I climbed Vindyagiri Hill one more time on the morning of the 9th before leaving Sravanabelgola on the way to Mysore. I started at 6:30 and watched the sun rise over the plains a few minutes after I started. I reached the top about 7 and watched the ceremonies at the feet of Gomateshvara. There were more people than the day before, but the ceremonies were the same, with the big one starting about 9. A woman totally clad in white, including a shawl, and carrying a peacock feather whisk, sat at the feet of the statue and blessed devotees with her whisk. She must be a white clad Jain. The sky clad guy showed up just before 9 and stood at the feet of Gomateshvara during the ceremony just as he had the day before. I started down about 9:30 and watched three older people in sedan chairs, called dholis, quickly carried down the steps, each carried by four men. The chairs facs backwards during the descent.
After breakfast I took the bus the five miles or so back to Channarayapatna before 12 and immediately got on a bus heading to Mysore, 50 miles or more to the south. We passed through rolling country, with coconut palms and sugar cane growing, and crossed the Cauvery River at Srirangapatna before arriving in Mysore about 2:30. We passed the large 1805 British Residency, set in a park, on the way to the bus station. Mysore, with about 800,000 people, is at about 2500 feet elevation. It was the capital of the princely state of Mysore, which ruled most of what is now southern Karnataka until 1947. Mysore then became a state until it was included in the new language based state of Karnataka in 1956. The Maharaja of Mysore became Karnataka's first Governor. The Wadiyars (also spelled Wodeyars) were the ruling family and ruled Mysore from 1399, first as feudatories under the Vijayanagar Empire and, after its collapse in the late 16th century, in their own right, until 1947, except for about 40 years in the late 18th century.
I walked around town a bit in the late afternoon, glimpsing the huge palace of the Maharaja from afar through the gates and walking past many fine old colonial era buildings, including the columned Town Hall, with a statue of Ambedkar now in front, and an impressive looking hospital. I walked through the very crowded Devaraja Market, filled with flowers, fruit, vegetables, and lots of people.
About 7 the next morning, a Sunday, I walked through the quiet early morning streets to the market. Mysore is famous for its flower sellers, along with silk and sandalwood, and they were out early both on the street in front of the market and inside. They sell flowers strung together in long strands, the strands piled in loops. There were strands of yellow, purple with a few white flowers, and white with a few orange-pink blossoms. The white jasmine ones cost the most and smell absolutely wonderful. I was told the different types cost from 10 to 50 rupees a meter. I saw them being measured for sale by sellers who strung them out with extended arms once, twice, three times or more, depending on much the buyer wanted to buy, and then breaking off the length to be purchased. One guy was sitting on the sidewalk meticulously but quickly threading jasmine flowers and a few pink petals together. After watching the flower sellers on the sidewalk for a while, I walked into the market, much less crowded in the early morning than it had been the previous evening. Besides more flowers, there were enormous amounts of bananas on sale, plus other fruit. Brightly colored kumkum powder, the powder used for the bindis on foreheads, was on sale, heaped in conical piles. I walked through the fruit and then the vegetable sections and exited near the colonial era hospital building. Several men were sleeping on the unkempt grass in the little park fronting it. I walked past more of the old colonial buildings before having breakfast about 9:30.
After breakfast I walked to a railroad museum near the train station. Along the way I passed walls covered with some interesting murals of the sights in and around Mysore and among all these Indian scenes was one panel depicting Mount Rushmore. I wonder what that is all about. The railroad museum was interesting, with several old steam locomotives and passenger carriages. You could climb into all of them but one. The one you couldn't enter was the 1899 Maharani's carriage. You could, however, peer through its windows and see the Maharani's bed and table and bathroom with a sit down toilet. The servants quarters took up part of the carriage, with four bunks and a squat toilet. The museum was outdoors, but mostly under big trees, so not too hot in the midday sun.
From there I walked to the 1862 Jaganmohan Palace. The Maharaja lived there for about 15 years around the beginning of the 20th century after his old palace burned down and before his new one was completed. It's now a museum with old photos and paintings of the royal family, along with some of their old furniture and other possessions. There are also paintings of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington), and Gladstone (entitled "Rt. Hon. Gladstone"), along with paintings of durbars and etchings of the 1799 Battle of Srirangapatna. And there is a very interesting 1808 British map showing Mysore as of 1799. I spent quite a bit of time there before eating a late lunch or early dinner at about 4.
