A tradition whose origins are traced to the Vijaynagar empire (14th - 17th century AD) and inherited by Raja Wadiyar in 1610 A.D. unfolded in the Mysuru palace to mark the beginning of the Navaratri festival on Thursday.
The titular king Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar conducted the proceedings involving performance of various rituals that have been systematised over the centuries and are being observed diligently during Dasara.
Officiated by senior priests, who oversaw the performance of the religious rites, it also encompassed other regal paraphernalia, including the procession of the caparisoned elephants within the palace precincts and the visitations to the various temples as part of the rituals. This was followed by the khas durbar which is only symbolic in the present times following the abolition of the institution of the maharajas. In continuation of their customs, Mr. Yaduveer ascended the golden throne, a practice followed only during Dasara to keep alive a slice of the tradition.
Conjuring up images of a bygone era, the events that unfold are a throwback to the past, and is a faithful depiction of what the medieval travellers who visited Vijaynagar empire — notably Domingo Paes, Fernano Nuiz — witnessed and described in their writings.
Written almost 500 years ago, Domingo Paes speaks of the “great feast”, spread over nine days, in an obvious reference to Navaratri in which “horses were fully caparisoned” or of the “elephants covered with caparison of velvet and gold with fringes and rich cloths of many colours with bells so that the earth resounds”.
As late as in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, writers chronicled and described the procedures complete with the khas durbar and the assembly of the nobles.
The Mysore Gazetteer, while elaborating on Dasara festival, notes “… on the morning of the first day, the maharaja after the observance of the necessary religious ceremonies, partly at the shrine of Sri Chamundesvari in the palace and partly in the Durbar Hall, takes his seat on the historical throne under a salute of 21 guns and showers of flowers.”
The gazetteer goes on to elaborate the sporting events, proceedings of the durbar, among others, and the sequence of events is followed to this day but with slight modifications.
The Dasara murals in the Kalyana Mantapa of the Mysuru palace captures the spirit of the festival celebrated during the regime of Nalwadi Krishanraja Wadiyar (1902-1940) and the private dasara of the Wadiyars held far from the public glare in the present times, is reflective of the past grandeur.
