Location of Mysooru (ಮೈಸೂರು)
in KarnatakaKarnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
and IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
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CoordinatesA geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position...
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http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Mysore¶ms=12.30_N_76.65_E_type:landmark_region:IN-KA_12°18′N 76°39′E / 12.30°N 76.65°E / 12.30; 76.65]CoordinatesA geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system that enables every location on the Earth to be specified by a set of numbers. The coordinates are often chosen such that one of the numbers represent vertical position, and two or three of the numbers represent horizontal position...
: http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Mysore¶ms=12.30_N_76.65_E_type:landmark_region:IN-KA_12°18′N 76°39′E / 12.30°N 76.65°E / 12.30; 76.65]
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IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
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StateIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
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KarnatakaKarnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
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District(s)A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. Districts are further subdivided, in some cases into Sub-Divisions, and otherwise directly into tehsils or talukas.District officials include:...
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Mysore DistrictMysore District is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. The district is bounded by Mandya district to the northeast, Chamrajanagar district to the southeast, Kerala state to the south, Kodagu district to the west, and Hassan district to the north...
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Mayor
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Population
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DensityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
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983,893 (2011[//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mysore&action=edit [update]])
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7,661.52 /km2 (19,843 /sq mi)
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Time zoneA time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
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ISTIndian Standard Time is the time observed throughout India and Sri Lanka, with a time offset of UTC+05:30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments, although DST was used briefly during the Sino–Indian War of 1962 and the Indo–Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971...
(UTC+05:30)
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AreaThe geography of India describes the physical features of India, a country in South Asia, that lies entirely on the Indian Plate in the northern portion of the Indo-Australian Plate. The country lies to the north of the equator between 8°4' and 37°6' north latitude and 68°7' and 97°25' east...
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ElevationThe term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
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128.42 km2 (50 sq mi):p. 04
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763 metres (2,503 ft)
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Codes
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Mysore is the second largest city in the state of
KarnatakaKarnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
,
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It is the headquarters of the
Mysore districtMysore District is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. The district is bounded by Mandya district to the northeast, Chamrajanagar district to the southeast, Kerala state to the south, Kodagu district to the west, and Hassan district to the north...
and the
Mysore divisionMysore Division includes the districts of Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan. The administrative headquarters of the division is Mysore. This division is home to :...
and lies about 146 km (91 mi) southwest of
BangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, the capital of Karnataka. The name
Mysore is an anglicised version of
Mahishūru, which means the abode of
Mahisha.
Mahisha stands for
MahishasuraIn Hindu mythology, Mahishasura was an asura.Mahishasura's father Rambha was king of the asuras, and he once fell in love with a water buffalo ; Mahishasura was born out of this union...
, a demon from
Hindu mythologyHindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...
. Mysore has its mention in the
MahabharataThe Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....
as Mahishaka Kingdom in ancient India. The city is spread across an area of 128.42 km² (50 sq mi) and is situated at the base of the
Chamundi HillsThe Chamundi Hills are located in India, close to the palace city of Mysore. The hills' average elevation is 1,000 meters.According to legend, the demon Mahishasura, king of the area that is currently Mysore, was killed by the Goddess Chamundeswari after a fierce battle. The hills are named after...
.
Mysore is famous for the festivities that take place during the
DasaraMysore Dasara is the Nadahabba of the state of Karnataka. It is also called Navaratri and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October...
festival when the city receives a large number of tourists. Mysore also lends its name to the
Mysore malligeThis article is about the flower Mallige. For the book by K. S. Narasimhaswamy named after the flower, see Mysooru Mallige.Mysore Mallige of the Oleaceae family is the most popular among the three varieties of Jasmine endemic to Karnataka; the other two varieties being the Hadagali Mallige...
, the
Mysore style of paintingMysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting that originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. Painting in Karnataka has a long and illustrious history, tracing it’s origins back to the Ajanta times Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian...
, the sweet dish
Mysore PakMysore pak is a sweet dish of Karnataka, India, usually served as dessert. It is made of generous amounts of ghee , sugar and gram flour....
, the
Mysore PetaMysore Peta is the traditional indigenous attire worn by the erstwhile Kings of Mysore, called the Wodeyars , of the Kingdom of Mysore...
(a traditional silk turban) and the garment called the Mysore
silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
saree. In an exercise carried out by the
Urban Development MinistryThe Ministry of Urban Development , a branch of the Government of India, is the apex bodyfor formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to the housing and urban development in India. As of February 2011, head of the ministry is the Cabinet Minister Kamal Nath...
under the national urban sanitation policy, Mysore was rated the second cleanest city in India in 2010 and the cleanest in Karnataka.