About 6:30 I walked to the Maharaja's Palace, built from 1898 to 1913. It is a huge building, with a very large parade ground in front of it. Every Sunday night it is illuminated with 97,000 light bulbs strung all over it. A large crowd had gathered and just before 7 the lights all came on, quite a spectacle. Not only the palace, but also the gates and temple towers surrounding the palace were strung with lights and illuminated. With the lights, a military band struck up just in front of the palace and played . . . The Stars and Stripes Forever! It continued to play as long as the lights were on, about 45 minutes. No other Sousa marches were played, but they did play the march from The Bridge over the River Kwai. I wandered around and enjoyed the sight of the palace from various angles and distances until the lights went out and I left with the rest of the crowd.
The next morning I went to the market early and then walked to the Maharaja's Palace before 10, when it opened. It was built by a British architect in Indo-Saracenic style, a combination of Moghul, Hindu and Gothic Revival styles. The top is covered with red Mughal domes. It replaced a wooden palace that burned down in 1897. You get an audio tour as part of the price of admission with a foreigner's ticket and I spent about three hours wandering around inside. The exterior looks better from a distance, and illuminated at night, but the inside is beautiful.
At the entrance, I passed the large brass Elephant Gate, with elephants depicted on it, along with the Mysore crest of two lions with elephant heads, with a two headed eagle above. I passed the Maharaja's howdah, for riding atop his elephant, covered with 84 kilograms (185 pounds) of gold. It also has a red and a green light, battery operated, so the Maharaja could signal the mahout when to go and when to stop. One of the first stops inside was the magnificent and cavernous Wedding Hall, with tall painted cast iron pillars, from Glasgow, leading up high above to a stained glass ceiling depicting peacocks. The peacock motif is continued on the tiled floor. Chandeliers hang from the arches. Scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and other Indian epics are carved on stone pillars further from the center of the room and on the walls are painted 26 scenes from the Dasara celebrations in the 1930's.
Dasara (usually called Dussehra elsewhere in India) is the Hindu festival of ten days in September or October celebrating the victory of good over evil. In northern India they usually celebrate Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana, but in Mysore they celebrate the killing of the demon buffalo Mahishasura by Shiva's wife Parvati in her avatar as Durga, or Chamundi. The story is that Mahishasura, after a period of evil doing, was punished by the gods. He appeared penitent and a reward was told he could not be killed by a man. He quickly resumed his evil ways and had to be dispatched, after a great battle in which he took the form of a water buffalo, by Chamundi. Mysore was named after Mahishasura (kind of odd -- why would they name it after the bad guy?) and Chamundi was the favorite deity of the Wadiyar maharajas. The ten days of Dasara are celebrated with great spectacle and splendor in Mysore and the paintings of the 1930's celebrations were very interesting, even depicting old advertisements, such as for Lipton Tea, and 1930's automobiles. But the most interesting details were of the Maharaja, his elephants, the rest of his spectacularly costumed retinue, and the crowds. Another room had paintings and photographs of the maharajas. The ten day Dasara celebrations and final day of parade are still held, though with a statue of Chamundi replacing the Maharaja atop the golden howdah on the elephant.
Upstairs is the Public Durbar Hall, a large room, about 150 by 50 feet, filled with about 30 brightly painted columns and open to the east, facing the huge parade ground. The Maharaja would sit on his golden throne in the center of the room, with ministers below and guests to the side, and look out to the parade ground. The ceilings, made of copper plates, are painted with scenes of gods and goddesses in a blue sky with white clouds. In the center are Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, Shiva the Destroyer, and Chamundi. Nearby is the Private Durbar Hall, even more beautiful. It is smaller, though still fairly large, with columns and sculpture, incised windows, a teak ceiling on the sides and a stained glass ceiling in the center. The doors are beautifully inlaid with ivory and there is one set of silver doors, apparently the only remnant of the old palace. Leaving the palace, I walked around a bit. There are elephants and camels you can ride. I walked out onto the parade ground, but it was hot there at midday. It gets to about 95 now in the daytime, down to about 70 at night. I walked back to my hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon reading a newspaper and in an internet cafe.
