MYSORE PALACE |
Documentary Film Series on Mysore Palace
INTRODUCTION |
The Garden City of Mysore, a tourists
paradise, has nail and artistic backdrop in the form of the Chamundi Hill
on which resides the presiding deity of Mysore and its Royal Family, Goddess
Chamundeshwari. The City derives its hoary past the Hill itself. Mahavamasa
and Dipavamsa, the Buddhist texts, allude to the despatch of Buddhist
missionary, Mahadeva by Asoka to Mahishamandala to propagate the Buddhist
Dharma. Mahishamandala is identified with Mahisuru, the City of buffalo
demon Mahishasura, who was vanquished by Durga and established herself
on the hill in the form of Chamunda. |
With
the traditional founding of the Mysore dynasty, in 1399 A.D. by Yaduraya,
Mysore has seen 24 rulers. However, until the emergence of Raja Wadiyar
in 1578 A.D. the Mysore Kingdom was a small feudatory Kingdom under the
Vijayanagam Kingdom. With the fall of Vijayanagara in 1565 A.D. the Wadiyars
of Mysore, inherited and perpetuated the traditions of Vijayanagara. Raja
Wadiyar ascended the throne with pomp and pageantry in 1610 A.D., in Srirangapatna
which was then the Capital and inaugurated the Dasara festivities which
are still celebrated with all grandeur. The most celebrated Kings after
Raja Wadiyar who contributed to the cultural heritage of Mysore are Ranadhira
Kanthirava Narasaraja Wadiyar (1638-1659 A.D.), Chikka Devaraja Wadiyar
(1673-1704 A.D.),
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Mummadi
Krishnaraja Wadiyar (m) (1799-1868 A.D.), Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar
(TV) (1902-1940 A.D.) and Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar from 1940 till the
establishment of the Republic of India.
There was an interregnum between 1761 and 1799 when Haidar Ali and Ms
celebrated son Tipu Sultan were virtually the rulers of the State until
Tipu fell at the capture of Srirangapatna by the British in 1799. The
five year old Prince Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, was then installed as the
King of Mysore on the throne of his ancestors in 1799.
THE MYSORE PALACE - ITS HISTORY & ARCHITECTURE
The Old Palace
Annals of the Mysore Royal Family (Srimanmaharajaravara Vamsavali) inform
us that the Rajas of the fourteenth century were living in a Palace in
Mysore. However, the first definite mention of the Mysore Palace is available,
when in about 1638 A.D. it is said to have been rebuilt by Ranadhira Kanthirava
Narasaraja Wadiyar, after it had been struck and damaged by lightning.
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Added
to this was the fire. In 1897, at the close of the festivities, during
the marriage of the princess Jayalakshmmanniyavaru, the grater part of
this wooden Palace was almost destroyed by fire. We are fortunate to have
a photograph of this wooden Palace taken by one John Birdwood, who was
a lancer in the Mysore Army and who later became the Commander-in-Chief
of Indian Army and later on he was the Master of Peter House, Cambridge.
He presented the Photograph to His Highness in 1929. An excellent description
of this wooden Palace as it was before disastrous fire of February 1897
has been recorded.
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The New Palace
In order to restore the grandeur of the Mysore Palace, Her Highness, the
Maharani Vanivilasa Sannidhana, C.L., then Regent, decided to build a
new Palace on the model and on the foundations of the old Palace. The
architectural plans by Mr. Henry lrwin, architect of the Viceregal Lodge
at Simla and Consulting Architect with the Government of Madras, were
approved. The construction was inaugurated by Her Highness in October
of 1897 and Mr. B.P. Raghavulu Naidu, A.C.E., Executive Engineering, Palace
Division, Mysore State was placed in charge of the building of the new
palace, as the old palace had burnt to a certain extent and destroyed
by fire. He had an extensive study of architecture design at Calcutta,
Delhi and Agra to be incorporated in the New Palace which stands even
today as a splendid edifice of his work, and artists ability. He was also
in charge of improvement of Mysore with New Bazaars and buildings and
was responsible to build the Marriage Pavilion "The Jagan Mohan Palace"
in 1900. He obtained many awards for has engineering skill from the palace
as well as an award at Franco-British exhibition of 1908 for an artistic
Show Case Exhibit.
The construction of the palace was completed in 1912 at an aggregate outlay
of Rs.41,47,913. Two special features in the construction of tills palace
are noteworthy: utilisation of local materials as far as possible and
adoption of fireproof methods of construction which was be an essential
feature of the new design.
The main building is of massive grey granite, three storeyed, and dominated
by a five storeyed tower covered by a gilded dome. The tower is about
145 feet from the ground to the golden flag on its summit.
