Low-key Mahisha Dasara celebrations were held at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Park in Ashokapuram in Mysuru on Sunday after the authorities refused the organisers permission for the event to be held at the statue of Mahishasura atop Chamundi Hills.
Former Mayor Purushottam, who heads the Mahisha Dasara Organising Committee, was joined by Urulinga Peddi Mutt seer Sri Jnanaprakash Swamiji, noted writer K.S. Bhagavan, retired Professor of University of Mysore Prof. P.V. Nanjaraj Urs and members of various progressive organisations. Mahisha Dasara was celebrated by offerring floral tributes to a portrait of Mahishasura, who is revered by them as a “great ruler of Mahisha Mandal”.
Mahisha Dasara was celebrated a day before the start of the ten-day-long annual Dasara festival, which incidentally marks the slaying of Mahishasura, regarded as a demon, by goddess Chamundeshwari according to mythological accounts.
Mr. Purushottam said they began celebrating Mahisha Dasara eight years ago after they were enlightened about the truth regarding Mahishasura. Far from an “evil demon”, Mahishasura was a “benevolent ruler, who stood for humanism”, he said. Every year, the organisers offered floral tributes to the statue of Mahishasura atop Chamundi Hills and hold a stage programme with a view to erasing the portrayal of Mahishasura as an “evil demon”.
“But, ever since the BJP government has come to power in Karnataka, we have been deprived of their constitutional right to worship the deity of our choice,” he lamented.
The statue of Mahishasura situated at a short distance from Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hills was found covered with a cloth and barricaded with a posse of police personnel standing guard. Security had also been tightened atop Chamundi Hills on Sunday, a day before President Droupadi Murmu is scheduled to inaugurate the Dasara festival.
Prof. Nanjaraj Urs, who spoke at the celebrations on Sunday, criticised the BJP government for denying permission for Mahisha Dasara. “Was Mahisha worse than Savarkar, whose portrait was worshipped in Ganesha pandals, and (Nathuram) Godse, whose portraits were taken out in processions?”, Prof. Urs asked.
Contending that Mysuru got its name from Mahisha, Prof. Urs said he had copies of letterheads of erstwhile rulers of Mysuru including Sri Jayachamajendra Wadiyar which bore the name “Mahishuru”. He hoped that the Mahisha Dasara celebrations will be celebrated in a grand manner next year when a new government comes to power. “Let anybody come to power. BJP should not come to power,” he said.