Wodeyar
Until 1947, Mysore was the capital of the
Kingdom of MysoreThe Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. The kingdom, which was ruled by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire...
and was ruled by the
Wodeyar dynastyThe Wodeyar dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947, until the independence of India from British rule and the subsequent unification of the Indian dominion and princely states into the Republic of India.The spelling Wodeyar/Wadiyar is found in most...
, except for a 40-year era in the 18th century when Haidar Ali and
Tipu SultanTipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
were the de facto rulers of the province. The Wodeyars were patrons of art and culture and contributed significantly to the cultural growth of the city, which has led to Mysore earning the sobriquet
Cultural capital of KarnatakaMysore is a city in the state of Karnataka, India. It is known as the cultural capital of Karnataka. Mysore was the capital of the Wodeyar kings who ruled over the Mysore Kingdom for many centuries. Wodeyars were great patrons of art and music and have contributed significantly to make Mysore a...
.
According to Hindu mythology, the area around Mysore was known as
Mahishūru or
Mahishapuram. It was ruled by a demon,
MahishasuraIn Hindu mythology, Mahishasura was an asura.Mahishasura's father Rambha was king of the asuras, and he once fell in love with a water buffalo ; Mahishasura was born out of this union...
. The demon was killed by the Goddess Chamundeshwari, whose temple is situated atop the
Chamundi HillsThe Chamundi Hills are located in India, close to the palace city of Mysore. The hills' average elevation is 1,000 meters.According to legend, the demon Mahishasura, king of the area that is currently Mysore, was killed by the Goddess Chamundeswari after a fierce battle. The hills are named after...
.
Mahishūru later became
Mahisūru and finally came to be called Maisūru, its present name in the
Kannada languageKannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
. The anglicised form of the name is
Mysore. In December 2005, the Government of Karnataka announced its intention to change the English name of the city to
Mysuru. This has been approved by the
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
but the necessary formalities to incorporate the name change are yet to be completed.
The region where Mysore city stands now was known as
Puragere till the 15th century. 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. During the rule of the
Vijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
, the Mysore Kingdom under
WodeyarThe Wodeyar dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947, until the independence of India from British rule and the subsequent unification of the Indian dominion and princely states into the Republic of India.The spelling Wodeyar/Wadiyar is found in most...
s, served as a feudatory. Mysore was the center of the
WodeyarThe Wodeyar dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947, until the independence of India from British rule and the subsequent unification of the Indian dominion and princely states into the Republic of India.The spelling Wodeyar/Wadiyar is found in most...
administration till 1610 when Raja Wodeyar ousted the Vijayanagara governor at nearby
SrirangapatnaSrirangapatna is a town in Mandya district of the Indian state of Karnataka...
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).
After Tipu Sultan's death in the
Fourth Anglo-Mysore WarThe Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company under the Earl of Mornington....
in 1799, the Kingdom was distributed by the British to their allies of the Fourth Mysore war, the Marhata, Nizam, and State of
TravancoreKingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
, while the rule of Mysore city was retained by the British who built the Government House (completed 1805). The Government House is now used by the Government of Karnataka as a State Guest House. The existing town of Nazarabad was demolished to remove any traces of Tipu's rule. The capital of the kingdom was moved back to Mysore. The British administration was assisted locally by Diwan Purnaiah, in return for his assistance in the defeat of the Mysore Army. Purnaiah is credited with improvements to Mysore's
public worksPublic works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
.
In 1831, Mysore lost its status as the administrative centre of the kingdom when
Mark CubbonLieutenant-General Sir Mark Cubbon KCB was a British army officer with the East India Company who became the British Commissioner of Mysore state in 1834. He retained this office until 1860. He moved the capital from Mysore to Bangalore, helped reform the finances of Mysore, and created a...
, the British commissioner, moved the capital to
BangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
. However it regained this status in 1881, when the British handed power back to the Wodeyars. The city remained the capital of the Wodeyars till 1947, with
Mysore PalaceThe Palace of Mysore is a palace situated in the city of Mysore in southern India. It is the official residence of the Wodeyars - the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, and also houses two durbar halls ....
as the centre of administration.
The Mysore municipality was established in 1888 and the city was divided into eight wards. In 1897, an outbreak of
bubonic plaguePlague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
killed nearly half of the population of the city. 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. When the
Quit India MovementThe Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
was launched in the early 1940s, Mysore city also played a part in it. Leaders of the
independence movementThe term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
like H. C. Dasappa and Sahukar Channayya were at the forefront during the agitations. 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 Indian independence, Mysore city remained as a part of the
Mysore StateThe Kingdom of Mysore was one of the three largest princely states within the erstwhile British Empire of India. Upon India gaining its independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Mysore merged his realm with the Union of 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. 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 disputeThe sharing of waters of the river Kaveri had been the bone of contention of a serious conflict between the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu...
