Mysore Palace, also known as Amba Vilas Palace, is a historical palace and a royal residence. It is located in

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, India. It used to be the official residence of the

Wadiyar dynasty The Wadiyar dynasty,() also referred to as the Wadiyars of Mysore (also spelt Wodeyer, Odeyer, and Wadeyar), is a Medieval India, late-medieval India, Indian royal family of former Maharaja of Mysore, maharajas of Mysore from the Urs (surname) ...

and the seat of the

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a geopolitical realm in southern India founded in around 1399 in the vicinity of the modern-day city of Mysore and prevailed until 1950. The territorial boundaries and the form of government transmuted substantially ...

. The palace is in the centre of Mysore, and faces the Chamundi Hills eastward. Mysore is commonly described as the 'City of the Palaces', and there are seven palaces including this one. However, the Mysore Palace refers specifically to the one within the new fort. The land on which the palace now stands was originally known as ''mysuru'' (literally, "citadel"). The first palace inside the Old Fort was built in the 14th century, which was set ablaze and reconstructed multiple times. The Old Fort was built of wood and thus easily caught fire, while the current fort was built of stone, bricks and wood. The current structure was constructed between 1897 and 1912, after the Old Palace burnt down, the current structure is also known as the New Fort. Mysore Palace is one of the most famous tourist attractions in India, after the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

, with more than three million annual visitors as on 2014.

History

The last palace, now known as the Old Palace or the Wooden Palace, burned to ashes during the wedding of Jayalakshammani, the eldest daughter of Chamaraja Wodeyar in 1896. Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV and his mother Maharani Kempananjammanni Devi commissioned the British architect Henry Irwin to build a new palace. E.W. Fritchley worked as a consulting engineer. Meanwhile, the royal family stayed in the nearby Jaganmohan Palace. Construction was overseen by an executive engineer in the Mysore Palace division. He conducted elaborate architectural studies during his visits to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, and

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, and these were used to plan the new palace. The construction cost was placed at Rs 41,47,913 (around $ 30 million adjusted to inflation) and the palace was completed in 1912. The palace was further expanded in around 1930 (including the addition of the present Public Durbar Hall wing) during the reign of Maharaja

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (18 July 1919 – 23 September 1974), sometimes simply Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, was the twenty-fifth and last ruling Maharaja of Mysore, reigning from 1940 to 1950, who later served as the governor of Mysore until 1964 an ...

. The pioneer of modern

yoga as exercise Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of asana, postures, often connected by vinyasa, flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by pranayama, breathing exercises, and frequently ending with savasana, relaxation lying down or ...

Krishnamacharya Tirumala Krishnamacharya (18 November 1888 – 28 February 1989) was an Indian yoga as exercise, yoga teacher, ayurvedic healer and scholar. He is seen as one of the most important gurus of modern yoga, and is often called "Father of Modern ...

, taught yoga in the palace in the early 20th century, at the request of the Raja of Mysore. Among his pupils there were

B. K. S. Iyengar Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is the founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga ...

and K. Pattabhi Jois, founders of

Iyengar Yoga Iyengar Yoga, named after and developed by B. K. S. Iyengar, and described in his bestselling 1966 book '' Light on Yoga'', is a form of yoga as exercise that has an emphasis on detail, precision and alignment in the performance of yoga postures ...

and Ashtanga Yoga respectively. An earlier Raja had 112 yoga postures (

asana An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and late ...

s) illustrated in a large 19th century book, the ''

Sritattvanidhi The ''Sritattvanidhi'' (, "The Illustrious Treasure of Realities") is a treatise written in the 19th century in the Mysore Palace, Karnataka on the iconography and iconometry of divine figures in South India. One of its sections includes instru ...

'', which likely influenced Krishnamacharya.

Architecture

South Towers East Facade Mysore Palace Dec23 A7C 08260

Indo-Saracenic architecture Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal) was a Revivalism (architecture), revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and gov ...

, with elements from

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

, and Gothic architecture styles. It is a three-story, gray granite, structure, about long and about wide. There are square towers, five stories tall, at each of the cardinal points, topped with pink domes. The tallest tower, tall, is at the centre of the palace and is topped with a gold plated dome. The façade has arches, canopies, and bay windows. There are seven arches and two smaller arches that connect to the centralized arch of the façade. Above the central arch is a sculpture of

Gajalakshmi Gajalakshmi (), also spelt as Gajalaxmi, is a prominent representation of the goddess Lakshmi, the Hindu deity of wealth, prosperity, and fertility, depicted with two elephants on either side. This representation symbolises not only the divine bl ...

. The palace is surrounded by gardens. It has four entrances: The 'Jaya Maarthaanda' (main entrance) to the East, 'Jayarama' to the North, 'Balarama' to the South, and 'Varaha' to the West.

Attractions

The entrance fee to get into the palace grounds, is 120 rupees per adult, 50 rupees per child aged 7 to 18 years old, free for children younger than 7 years old and 1000 rupees for foreigners. At the main entrance, there are bronze tigers, sculpted by British sculptor Robert William Colton, on either side of the walkways leading up to the palace. The Gombe Thotti, also known as The Dolls' Pavilion, was a place to display and worship dolls during Dasara festivities. Ane Bagilu, also known as Elephant Gate, is the main entrance to the palace's interior, symbolizing power and strength.

Gallery

File:Mysore Palace gate.jpg, Main approach to the Mysore Palace File:Mysore Palace (8113480008).jpg, Lighting of Mysore Palace during Mysore Dasara (2012) File:Roof design, Interior of the Mysore Palace, Mysore, Karnataka, India (2011).jpg, Roof artwork File:Grand Interiors of Mysore Palace.jpg, Audience Hall File:A Courtyard of Amba Vilas Palace (Mysuru Palace), during day.jpg, A courtyard of Mysore Palace during the day File:A side view of the magnificent Amba Vilas Palace (Mysuru Palace), against blue coloured sky, Mysuru, Karnataka.jpg, A side view of the Mysore Palace File:A very well lit Durbar Hall (ceremonial meeting hall of the royal court) of Amba Vilas Palace (Mysuru Palace), during day.jpg, A very well lit

Durbar Hall Durbar is a Persian-derived term (from ) referring to the noble court of a king or ruler or a formal meeting where the king held all discussions regarding the state. It was used in South Asia for a ruler's court or feudal levy. A durbar may be ...

(ceremonial meeting hall of the royal court) of Mysore Palace during the day

References

External links