Mysore Dasara is one of the most documented festivals and finds mention in the chronicles of medieval travellers, who visited the kingdom of Bisnaga (for Vijaynagara) in the 16th century.
Fernano Nuniz, a Portuguese who visited Vijayanagara sometime during 1535, writes about the great feast of nine days in what is believed to be the present day Dasara. “The king has a 1,000 wrestlers and they strike and wound each other with trinkets…” notes the writer. The ‘Vajra Mushti Kalaga’ that takes place in the Mysore Palace even today, could be an offshoot of it.
Domingo Paes, another Portuguese traveller, writes about the review of troops by the king after the festival. “The soldiers were mounted on horses fully caparisoned,” according to his chronicles, and he gives a description of the elephants, the archers and the troops marching in a procession.
But it is the Dasara mural at the Jaganmohan Palace which is priceless, as it throws light on the evolving traditions associated with the festival. It is also the oldest painting rendered some time in the 1880s. Spread over 2,080 sq.ft, it depicts the then king Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar (1794-1868) participating in the Vijayadashmi procession. What is intriguing is that there is no golden howdah, and instead the king is seated on a chariot drawn by six elephants.
Last year, when the Karnataka High Court and animal rights activists wanted the authorities to spare the elephant the trauma of carrying the 750-kg howdah on its back, the government turned down the suggestion in the name of tradition. But the late 19th century painting clearly indicates that there was no use of howdah, and it was a latter addition. Informed authorities in the palace aver the use of howdah began some time in the 1870s during the regime of Chamarajendra Wadiyar who ruled between 1868 and 1894.