The next morning I got a later start than I had hoped and took a 9:30 bus to Chamundi Hill, southeast of the city. It is visible from the palace, rising almost a thousand feet above the city. A sign said it is 3489 feet above sea level. The bus drive up, on a scenic, curving road for about seven miles, gives you good views of the hazy Mysore plains and the city below. Near the top are temples, the main one dedicated to Chamundi. A colorful statue of Mahishasura, with a sword and not yet transformed into a water buffalo, is near the bus stop. In front of the gopuram (the tall entrance gateway) of Chamundi's temple, pilgrims were leaving offerings of kumkum powder, bananas, flowers and incense sticks on a small cement enclosure labeled "Coconut Breaking Place." As I was photographing them, a guy threw a coconut against the inner wall of the enclosure, splattering me, and more importantly my camera lens, with coconut water. I cleaned my lens as best as I could while a group of about 20 women sang nearby. A procession arrived, a cart dragged by several men with a palanquin, a priest, and an idol on top. The priest descended and the idol was carried into the temple on the palanquin. I walked into the temple and arrived at the sanctuary, with a flower bedecked gold statue of Chamundi, about time an aarti was ending. I could hear the playing of horns in the courtyard around the sanctuary. Outside the sanctuary, in the courtyard, was another labeled "Coconut Breaking Place," with a priest standing there to break your coconut. In another corner of the courtyard another priest sat ready to give pilgrims a spoonful of holy water. I walked around several times, watching all the activity. Right in front of the sanctuary entrance, near a silver pillar, pilgrims were prostrating before a small shelf with flowers and kumkum powder.
I walked outside and then around the temple and about 11:30 started down the 1000 or so stairs that lead to the bottom. There are views of Mysore on the way down. I couldn't pick out the palace, but I could pick out the two towers of the 1930's Church of St. Philomena. About a third of the way down is a 16 foot high black statue of Nandi, dating from 1659. It had its own priest dispensing spoonfuls of holy water. Upon reaching the bottom, I walked for a short while until a guy on a motorcycle gave me a lift to the bus stop, where I got a bus back to Mysore. I was back about 1 and spent the afternoon in an internet cafe and doing errands.
The next morning I caught a bus before 9 heading east to Bannur, about 15 miles away. On the way we crossed the Cauvery River, one of India's seven holy rivers. The use of its water is a matter of dispute, especially in this drought year, between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to the south. We had passed lots of barren rice paddies, but close to the river were fields of sugar cane and even a few green rice paddies. From Bannur I took another bus south for about 5 miles to Somnathpur, arriving just before 10.
There's not much at Somnathpur but a 13th century Hoysala Temple, the latest and most complete of the great Hoysala temples. It is situated in the middle of a compound, with an arcade on the inside with 64 cells. The temple itself is on a plinth, as at Belur and Halebid, but unlike at Belur and Halebid it has a triple towered roof, each tower over a sanctuary, with the sanctuaries to the west, north and south. The entrance is to the east. As at Belur and Halebid, it is covered with soapstone sculpture, though not as well done, I think, as at Halebid. Along the base are six rows of figures, with elephants at the bottom and horses and riders just above. (No lions.) A good number of the horsemen still have their heads, so the Muslims were less thorough here. Next comes a floral scroll, then scenes from the Hindu epics, and above those a row of the mythical beasts called yalis and then a row of geese. Higher are gods and goddesses, smaller than at Belur and Halebid, only maybe two feet tall. I walked around the temple several times, enjoying the figures. Inside are lathe turned columns, a very well carved ceiling, and large idols (all manifestations of Vishnu, I think) in the three sanctuaries, but there are none of those lovely bracket figures, either inside or outside, as at Belur and Halebid. I walked through the arcade, where workers were restoring parts of it. By noon the black stone of the plinth was getting hot on my feet and I left about 12:30. I started walking down the road towards Bannur through pretty, though dry and hot, countryside, but a bus to Bannur came within minutes and I hopped on. I had to stand on the bus from Bannur back to Mysore, which got back about 2. In the late afternoon I walked to the market and the government arts and crafts emporium, but that was about it.
