The 10-day Dasara festival of the Wadiyars with all the royal paraphernalia and traditions dating back to centuries came to a close in what was a throwback to the past, on Tuesday.
Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar completed the religious rites and rituals associated with the Navaratri celebrations of the royal family with the procession to Bhuvaneshwari temple in the palace precincts.
Yaduveer was accompanied by a retinue of palace staff, priests and family members with the caparisoned elephants leading from the front and Nadaswara artists playing music.
The arms were placed in the palanquin and taken to the temple and the royal cow (Pattada Hasu), royal horse (Pattada Kudure) completed the lineup which marched from the palace premises to the temple in what is reckoned to be a symbolic version of the victory procession that used to be taken out by the rulers of Vijayanagar empire.
This was preceded by the Vajramusthi Kalaga – a type of wrestling in which the jetties with knuckleduster take a swipe at each other and whoever draws the first blood is declared the winner.
That the kings of the Vijayanagar used to witness this form of wrestling is evident in the writings of the medieval travellers and the tradition has been kept alive by the Wadiyars.
The Navaratri tradition was inherited by the Wadiyars and it was Raja Wadiyar who proclaimed that it be celebrated on a grand scale on ascending the throne in 1610 CE at Srirangapatana. This was systematised and received an institutional format during the successive rulers and the tradition as being followed in the present times, is at least 400 years old with minor alterations.
‘’Mysuru Dasara – The State Festival’’ published by the Department of Archaeology Museums and Heritage describes the rituals and the elaborate preparations that are undertaken by the Wadiyars for the Navaratri which concludes with the visit to Bhuvaneshwari temple to mark Vijayadashmi.
The other ceremonies that are part of the Dasara celebrations by the Wadiyars include ascending the golden throne and holding durbar but they are symbolic in nature consequent to the abolition of monarchy and the privy purse.
The Navaratri was celebrated on a grand scale by the Vijayanagar rulers for which there is evidence by way of eyewitness accounts of the medieval travellers. Besides, there is archaeological evidence from the Mahanavami Dibba at Hampi from where the rulers would watch the march past of the cavalcade of the elephants, horses and danseuse.
Though held out of public gaze and open to select invitees, the Dasara as celebrated by the Wadiyars adds a royal hue to the Naada Habba celebrated by the State government with the palace being the centre-stage for both the events.
