Mysore
is the second largest city in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the
headquarters of the Mysore district and the Mysore division and lies
about 146 km (91 mi) southwest of Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka.
The name Mysore is an anglicised version of Mahishūru, which means the
abode of Mahisha. Mahisha stands for Mahishasura, a demon from the Hindu
mythology. The city is spread across an area of 128.42 km2 (50 sq mi)
and is situated at the base of the Chamundi Hills.
Mysore is famous for the festivities that take place during the Dashara
festival when the city receives a large number of tourists. Mysore also
lends its name to the Mysore mallige, Mysore style of painting, the
sweet dish Mysore Pak, Mysore Peta (traditional silk turban) and the
garment called the Mysore silk saree
History
Kingdom of Mysore
Until 1947, Mysore was the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore which was
ruled by the Wodeyar dynasty, except for a brief period in the late 18th
century when Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan took power. The Wodeyars were
patrons of art and culture and have contributed significantly to the
cultural growth of the city, which has led to Mysore earning the
sobriquet Cultural capital of Karnataka.
According to Hindu mythology, the area around Mysore was known as
Mahishūru and was ruled by a demon, Mahishasura.[2] The demon was killed
by the Goddess Chamundeshwari, whose temple is situated atop the
Chamundi Hills. Mahishūru later became Mahisūru and finally came to be
called Maisūru, its present name in the Kannada language.[3] The
anglicised form of the name is Mysore.[2] In December 2005, the
Government of Karnataka announced its intention to change the English
name of the city to Mysuru.[4] This has been approved by the Government
of India but the necessary formalities to incorporate the name change
are yet to be completed.[5]
Statue of the demon Mahishasura atop the Chamundi Hills
The region where Mysore city stands now was known as Puragere till the
15th century.[6] The Mahishūru Fort was constructed in 1524 by Chamaraja
Wodeyar III (1513–1553), who later passed on the dominion of Puragere to
his son Chamaraja Wodeyar IV (1572–1576). Since the 16th century, the
name of Mahishūru (later Mysore and changed again to Mysuru by the
Government of Karnataka on November 1 2007) has been commonly used to
denote the city.[6] During the rule of the Vijayanagara Empire, the
Mysore Kingdom under Wodeyars, served as a feudatory. Mysore was the
center of the Wodeyar administration till 1610 when Raja Wodeyar ousted
the Vijayanagara governor at nearby Srirangapatna and made it his
capital. With the demise of the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565, the Mysore
Kingdom gradually achieved independence and became a sovereign state by
the time of King Narasaraja Wodeyar (1637).[7] When the kingdom came
under the rule of Tipu Sultan, he demolished much of Mysore town to
remove any traces of the Wodeyar rule.[8] After Tipu Sultan's death in
the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799, the capital of the kingdom was
moved back to Mysore.[9][10] The administration was looked after by
Diwan Purnaiah, since the Wodeyar king Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was a
minor. Purnaiah is credited to have been responsible for many
improvements in the Mysore city, mainly in relation to public works.[11]
In 1831, Mysore lost its status as the administrative centre of the
kingdom when Mark Cubbon, the British commissioner, moved the capital to
Bangalore.[12] However it regained this status in 1881, when the British
handed the power back to the Wodeyars.[13] The city remained the capital
of the Wodeyars till 1947 with Mysore Palace as the centre of
administration.
Entrance to the Ambavilas Palace, commonly known as Mysore Palace
The Mysore municipality was established in 1888 and the city was divided
into 8 wards.[14] In 1897, an outbreak of bubonic plague killed nearly
half of the population of the city.[15] With the establishment of the
City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) in 1903, Mysore became one of the
first cities in Asia to undertake a planned development of the city.[16]
When the Quit India Movement was launched in the early 1940s, Mysore
city also played a part in it. Leaders of the independence movement like
H. C. Dasappa and Sahukar Channayya were at the forefront during the
agitations.[17] The Maharaja's College hostel was the nerve centre from
where the movement was controlled in the Mysore district and the
Subbarayana Kere ground was an important location for public
demonstrations.
After the Indian independence, Mysore city remained as a part of the
Mysore State under India. Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, the then king of
Mysore, was allowed to retain his titles and was nominated as the
Rajapramukh of the state. He died in September 1974 and was cremated in
Mysore city.[18] Over the years, Mysore has become well known as a
centre for tourism and the city has remained largely peaceful, except
for occasional riots related to the Kaveri river water dispute.[19] Some
of the events that took place in Mysore and made national headlines were
the fire at Premier Studios that claimed the lives of many people, the
sudden deaths of many animals at the Mysore Zoo and the National Anthem
controversy that happened on the campus at Infosys