. Some of the events that took place in Mysore and made national headlines were the fire at
Premier StudiosPremier Studios is a full-service marketing and communications firm established in 1988 and located in Lenexa, Kansas. It is independently owned by Gerald Smith....
that claimed the lives of many people, and the sudden deaths of many animals at the Mysore Zoo.
Geography
{{climate chart
|Mysore
|16.4|28.0|1.9
|18.2|30.8|5.2
|20.2|33.4|8.5
|21.5|34.0|61.0
|21.1|32.4|148.3
|20.3|28.9|72.7
|19.8|27.2|80.4
|19.7|27.6|63.7
|19.4|28.8|106.2
|19.6|28.4|166.5
|18.3|27.6|58.0
|16.7|27.2|16.5
|source=
IMD
|float=right
|clear=none
}}
Climate
Mysore is located at 12.30°N 76.65°E and has an average altitude of 770 metres (2,526 ft). It is situated in the southern region of the state of Karnataka, at the base of the Chamundi Hills and spreads across an area of 128.42 km² (50 sq mi). The summer season is from March to June, followed by the
monsoonMonsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
season from July to November and the winter season from December to February. The highest temperature recorded in Mysore was 38.5 °C (101 °F) on May 4, 2006, and in winter, temperatures as low as 9.6 °C (49 °F) have been recorded. The average annual rainfall received by the city is 798.2 mm (31 in).{{rp|p.04}} Though Mysore is situated in the relatively safe seismic zone II, earthquakes of magnitude greater than 4.5 on the
Richter scaleThe expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....
have been recorded in the vicinity of the city.
Mysore has several lakes, prominent among are the Kukkarahalli,
KaranjiKaranji Lake is a lake located in the city of Mysore in the state of Karnataka, India. The lake is surrounded by a nature park consisting of a butterfly park and a walk-through aviary. This aviary is the biggest 'walk-through aviary' in India. There is also a museum, the Regional Museum of Natural...
and
LingambudhiLingambudhi Lake is a lake in the city of Mysore, India.Mysore city has three healthy and surviving water bodies-Kukkarahalli, Karanji & Lingambudhi, supporting moderate bio-diversity. Among them, Lingambudhi stands first in terms of richness entirely due to its location bordering growing...
lakes. In 2001, percentages of total land area in Mysore city occupied by residences, roads, park and open spaces, industries, public property, commercial establishments, agriculture and bodies of water were 39.9%, 16.1%, 13.74%, 13.48%, 8.96%, 3.02%, 2.27% and 2.02% respectively.
Mysore is situated between the rivers
KaveriThe Kaveri , also spelled Cauvery in English, is a large Indian river. The origin of the river is traditionally placed at Talakaveri, Kodagu in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, flows generally south and east through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and across the southern Deccan plateau through the...
and
KabiniThe Kabini, also called Kabani and Kapila, is a river of southern India. It originates in Wayanad District of Kerala state, south India from the confluence of the Panamaram River and Mananthavady River, and flows eastward to join the Kaveri River at Tirumakudalu Narasipura in Karnataka, which...
, which are a source of drinking water to the city.{{rp|p.53}} The city got its first piped water supply when the Belagola project was commissioned in 1896. At present, water is supplied to Mysore in the volume of 42.5 million gallons per day from three projects; Hongally (III Stages), Belagola and Melapur and this reaches 85% of households. Mysore sometimes faces water crises, mainly during the months of summer and in years of deficient rainfall. The city has had an underground drainage system since 1904 and the entire sewage from the city drains into four valleys; Kesare, Malalavadi, Dalavai and Belavatha.{{rp|p.56}}
Civic administration
The civic administration of the city is managed by the Mysore City Corporation, which was established as a municipality in 1888 and later converted into a corporation in 1977. The corporation oversees the engineering works, health, sanitation, water supply, administration and taxation in the city. It is headed by a mayor who is assisted by commissioners and council members.{{rp|p.43}} The city is divided into 65 wards and the council members (also known as
corporators) are elected by the citizens of Mysore every five years. The council members in turn elect the mayor. The annual budget of the Corporation for the year 2007–2008 was
Rs.The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....
11,443.89 lakh (US$28.6 million).
The growth and expansion of the city is managed by the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which is headed by a commissioner. Its activities include developing new layouts and roads, town planning and land acquisition. One of the major projects undertaken by MUDA is the creation of an Outer Ring Road in Mysore, which is expected to ease traffic congestion. On the contrary, MUDA has faced criticism from citizens of Mysore for its inability to ensure that sufficient sites are allotted to house residents of the city. The electrical supply to the city is managed by the
Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation.
