Mysore, India Photos Like You’ve Never Seen Her Before
Mysore (officially renamed Mysuru in 2014) was the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore for nearly 600 years, from the 14th century all the way to Indian independence in 1947. The Wadiyar dynasty ruled from here, and it shows. The whole city feels like it was built to impress someone important.
Getting to Mysore from Bengaluru involved sitting on a cramped bus with your luggage for 4 hours. There was no air-conditioner on this bus, but that was fine, since it was cloudy enough to prevent intense heating.
Check out Bengaluru, India here.
Less Chaotic Than Bengaluru
Arriving in Mysore, you immediately feel that it is way less chaotic than Bengaluru. The population here is about 1 million (versus Bengaluru’s 12 million), so the traffic and noise drop dramatically.
Still just as dirty with garbage thrown around on every corner, street, green field, crevice and what not, but otherwise, less chaotic.
A lot of the buildings around central Mysore date back to the British colonial period. The city was a “model princely state” under the British Raj, which meant the local Wadiyar kings kept ruling while the British influenced infrastructure, architecture, and education. You can see that blend everywhere.
Up to Chamundi Hill
My friend and I rented a motorbike for 1 day, and rode around the entire city. First stop was Chamundi Hill, a roughly 1,000 meter elevation hill on the southeastern edge of Mysore. It’s named after the goddess Chamundeshwari, the patron deity of the Wadiyar royal family. You can either drive up the winding road or climb all 1,008 stone steps from the base. We took the motorbike.
Early in the morning we rode up the hill, and had an amazing view of the city spreading out below.
The hill sits about 300 meters above the city floor. From the top you can see the entire urban spread of Mysore, the farmland around it, and on clear days even the Nilgiri Hills in the distance.
Chamundeshwari Temple
At the top of Chamundi Hill sits the Chamundeshwari Temple, which has been a place of worship for over a thousand years. The current structure dates mostly to the 12th century, though the Wadiyar Maharajas renovated and expanded it over several centuries. Outside the temple sits a massive painted statue of Mahishasura, the buffalo-headed demon that the goddess Chamundeshwari (a form of Durga) is said to have slain. That legend is literally the origin of the city’s name: “Mahishasuru” became “Mysuru.”
The temple grounds are alive with activity. Families in bright saris line up for darshan (blessings), vendors sell flowers and coconut offerings, and priests sit cross-legged outside selling prayer bundles. There’s a small market up here too, mostly food stalls and souvenir shops.
And then there are the monkeys. Bonnet macaques are everywhere on Chamundi Hill. They sit on railings, perch on rooftops, steal food from tourists, and generally own the place. The locals treat them as sacred (Hanuman, the monkey god, is a big deal in Hinduism), so nobody bothers them. They know it, too.
Devaraja Market
Then we rode down to the Devaraja Market in the city center. This market has been running since the late 1800s, formally established around 1886 under the Maharaja’s rule. It stretches across multiple blocks and sells everything from jasmine flowers and sandalwood to fresh produce, silk, bangles, and spices. Mysore is one of the biggest sandalwood and silk centers in India, and this market is the commercial heartbeat of it all.
The narrow aisles are packed. Vendors sit behind mountains of fruit, piles of flowers, and racks of colorful bangles. The whole place smells like incense and overripe mangoes. It hasn’t changed much in over a century.
Mysore Palace
The main attraction in Mysore: the Mysore Palace.
The palace you see today was built between 1897 and 1912 after the previous wooden palace burned down during a royal wedding (yes, really). The Wadiyar Maharaja hired Henry Irwin, a British architect, to design the replacement. The result is a style called Indo-Saracenic, which blends Hindu temple architecture, Islamic domes, Rajput arches, and Gothic towers into one building. It’s one of the most visited monuments in India, drawing about 6 million visitors per year.
A mixture of Hindu and Islamic architecture that now houses various artifacts and paintings not stolen by the British.
The palace grounds cover about 72 acres, and they keep a few elephants and a camel on the premises. The elephants are used during the Dasara festival in October, when they carry a golden howdah (throne) in a massive procession through the city streets. Dasara in Mysore is a 10-day celebration that’s been going on for over 400 years.
The inside of the palace is impressive too, with stained glass ceilings, carved wooden doors, and paintings everywhere. Photography is technically not allowed inside (we may have been a bit sneaky about that).
But the outside is where the really beautiful view is. There are various Hindu temples located within the palace walls as well, some dating back centuries before the current palace was built.
At night the palace is something else entirely. Every Sunday evening (and during the Dasara festival), they switch on 97,000 light bulbs that outline every arch, dome, pillar, and turret. The whole building glows golden against the dark sky. It’s one of those things that photos really don’t do justice.
Around the City
Other than the big landmarks, Mysore is one of those places you visit for a day, maybe 2 days max if you want to walk through all of the busy narrow streets.
There’s actually a fair bit of history packed into the random buildings you ride past. The University of Mysore (founded 1916) was the first university established in Karnataka and the sixth oldest in all of India.
The mosque next door to the church is a common sight in Mysore. The Wadiyar rulers were Hindu but historically tolerant of other religions, so mosques, churches, and temples coexist on the same streets. Tipu Sultan, the famous Muslim ruler who briefly took power in the late 1700s, also left his mark on the area before the British defeated him in 1799.
Jaganmohan Palace, built in 1861 as a royal auditorium, now serves as an art gallery housing paintings by Raja Ravi Varma and other Indian masters.
More Links
- Mysore on Wikipedia
- Mysore on Google Maps
- Bengaluru, India Photos
- Wayanad, India Photos
- Getting To India Was Ridiculous
Thanks for reading!
— Leo