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The
imposing facade has seven big arches and two small arches flanking the
central arch, supported by tall pillars. Above the central arches as the
parapet is the sculpture of Gajalaksmi. The Palace, like the old, is built
around an open courtyard, called thotti open to the sky. To the east of
this thotti on the ground floor, is the impressive elephant gate. Immediately
to the south is the beautiful Kalyana mantapa or the marriage pavilion.
On the first floor, still facing east, is the great Durbar hall, Diwun-e-Ain,
measuring 47.25 in (155 feet long) by 12.80 m (42 feet wide). On the same
floor, towards the south is a daintily decorated private durbar hall,
called Ambavilasa, the Diwan-e-Khas. The second floor has several rooms
and large halls on the sides. The Kalyanamantapa or the marriage pavilion,
in the ground floor, is a beauty to look at. The octagonal, painted pavilion
has a colourful stained-glass wiling.
The designing of the stained decorations is said to have been done by
the artists of Mysore, but executed by the famous Walter Macfarlane Saracen
Foundry at Glasgow. The dome is supported by clusters of triple cast iron
pillars, at intervals. The main theme of the stained glass decoration
as well as that of the mosaic floor is the peacock. Hence this hall is
also called peacock pavilion.
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Apart from the stained-glass decoration
which is the central attraction, the walls of this pavilion are covered
with murals, depicting the famous Mysore Dasara. |
The Dasara or the Festival of Ten nights
was first celebrated on a grand scale by the rulers of Vijayanagar, at
Hampi. We have graphic accounts of these festivities in the accounts of
the contemporary foreign travellers like the Portuguese Domingo Paes,
the Persian ambassador Abdur Razaak who visited Vijayanagar. With the
disintegration of the Vijayanagar empire, it was the Nayaks of Keladi
and Ikkeri, and Wadiyars of Mysore who inherited the traditions of Vijayanagar.
The Mysore rulers made the Dasara immortal by the grand festivities for
ten days, culminating in the famous procession of the Kind in a Golden
howdah, on a decorated elephant.
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However, the Mysore artists, under the patronage of, and commissioned
by, the noble Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, have immortalized the Dasara procession,
on canvas, in 26 panels, on the walls of the marriage pavilion. Thus,
the Kalyanamantapa is not only a architectural beauty, but a veritable
gallery of paintings.
Mahabharata fame, and was in Hastinapura. Kampilaraya brought this throne
from Hastmapura to Penugonda, now in Andhra Pradesh, where it was kept
underground.
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The public Durbar Hall is a massive pillared hall, which deserves to be
rnaintai.ned as such. The rear walls have paintings by Raja Ravivarma
(Rama breaking the Siva Dhanus), and eight forms of Devi, viz., Kalika,
Navadurga, Mahishamardini, Saraswati, Mahalakshmi, Bhuvanesvari, Gayatri
and Rajarajeshvari, by a distinguished local artist-sculptor Sri Shilpi
Siddalingaswami. The central panel has a large paintings of the Mysore
royal family, by another distinguished artist late Sri Y. Nagaraju, who
has also executed some of the panels in the marriage pavilion. The interesting
feature of this panel, however, is that it depicts four generations of
Mysore Kings, viz., Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, Chamaraja Wadiyar, Krishnaraja
Wadiyar IV with his younger brother Kanthirava Narasaraja Wadiyar, and
the handsome prince Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, the last king who ruled the
princely State before it merged into the Indian Union. All the paintings
are encased in delicately carved teak-wood frames, which are by themselves
works of art.
The Durbar Hall was extended on the eastern side in front of the old one
during the year 1932. The facade has nine arches in front supported by
ornamental pillars, carrying a beautiful balcony on top. Since the hall
does not have any intermediate pillars, it provided an uninterrupted view
of the Throne and various functions at the Durbars. The room immediately
above the descending gallery is covered with sheets of asbestos which
are painted, depicting the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. The central
panel of the ceiling has the painting of the twelve zodiac signs surrounding
the trinity of the Hindu pantheon, Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. The
Artist was Sri Shilpi Siddalingawamy.
The frontage of the Durbar Hall was further improved with the additions
of the side wings with double towers, all cut in stone.
There are two inscriptions on marble slabs fixed on the eastern face of
the northern and southern wings. They record that under the patronage
of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the construction of the new Durbar Hall was
carried by engineers whose names are recorded.
The Ambavilasa, which is the Diwan-e-Khas, is the most gorgeously decorated
hall, with a harmonious composition in colours. The beauty of many of
the details is unsurpassed in the Palace. The floor, in between the pillars
is inlaid with Agra work, but completed by local boys and men. The teak-wood
ceiling too is magnificent having bold and intricate carved designs. Every
door, silver, teak and rosewood with ivory inlay, has charming decorative
designs, depicting the ten incarnations of Vishnu, or tiny Krishna kissing
his toe, as he lies on the pipal leaf.