The next morning I took an 8:30 bus to Srirangapatna, about 10 miles north. Srirangapatna is an island in the Cauvery about three miles in length and a little over a mile at its widest. It is most famous as the site of the 1799 battle that the British called Seringapatam, in which Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, was defeated and killed. However, there has been an important Hindu temple on the island since the tenth century. The Vijayanagar Empire built a fort on the island in the 15th century and the Wadiyars made Srirangapatna their capital in the early 17th century. Haider Ali, a Muslim general in the Wadiyars' army, took power from the Hindu Maharaja in 1761 and fought the British while allying with the French. Upon his death in 1784, his son Tipu Sultan took over. There were four Mysore wars between the British and Haider and Tipu, the first about 1767. In the second, Haider decisively defeated the British in 1780, capturing and imprisoning the colonel in charge of the British troops. In 1791 the British, under Lord Cornwallis of Yorktown fame, besieged Srirangapatna and as part of the peace Tipu had to send his two sons as hostages to the British. In 1799 the British again besieged Srirangapatna, and after a month conquered the fort, with Tipu Sultan dying in the fighting. I've read that Colonel Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington), younger brother of the Marquess of Wellesley, then Governor General of British India, commanded the troops, though an obelisk in the fort said a general was in charge.
The bus passed remnants of the fort walls just before arrival. The British destroyed parts of the fort's triple ring of walls, but much remains. The bus dropped me off at the gates of a temple in the town center and I went into that temple and then into the main one nearby. The latter is quite large, with additions to the 10th century sanctuary built over the years by Vijayanagar, Wadiyars and even Haider Ali. It's not particularly beautiful, though. In fact, it's fairly plain. The sanctuary contains a recumbent Vishnu. The town fills most of the old fort, which is in the northwest corner of the island, with the Cauvery on its north and southwest. The southeast and east sides, facing the rest of the island, had the thickest of the triple walls. I walked along the northern walls to a 1907 obelisk set up by the Maharaja of Mysore commemorating the battle. After the battle, the British restored the Wadiyars to power, installing a four year old as Maharaja who reigned until 1868. I had read elsewhere that the British had 4000 European troops and either 6000 or 8000 Indian troops, along with 16,000 troops of their ally the Nizam of Hyderabad. The monument lists more than 1000 European casualties, including over 200 dead and missing. The Scottish brigades seemed especially hard hit. The Indian troops ("Native" troops, as they are described) had fewer casualties, only about 600, with 200 dead and missing. The Indian troops came from all over: Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Punjab and included Marathas, Gurkhas and Coorgis.
From the obelisk I retraced my steps and stopped at the dungeon along the north wall that once held British officers, including Colonel Baillie, captured in 1780. He apparently died in custody in 1782. From the walls there are good views of the rock filled Cauvery River, with its water quite low. The ruins of Tipu's palace are not far inland from the north wall. A little further east along the northern wall of the fort is the water gate, where Tipu was killed, and still further east there is a monument marking the place where his body was discovered after the battle. Further east is another dungeon and then the large mosque with two minarets built by Tipu. East of the mosque is the large Bangalore Gate complex.
I exited the gate and walked about half a mile to Tipu's summer palace. It is not impressive from the outside, but is wonderful inside. Made of teak and brick, it is two stories high and has an arcade with columns all around it, with shades hanging between the columns. Inside the arcade are several rooms and it seems every square inch is painted, mostly with Islamic floral and geometric patterns. However, the east and west outside walls are covered with figures. On the east wall are pictured dozens of Indian maharajas and other princes and even a few princesses. On the west wall is a depiction of the 1780 Battle of Pollilore, with the British surrounded and Colonel Baillie wounded and in a palanquin. Haider and Tipu are atop elephants directing the battle. French troops are also shown. Besides this battle scene, there are three other scenes, including processions of Haider and his army and Tipu and his army, and a procession of the Nizam of Hyderabad, which seems a little strange to me as he sided with the British (and, in contrast to Tipu, kept his throne). The palace also has paintings and prints of engravings, plus swords, guns, and some of Tipu's clothes. There are some famous early 19th century British engravings, of the storming of the fort, of Tipu's last fight, of the discovery of his body, and of the surrender of the two hostage princes in 1791. Some of these prints were in the palace and I have seen the others elsewhere. It seems the British respected Tipu. He called himself the Tiger of Mysore and had tiger stripes on his flags and other regalia. The British victory medal, on display in the palace, has a British lion overcoming a tiger.
I spent quite a while at the summer palace and then walked more than a mile further east, almost to the eastern end of the island, and arrived at the Gumbaz, the domed tomb Tipu built for his father and mother. It is an attractive granite building, though the dome had scaffolding on it. Inside are the tombs of Haider, in the center, with his wife on one side and Tipu on the other. All three were covered with colorful fabrics and showered with piles of very sweet smelling jasmine. I looked around for a while and then walked to the bus station near the Bangalore Gate. I got back to Mysore about 5:30.
