A day in Mysore

India has a very prominent past of royal heritage. Most of the times when we picturize Indian royalty, a few places like Udaipur, Jaipur, Lucknow, Gwalior, Agra come in our mind. One often forgets the rich royal legacy that kingdoms ruling the southern part of the country have left behind. One such beautiful city, Mysore, lies in the state of Karnataka which is a plethora of royal legacy. Seat of the famous Mysore Kingdom and historically known for its ruler- Tipu Sultan, also known as 'Tiger of Mysore', Mysore is a “must go” place for anyone visiting Karnataka.

The best time to visit Mysore is during the winters (October- March) when the weather is pleasant. Mysore has its own railway station and airport but the most preferred route is via Bangalore, the nearest metro city and at a distance of around 150 kms via road. Regular buses ply between Mysore and Bangalore with a one-way journey time of approximately 3 hours. One can also take a train or hire a private cab from Bangalore. If you are visiting in a group, hiring a private cab might be a better and cheaper option.

I personally hired a private cab for a day long tour to Mysore. The journey started from Bangalore around at 6 am in the morning. The cool breeze blowing in the early hours of the day, gives you a fresh feeling, which is much needed on a weekend tour. As we moved out from the hustle and bustle of the city to the countryside, landscape got dotted with hills and cliffs in the background. 

Some of the towns that fall on the Bangalore- Mysore highway are Ramnagara, Channapatna (town of toys), Mandya and then comes the town of Srirangapatna (approx. 20 km before Mysore) with its rich cultural, religious and historical significance. This was our first stop for the trip. It is an island town surrounded by river Cauvery. Some of the important tourists spots in this town are Ranganathaswamy Temple, Tipu's Death place, Dariya Daulat Bagh and Gumbaz. 

Ranganathaswamy Temple

Ranganathswamy temple is a beautiful stone carved temple of Lord Vishnu. The inner apartment of Sri Ranganatha temple was built in 9th century. Since it was a weekend, apart from all the tourists, locals had also gathered for offerings to God. It took us around half hour to complete the entire visit due to the crowd.

Post that we went to the Gumbaz, which is the mausoleum of Tipu Sultan, overlooking a beautiful garden with large variety of trees and and a wide lane running between it leading up to the mausoleum. The cenotaphs of Tipu Sultan, Haider Ali and Fatimah Begum are deep seated inside the black granite building. Apart from this there are many other tombs in the campus along with a mosque built by Tipu Sultan himself.

Gumbaz

Our next spot of attraction was Dariya Daulat Bagh, widely known as Tipu's summer palace, exquisitely carved out of Teak Wood. The most spectacular feature of the palace is that the walls, pillars, canopies and arches have colourful frescoes in the style of Mysore paintings. The outer walls of the palace have frescoes of the battle scenes and portraits and the inner walls and wooden ceilings are decorated with floral patterns. After visiting all the famous places in Srirangapatna, we resumed our journey to Mysore.

Dariya Daulat Bagh

It was post noon and all of us were very hungry. The first thing that crossed our minds upon reaching Mysore was food. After having a wonderful South Indian thali for lunch, we headed for the magnificent Mysore Palace. The palace was originally built in the 14th century by Yaduraya Wodeyar and Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and reconstructed several times consequently post 19th century when the architecture finally transformed to an Indo-Saracenic style. Lord Henry Irwin was the chief architect entrusted with the responsibility to construct a royal palace for the Wodeyar dynasty. The palace is a three-storey stone edifice made with fine granite, grey in colour, having deep pink marble stones atop and a five-storey tower rising to 145 ft. It has many secret tunnels that lead to several arcane and other places like the town of Srirangapatna. 

Mysore Palace

The superlatively columned Durbar Hall, the solid silver doors, the finely engraved mahogany ceilings and many other beautifications of the palace make one enthralled and also draw a picture regarding the plush lifestyle of the royals. Sound and light shows are conducted on all days except Sundays and public holidays from 7:00 pm to 7:40 pm. On Sundays and public holidays the timings are 7 pm to 7:45 pm. Entry charge for the show is Rs.40 for adults, Rs.25 for children between 7 to 12 years of age and Rs.200 for foreign nationals. It will be interesting for you to know that Mysore palace is among the most famous tourist destinations of India after Taj Mahal. Mysore is also well known for its Dasara festival, which we missed, during the months of September or October. It is said that during this time of the year, the palace remains illuminated for 10 days of the festival with around 100,000 light bulbs from 7 pm to 10 pm. 

The grand palace is overlooked by the Chamundi Hills, located just in the outskirts of the city, and was our next stop. This hill is the abode of goddess Chamundi and holds historical significance due to the Maharajas who had strong faith in the goddess and the custom got carried forward. St. Phelomena's Cathedral is another point of attraction in the city. Built in 1840, it is one of the largest Churches in India and is renowned for its architectural excellence. It was almost sunset time when we were visiting this grandeur establishment and the view of the falling dusk was strikingly captivating.

Chamundi Hill templae

St.Phelomena's Chr

Brindavan Garden

Our last destination was the Brindavan Gardens, built in the surrounding of Krishnaraja Sagar Dam over Cauvery River. The layout of the garden is very fascinating with its Rose garden and glistering fountains across the garden. One could spend a good amount of time strolling across the beautiful gardens and listening to the drizzling sound of the small waterfall which will soothe your ears and free your mind. Since we had limited time we headed towards the Laser Show which is one of the main attraction of the garden. The illumination timing at Brindavan Gardens varies across the year. The illumination timings from the month of January to September are from Monday to Friday at 6.30 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. to 7.55 p.m. and on weekends it is from 7 p.m. to 8.55 p.m. During the month of October to December, the timings are from 7 p.m. to 8.55 p.m. on weekdays while on Saturday and Sunday, it is from 7 p.m. to 8.25 p.m. The laser show was the last attraction of the day.

With this our trip to Mysore came to an end and we headed back to Bangalore covering a return journey of around three and half hours and a lot of sleep. It was a great day, full of excitement and enthusiasm. I would add Mysore as a must visit place if one is visiting South India!