The historical Srirangapatna Dasara was celebrated at the ‘Fort Town’ under the dark shadows of agrarian crisis on Monday evening.
Progressive farmer Srinivas of Palahalli inaugurated the Srirangapatna Dasara by flagging off a procession of the idol of Goddess Chamundeswari at Srirangapatna Bannimantap at Kirangur Gate, off Bengaluru-Mysuru highway.
A.B. Rameshbabu Bandisidde Gowda, Srirangapatna MLA; M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan, Deputy Commissioner; Borase Bhushan Gulabrao, Superintendent of Police; and Bhanuprakash, priest were present.
Artists from across the district participated in the colourful procession and performed different forms of art. Hundreds of people witnessed the procession, which began from the Bannimantap and concluded outside Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple.
Low-key affair
Srirangapatna Dasara has a history of over four centuries. It was celebrated as ‘victory parade’ by Raja Wadiyar I, who conquered Srirangapatna from Sriranga Raya in 1610. Raja Wadiyar started celebrating Dasara at Srirangapatna, the then capital of Mysore. It was celebrated at Srirangapatna till 1761 and shifted to Mysore in 1799.
The tradition of celebrating Dasara continued in a small way at the Fort Town till a decade ago and stopped later. However, the event was restarted in 2007 with the district administration evincing interest in celebrating Dasara at Kirangur Circle.
Five-day festival
Usually, it would be a five-day cultural extravaganza. However, owing to agrarian crisis that had prompted around 60 farmers to commit suicide, the State government had decided to perform the festivity as a low-key affair, this year.
Hence, the district administration did not press into service an elephant for carrying the idol on Monday.