After breakfast I took the bus the five miles or so back to Channarayapatna before 12 and immediately got on a bus heading to Mysore, 50 miles or more to the south. We passed through rolling country, with coconut palms and sugar cane growing, and crossed the Cauvery River at Srirangapatna before arriving in Mysore about 2:30. We passed the large 1805 British Residency, set in a park, on the way to the bus station. Mysore, with about 800,000 people, is at about 2500 feet elevation. It was the capital of the princely state of Mysore, which ruled most of what is now southern Karnataka until 1947. Mysore then became a state until it was included in the new language based state of Karnataka in 1956. The Maharaja of Mysore became Karnataka's first Governor. The Wadiyars (also spelled Wodeyars) were the ruling family and ruled Mysore from 1399, first as feudatories under the Vijayanagar Empire and, after its collapse in the late 16th century, in their own right, until 1947, except for about 40 years in the late 18th century.
I walked around town a bit in the late afternoon, glimpsing the huge palace of the Maharaja from afar through the gates and walking past many fine old colonial era buildings, including the columned Town Hall, with a statue of Ambedkar now in front, and an impressive looking hospital. I walked through the very crowded Devaraja Market, filled with flowers, fruit, vegetables, and lots of people.
About 7 the next morning, a Sunday, I walked through the quiet early morning streets to the market. Mysore is famous for its flower sellers, along with silk and sandalwood, and they were out early both on the street in front of the market and inside. They sell flowers strung together in long strands, the strands piled in loops. There were strands of yellow, purple with a few white flowers, and white with a few orange-pink blossoms. The white jasmine ones cost the most and smell absolutely wonderful. I was told the different types cost from 10 to 50 rupees a meter. I saw them being measured for sale by sellers who strung them out with extended arms once, twice, three times or more, depending on much the buyer wanted to buy, and then breaking off the length to be purchased. One guy was sitting on the sidewalk meticulously but quickly threading jasmine flowers and a few pink petals together. After watching the flower sellers on the sidewalk for a while, I walked into the market, much less crowded in the early morning than it had been the previous evening. Besides more flowers, there were enormous amounts of bananas on sale, plus other fruit. Brightly colored kumkum powder, the powder used for the bindis on foreheads, was on sale, heaped in conical piles. I walked through the fruit and then the vegetable sections and exited near the colonial era hospital building. Several men were sleeping on the unkempt grass in the little park fronting it. I walked past more of the old colonial buildings before having breakfast about 9:30.
After breakfast I walked to a railroad museum near the train station. Along the way I passed walls covered with some interesting murals of the sights in and around Mysore and among all these Indian scenes was one panel depicting Mount Rushmore. I wonder what that is all about. The railroad museum was interesting, with several old steam locomotives and passenger carriages. You could climb into all of them but one. The one you couldn't enter was the 1899 Maharani's carriage. You could, however, peer through its windows and see the Maharani's bed and table and bathroom with a sit down toilet. The servants quarters took up part of the carriage, with four bunks and a squat toilet. The museum was outdoors, but mostly under big trees, so not too hot in the midday sun.
From there I walked to the 1862 Jaganmohan Palace. The Maharaja lived there for about 15 years around the beginning of the 20th century after his old palace burned down and before his new one was completed. It's now a museum with old photos and paintings of the royal family, along with some of their old furniture and other possessions. There are also paintings of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington), and Gladstone (entitled "Rt. Hon. Gladstone"), along with paintings of durbars and etchings of the 1799 Battle of Srirangapatna. And there is a very interesting 1808 British map showing Mysore as of 1799. I spent quite a bit of time there before eating a late lunch or early dinner at about 4.
About 6:30 I walked to the Maharaja's Palace, built from 1898 to 1913. It is a huge building, with a very large parade ground in front of it. Every Sunday night it is illuminated with 97,000 light bulbs strung all over it. A large crowd had gathered and just before 7 the lights all came on, quite a spectacle. Not only the palace, but also the gates and temple towers surrounding the palace were strung with lights and illuminated. With the lights, a military band struck up just in front of the palace and played . . . The Stars and Stripes Forever! It continued to play as long as the lights were on, about 45 minutes. No other Sousa marches were played, but they did play the march from The Bridge over the River Kwai. I wandered around and enjoyed the sight of the palace from various angles and distances until the lights went out and I left with the rest of the crowd.