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The central
aisle has a beautiful stained glass ceiling decorated with delicate designs,
supported by cast-iron pillars, all of which are manufactured by the famous
Mcfarlane of Glasgow. The beautification of the Ambavilasa was entrusted
to that celebrated artist of Karnataka, Sri K. Venkatappa. While assigning
the work, late His Highness Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV said, "You have devoted
your whole life for the study of fine arts, and have made great name in
your life, you have brought much credit to my State, and I consider it
as a pride. My only ambition is to show you, through your art, to the
distinguished visitors that come here, and say that it is my countryman's
work". A look at this beautiful hall, where Venkatappa his blended blue,
gold and red to provide a pleasing colour scheme shows that the great
artist has lived up to the expectations of late His Highness.
The dainty hall also has three plaster of Paris bas-reliefs of the great
artist K. Venkatappa, fixed to the southern wall interspersing the windows.
They represent Hanuman receiving the signet ring from Rama (done in 1930),
Buddha begging Alms from Yashodhara and Rahula (done in 1933-34) and Shakuntala
taking leave of sage Kanva (done in 1928).
The star attraction of the Mysore Palace is the traditional ceremonial
golden throne.
The golden throne, consists of the main seat, a staircase, and the golden
umbrella. A benedictory verse, forming part of the Sanskrit inscription,
consisting of 24 Slokas in Anusthubh metre. engraved on the rim of the
umbrella.
According to this epigraph, which is addressed to Krishnaraja Wadiyar
III, the bejewelled golden throne has come down to the Mysore royal family
from generations of kings.
The history of the remarkable throne is exciting. According to one tradition
this throne belonged to the Pandavas
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In
1336 A.D. Vidyaranya, the royal preceptor of the Vijayanagar kings, pointed
out the spot where it was buried, to Hiriham I, one of the founders of
the Vijayanagar empire, who retrieved this. This auspicious throne was
then used by the Vijayanagar kings at Anegondi, for more than a century
and a ha!f. During the early part of the 17th century, the Governor of
Vijayanagar rulers at Srirangapatna obtained this and brought it there.
After the fall of Tipu Sultan, this throne was recovered from a room in
the Sultan's Palace at Srirangapatna. It is learnt that this royal seat
was quickly renovated and used in the coronation of the child Raja, Krishnaraja
Wadiyar III in 1799. Since then this ceremonial throne remained with the
Mysore royal family.
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Originally made of figwood, this throne
is said to have been decorated with ivory plaques. Later on, in course
of time, it was decorated and be jewelled with golden embellishment and
silver figurines. In a Sanskrit work called Devatanama Kusumamanjari composed
by King Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, in 1859, there is a detailed description
of the golden throne:
"The throne is decorated with golden pillars and mango leaves. The balustrades
of the steps leading to the seat are embellished with female figures.
The golden umbrella has festoons. The seat has the tortoise seat (Kurmasana).
The four sides of the throne are decorated with Vyalas and creepers. Elephants
on the east, horse on the south, soldiers on the west and chariots on
the north decorate the royal seat. Brahma towards the south, Mahashwara
on the north and Vishnu in the centre form the Tinity. In the corners,
are fond Vijaya and four lions, two of the mythical Shardulas, two horse
and swans in the four corners. It is further adorned with Naga nymphs
and Ashthadikpalas or the guardians of the eight quarters".
This throne is a work of art. Although it has undergone slight alterations
in the 1940s, it has retained the original artistic, decorative features.
The vast open space, in front of the Palace, with the planned garden that
is being laid out, adds charm and majesty to the entire structure. "The
place is known for its illumination. The entire building is lined with
rows of bulbs, following the contours of the structure, and when lit up,
it looks like a Place of lights. It is no wonder that visitors to the
Palace exclaim, that the Mysore Place has no comparison anywhere in the
world and is unique".
The other main attraction of the Palace are :
(1) The Fort, (2) Cannons, (3) The Dolls Pavilion (Gombe Thotti), (4)
The Golden Howdah, (5) Marriage Pavilion (Kalyana Mantapa), (6) Portrait
Gallery, (7) Period Furniture Room, (8) The Trophies, (9) The Armory,
(10) The Durbar Hall
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TEMPLES
In this Palace complex, there are temples like :
(1) Kodi Bhairavasvami Temple, (2) Sri. Lakshmiramana Swami Temple, (3)
Sri Shveta Varahaswami Temple, (4) Sri. Trinarayaneshwara Swami Temple,
(5) Sri. Trinarayaneshwara Swami Temple, (6) Killi Venkataramana Swami
Temple, (7) Sri. Bhuvaneshwari Temple, (8) Sri Gayatri Temple. |
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