Mysore Palace – Amba Vilas Palace

WORLD FAMOUS MYSURU PALACE

Welcome to the Royal Splendour of Mysuru, the home of the Wodyers who ruled Mysuru for more than 500 years, known as the City of Palaces, Mysuru retains a quaint charm, that never fails to enchant. Mysuru is a popular tourist destination, offering several attractions ranging from the royal splendour of Mysuru City and its fabulous Dasara Festival to exquisite temples, pilgrimage centres and scenic spots.

The royal lineage can be traced back to 1399, when Yaduraya, a royal prince of the Yadava dynasty, was on a pilgrimage visit to Chamundi Temple with his brother Vijaya,. They took shelter in the Kodi Bhairava temple on the banks of Doddakere, the ‘Big Lake’. There they came to learn that the local royal family was in great danger. Their ruler had just died, and Maranayaka, a neighboring chief, was threatening the queen. He wanted her daughter’s hand in marriage. The queen and the princess were in very vulnerable position. With the help of Jangama (Wadiyar) killed Maranayaka and married the daughter of Chamaraja and succeeded to the Mysuru principality. And so the Wodyer dynasty was established – a succession of 25 kings who ruled until 1947, when Mysuru became part of the Indian Union.

The Wadiyars were great patrons of the arts, and the finest craftsmen in the state were employed to work on the Palaces. Wadiyar period was a new era of prose literature as an independent literary medium and it was in other words a prose writing in the form of the history of the Mysuru rulers. Chamaraja Wadiyar encouraged Kannada scholars like Ramachandra, author of Hayasaara Samuchchaya.

Designed by the English Architect, Henry Irwin, the Mysuru Palace dominates the skyline of Mysuru. A three storied structure in the Indo-Saracenic style built between 1897-1912, the palace has beautifully designed square towers at cardinal points, covered with domes. The Durbar Hall with its ornate ceiling and sculpted pillars and the Kalyanamantapa (Marriage Pavilion) with its glazed tiled flooring and stained glass, domed ceiling are worth noting. Intricately carved doors, the golden howdah (elephant seat), paintings as well as the fabulous, jewel encrusted golden throne (displayed during Dasara) are amongst the palace’s other treasures. The walled palace complex houses the Residential Museum (incorporating some of the Palace’s living quarters),temples and shrines including the Shwetha Varahaswamy temple.

The palace is illuminated on Sundays, Public Holidays as well as during the Dasara Celebrations when 97,000 electric bulbs are used to illuminate it.