The next morning I went to the market early and then walked to the Maharaja's Palace before 10, when it opened. It was built by a British architect in Indo-Saracenic style, a combination of Moghul, Hindu and Gothic Revival styles. The top is covered with red Mughal domes. It replaced a wooden palace that burned down in 1897. You get an audio tour as part of the price of admission with a foreigner's ticket and I spent about three hours wandering around inside. The exterior looks better from a distance, and illuminated at night, but the inside is beautiful.
At the entrance, I passed the large brass Elephant Gate, with elephants depicted on it, along with the Mysore crest of two lions with elephant heads, with a two headed eagle above. I passed the Maharaja's howdah, for riding atop his elephant, covered with 84 kilograms (185 pounds) of gold. It also has a red and a green light, battery operated, so the Maharaja could signal the mahout when to go and when to stop. One of the first stops inside was the magnificent and cavernous Wedding Hall, with tall painted cast iron pillars, from Glasgow, leading up high above to a stained glass ceiling depicting peacocks. The peacock motif is continued on the tiled floor. Chandeliers hang from the arches. Scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and other Indian epics are carved on stone pillars further from the center of the room and on the walls are painted 26 scenes from the Dasara celebrations in the 1930's.
Dasara (usually called Dussehra elsewhere in India) is the Hindu festival of ten days in September or October celebrating the victory of good over evil. In northern India they usually celebrate Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana, but in Mysore they celebrate the killing of the demon buffalo Mahishasura by Shiva's wife Parvati in her avatar as Durga, or Chamundi. The story is that Mahishasura, after a period of evil doing, was punished by the gods. He appeared penitent and a reward was told he could not be killed by a man. He quickly resumed his evil ways and had to be dispatched, after a great battle in which he took the form of a water buffalo, by Chamundi. Mysore was named after Mahishasura (kind of odd -- why would they name it after the bad guy?) and Chamundi was the favorite deity of the Wadiyar maharajas. The ten days of Dasara are celebrated with great spectacle and splendor in Mysore and the paintings of the 1930's celebrations were very interesting, even depicting old advertisements, such as for Lipton Tea, and 1930's automobiles. But the most interesting details were of the Maharaja, his elephants, the rest of his spectacularly costumed retinue, and the crowds. Another room had paintings and photographs of the maharajas. The ten day Dasara celebrations and final day of parade are still held, though with a statue of Chamundi replacing the Maharaja atop the golden howdah on the elephant.
Upstairs is the Public Durbar Hall, a large room, about 150 by 50 feet, filled with about 30 brightly painted columns and open to the east, facing the huge parade ground. The Maharaja would sit on his golden throne in the center of the room, with ministers below and guests to the side, and look out to the parade ground. The ceilings, made of copper plates, are painted with scenes of gods and goddesses in a blue sky with white clouds. In the center are Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, Shiva the Destroyer, and Chamundi. Nearby is the Private Durbar Hall, even more beautiful. It is smaller, though still fairly large, with columns and sculpture, incised windows, a teak ceiling on the sides and a stained glass ceiling in the center. The doors are beautifully inlaid with ivory and there is one set of silver doors, apparently the only remnant of the old palace. Leaving the palace, I walked around a bit. There are elephants and camels you can ride. I walked out onto the parade ground, but it was hot there at midday. It gets to about 95 now in the daytime, down to about 70 at night. I walked back to my hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon reading a newspaper and in an internet cafe.
