The three-day Srirangapatna Dasara got underway in the ancient island town on Monday and was inaugurated by Ms. Pramoda Devi Wadiyar of the erstwhile royal family.
The event is significant as Dasara came to be celebrated in the present form when the capital of the Mysore Kingdom was Srirangapatna and Raja Wadiyar ordained that Navaratri be celebrated on a grand scale. The events shifted to Mysuru with the shifting of the capital from Srirangapatana after the 4th Anglo-Mysuru war.
Ms. Pramoda Devi made floral offerings to the idol of goddess Chamundeshwari which was hoisted on the caparisoned elephant Mahendra which was accompanied by Varalakshmi and Vijaya.
The procession comprised the police band, cavalry, folk artistes performing puja kunita, veeragase, nagaari, jadekolata, garudigombe, somana kunita, onakekunita, rangada kunita, kahale, pattadakunita, hulivesha, yakshagana, and mahila dollu kunita to name a few and attracted the local community and the tourists alike.
There were a few tableaus as well from the Department of Women and Child Welfare depicting Gruhalaksmi scheme of the government and ban on child marriages. There were tableaus by the department of health, sericulture, agriculture, and horticulture all of which projected different schemes of the government.
Minister for Agriculture N. Cheluvarayaswamy who is also the minister in charge of Mandya district, MLA A.B. Ramesh Bandisiddegowda, Deputy Commissioner Dr. Kumar, Superintendent of Police N.Yatish, Mandya Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Sheikh Tanvir Asif, and others were present. People had lined up on both sides of the road in the town to watch the procession and the seating gallery was full.
There will be a slew of programmes at Srirangapatna on October 17 and 18 as well.
