Gardens
We had missed the musical fountain show here the previous night. Not again! We reached the spot well ahead of time...and it turned out to be worth the effort. The musical fountain was quite a show! Columns of water danced, waved, swirled and curled, in a variety of colours, to some popular tunes. The illuminated KR Sagar dam, overshadowing the gardens, provided a wonderful scenery!
We then did a bit a shopping at the Mysore Silk Plaza and the Mysore Arts and Crafts centre (that showcased some exquisite sandalwood products). It was 9.30 pm already. We had dinner at our guest house and rested for the day.
Next morning, we would travel to Ooty! Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series of memoirs, "Ooty, Ooh La La!".
It was an exhilarating experience exploring the mystique Mysore! Before I conclude, here are some more memorable images of that day...
7 comments:
Brindavan Gardens. I remember being there years back.
As usual the post is very well done. Nice alignment of images and informative write-ups. The only place where you've messed up is the highlighting of the spelling mistake. I feel that you should have used a proper ellipse instead of that crooked distorted figure. :D
A crooked ellipse to highlight a crooked error! :)
Nice place. i will plan a tour someday to all these places.
Well written n pics too well chosen.
@ Abhimanyu: If you haven't been to Mysore yet, that should be the next destination on your tour-list. Thanks for reading this post.
great bro excellent
Hey Aanoo! What a pleasant surprise! Thanks for your comments :)
hii..nice post.Thanks for sharing with us.I liked the way you put up the information.I visited br hills resort and also bandipur resorts last weekend with my family. really enjoyed a lot.Do visit once its really awesome..
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