The next morning I got a later start than I had hoped and took a 9:30 bus to Chamundi Hill, southeast of the city. It is visible from the palace, rising almost a thousand feet above the city. A sign said it is 3489 feet above sea level. The bus drive up, on a scenic, curving road for about seven miles, gives you good views of the hazy Mysore plains and the city below. Near the top are temples, the main one dedicated to Chamundi. A colorful statue of Mahishasura, with a sword and not yet transformed into a water buffalo, is near the bus stop. In front of the gopuram (the tall entrance gateway) of Chamundi's temple, pilgrims were leaving offerings of kumkum powder, bananas, flowers and incense sticks on a small cement enclosure labeled "Coconut Breaking Place." As I was photographing them, a guy threw a coconut against the inner wall of the enclosure, splattering me, and more importantly my camera lens, with coconut water. I cleaned my lens as best as I could while a group of about 20 women sang nearby. A procession arrived, a cart dragged by several men with a palanquin, a priest, and an idol on top. The priest descended and the idol was carried into the temple on the palanquin. I walked into the temple and arrived at the sanctuary, with a flower bedecked gold statue of Chamundi, about time an aarti was ending. I could hear the playing of horns in the courtyard around the sanctuary. Outside the sanctuary, in the courtyard, was another labeled "Coconut Breaking Place," with a priest standing there to break your coconut. In another corner of the courtyard another priest sat ready to give pilgrims a spoonful of holy water. I walked around several times, watching all the activity. Right in front of the sanctuary entrance, near a silver pillar, pilgrims were prostrating before a small shelf with flowers and kumkum powder.
I walked outside and then around the temple and about 11:30 started down the 1000 or so stairs that lead to the bottom. There are views of Mysore on the way down. I couldn't pick out the palace, but I could pick out the two towers of the 1930's Church of St. Philomena. About a third of the way down is a 16 foot high black statue of Nandi, dating from 1659. It had its own priest dispensing spoonfuls of holy water. Upon reaching the bottom, I walked for a short while until a guy on a motorcycle gave me a lift to the bus stop, where I got a bus back to Mysore. I was back about 1 and spent the afternoon in an internet cafe and doing errands.
The next morning I caught a bus before 9 heading east to Bannur, about 15 miles away. On the way we crossed the Cauvery River, one of India's seven holy rivers. The use of its water is a matter of dispute, especially in this drought year, between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to the south. We had passed lots of barren rice paddies, but close to the river were fields of sugar cane and even a few green rice paddies. From Bannur I took another bus south for about 5 miles to Somnathpur, arriving just before 10.
There's not much at Somnathpur but a 13th century Hoysala Temple, the latest and most complete of the great Hoysala temples. It is situated in the middle of a compound, with an arcade on the inside with 64 cells. The temple itself is on a plinth, as at Belur and Halebid, but unlike at Belur and Halebid it has a triple towered roof, each tower over a sanctuary, with the sanctuaries to the west, north and south. The entrance is to the east. As at Belur and Halebid, it is covered with soapstone sculpture, though not as well done, I think, as at Halebid. Along the base are six rows of figures, with elephants at the bottom and horses and riders just above. (No lions.) A good number of the horsemen still have their heads, so the Muslims were less thorough here. Next comes a floral scroll, then scenes from the Hindu epics, and above those a row of the mythical beasts called yalis and then a row of geese. Higher are gods and goddesses, smaller than at Belur and Halebid, only maybe two feet tall. I walked around the temple several times, enjoying the figures. Inside are lathe turned columns, a very well carved ceiling, and large idols (all manifestations of Vishnu, I think) in the three sanctuaries, but there are none of those lovely bracket figures, either inside or outside, as at Belur and Halebid. I walked through the arcade, where workers were restoring parts of it. By noon the black stone of the plinth was getting hot on my feet and I left about 12:30. I started walking down the road towards Bannur through pretty, though dry and hot, countryside, but a bus to Bannur came within minutes and I hopped on. I had to stand on the bus from Bannur back to Mysore, which got back about 2. In the late afternoon I walked to the market and the government arts and crafts emporium, but that was about it.
The next morning I took an 8:30 bus to Srirangapatna, about 10 miles north. Srirangapatna is an island in the Cauvery about three miles in length and a little over a mile at its widest. It is most famous as the site of the 1799 battle that the British called Seringapatam, in which Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, was defeated and killed. However, there has been an important Hindu temple on the island since the tenth century. The Vijayanagar Empire built a fort on the island in the 15th century and the Wadiyars made Srirangapatna their capital in the early 17th century. Haider Ali, a Muslim general in the Wadiyars' army, took power from the Hindu Maharaja in 1761 and fought the British while allying with the French. Upon his death in 1784, his son Tipu Sultan took over. There were four Mysore wars between the British and Haider and Tipu, the first about 1767. In the second, Haider decisively defeated the British in 1780, capturing and imprisoning the colonel in charge of the British troops. In 1791 the British, under Lord Cornwallis of Yorktown fame, besieged Srirangapatna and as part of the peace Tipu had to send his two sons as hostages to the British. In 1799 the British again besieged Srirangapatna, and after a month conquered the fort, with Tipu Sultan dying in the fighting. I've read that Colonel Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington), younger brother of the Marquess of Wellesley, then Governor General of British India, commanded the troops, though an obelisk in the fort said a general was in charge.
The bus passed remnants of the fort walls just before arrival. The British destroyed parts of the fort's triple ring of walls, but much remains. The bus dropped me off at the gates of a temple in the town center and I went into that temple and then into the main one nearby. The latter is quite large, with additions to the 10th century sanctuary built over the years by Vijayanagar, Wadiyars and even Haider Ali. It's not particularly beautiful, though. In fact, it's fairly plain. The sanctuary contains a recumbent Vishnu. The town fills most of the old fort, which is in the northwest corner of the island, with the Cauvery on its north and southwest. The southeast and east sides, facing the rest of the island, had the thickest of the triple walls. I walked along the northern walls to a 1907 obelisk set up by the Maharaja of Mysore commemorating the battle. After the battle, the British restored the Wadiyars to power, installing a four year old as Maharaja who reigned until 1868. I had read elsewhere that the British had 4000 European troops and either 6000 or 8000 Indian troops, along with 16,000 troops of their ally the Nizam of Hyderabad. The monument lists more than 1000 European casualties, including over 200 dead and missing. The Scottish brigades seemed especially hard hit. The Indian troops ("Native" troops, as they are described) had fewer casualties, only about 600, with 200 dead and missing. The Indian troops came from all over: Madras, Bombay, Bengal, Punjab and included Marathas, Gurkhas and Coorgis.
From the obelisk I retraced my steps and stopped at the dungeon along the north wall that once held British officers, including Colonel Baillie, captured in 1780. He apparently died in custody in 1782. From the walls there are good views of the rock filled Cauvery River, with its water quite low. The ruins of Tipu's palace are not far inland from the north wall. A little further east along the northern wall of the fort is the water gate, where Tipu was killed, and still further east there is a monument marking the place where his body was discovered after the battle. Further east is another dungeon and then the large mosque with two minarets built by Tipu. East of the mosque is the large Bangalore Gate complex.
I exited the gate and walked about half a mile to Tipu's summer palace. It is not impressive from the outside, but is wonderful inside. Made of teak and brick, it is two stories high and has an arcade with columns all around it, with shades hanging between the columns. Inside the arcade are several rooms and it seems every square inch is painted, mostly with Islamic floral and geometric patterns. However, the east and west outside walls are covered with figures. On the east wall are pictured dozens of Indian maharajas and other princes and even a few princesses. On the west wall is a depiction of the 1780 Battle of Pollilore, with the British surrounded and Colonel Baillie wounded and in a palanquin. Haider and Tipu are atop elephants directing the battle. French troops are also shown. Besides this battle scene, there are three other scenes, including processions of Haider and his army and Tipu and his army, and a procession of the Nizam of Hyderabad, which seems a little strange to me as he sided with the British (and, in contrast to Tipu, kept his throne). The palace also has paintings and prints of engravings, plus swords, guns, and some of Tipu's clothes. There are some famous early 19th century British engravings, of the storming of the fort, of Tipu's last fight, of the discovery of his body, and of the surrender of the two hostage princes in 1791. Some of these prints were in the palace and I have seen the others elsewhere. It seems the British respected Tipu. He called himself the Tiger of Mysore and had tiger stripes on his flags and other regalia. The British victory medal, on display in the palace, has a British lion overcoming a tiger.
I spent quite a while at the summer palace and then walked more than a mile further east, almost to the eastern end of the island, and arrived at the Gumbaz, the domed tomb Tipu built for his father and mother. It is an attractive granite building, though the dome had scaffolding on it. Inside are the tombs of Haider, in the center, with his wife on one side and Tipu on the other. All three were covered with colorful fabrics and showered with piles of very sweet smelling jasmine. I looked around for a while and then walked to the bus station near the Bangalore Gate. I got back to Mysore about 5:30.
Wish I read this very informative account of your travels around Mysore, Somnathpur and Srirangapatnam. I am impressed by your being able to travel around India by bus and on foot, neither of which was easy as we experienced when we were in Bangalore. My companions and I played safe and rented a Bangalore car for our Mysore excursion. This may have been quicker, safer, and more convenient for all of us but we remained outsiders looking in.
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