The citizens of Mysore elect four representatives to the
Legislative assembly of KarnatakaThe Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in southern India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses...
through the constituencies of Chamaraja, Krishnaraja, Narasimharaja and Chamundeshwari. Mysore city, being a part of the larger Mysore Lok Sabha constituency, also elects one member to the
Lok SabhaThe Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
, the lower house of the
Indian ParliamentThe Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body in India. Founded in 1919, the Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all political bodies in India. The Parliament of India comprises the President and the two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha...
. The politics in the city is dominated by three political parties: the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
(INC); the
Bharatiya Janata PartyThe Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...
(BJP); and the
Janata Dal (Secular)The Janata Dal is a Centre-left ಕನ್ನಡ: ಜನತಾ ದಳIndian political party led by former Prime Minister of India H.D. Deve Gowda.The party recognized as state party in the states of Karnataka and Kerala . It was formed in July 1999 by the split of Janata Dal party. It has political presence mainly in...
(JDS).
Demographics
According to the census of 2001, Mysore city had a total population of 799,228 with 406,363 males and 392,865 females, making it the second largest city in Karnataka. The gender ratio of the city is 967 females to every 1000 males and the population density is 6223.55 persons per km
2. Among the population, 76.8% are Hindus, 19% are Muslims, 2.8% are Christians and the remaining belong to other religions. The city's population crossed the 100,000 mark in the census of 1931 and has seen a population growth of 20.5% in the decade 1991–2001. The literacy rate of the city is 82.8%, which is much higher than the state's average of 67%.{{rp|p.32}}
KannadaKannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...
is the most widely spoken language in the city.
HindiStandard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
/
UrduUrdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
is also significantly spoken and understood in the city. Nineteen percent of the population in Mysore live below the poverty line and 9.0% of the population live in
slumA slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
s. Though 35.7% of the population in the urban areas of Karnataka are workers, only 33.3% of the population in Mysore city belong to the working class. People belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes contribute to 15.1% of the population. Mysore has seen a spurt in crime with 805 incidents of crime reported in 2005, higher than the 510 incidents of crime reported in 2003.
The residents of the city are known as
Mysoreans in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and
Mysoorinavaru in Kannada. The
ongoing disputeThe sharing of waters of the river Kaveri had been the bone of contention of a serious conflict between the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu...
between the states of
KarnatakaKarnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
and
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
over the sharing of the
Kaveri RiverThe Kaveri , also spelled Cauvery in English, is a large Indian river. The origin of the river is traditionally placed at Talakaveri, Kodagu in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, flows generally south and east through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and across the southern Deccan plateau through the...
water, has frequent repercussions in the city leading to minor altercations and demonstrations. Growth in the
Information TechnologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
industry in Mysore has led to a change in the demographic profile of the city and has been a cause of concern for some citizens of the city.
Business and economy
While tourism is the major industry in Mysore, the growth of information technology related industry in the first decade of the 21st century has resulted in the city emerging as the
Second largest software exporterThe software industry in Karnataka state in India has become one of the main pillars of economy. Karnataka stands first among all the states of India in terms of revenue generated from software exports. Software exports from Karnataka amounted to excess of 48,700 crores in the year 2006-2007...
in the state of Karnataka, next to Bangalore. Mysore is also the location of Mysore University, whose alumni include
KuvempuKuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa was a Kannada writer and poet, widely regarded as the greatest poet of 20th century Kannada literature. He is the first among eight recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada. Puttappa wrote all his literary works using the pen name Kuvempu...
,
Gopalakrishna AdigaMogeri Gopalakrishna Adiga was one of the majors figures in modern Kannada poetry. He is known as the "pioneer of New style" poetry.-Early life:...
,
S. L. BhyrappaSanteshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa , is a Kannada novelist, whose works are immensely popular both within and beyond Karnataka. Bhyrappa is widely regarded as one of India's foremost modern-day writers. His novels are unique in terms of theme, structure, and characterization...
,
U. R. AnanthamurthyUdupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy is a contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada language and is considered as one of the pioneers of the Navya movement. He is well known among Indian authors. He is the sixth person among eight recipients of the Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the...
and N.R. Narayana Murthy. The
All India RadioAll India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
, the premier radio broadcasting arm of the
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
had its beginnings here.
Traditionally, Mysore has been home to industries such as weaving, sandalwood carving, bronzework, and the production of lime and salt. The planned industrial growth of the city and the state was first envisaged in the
Mysore economic conference, held in 1911. This led to the establishment of industries such as the Mysore Sandalwood Oil Factory in 1917 and the Sri Krishnarajendra Mills in 1920.
In a survey conducted in 2001 by
Business Today, the business arm of
India TodayIndia Today is an Indian weekly news magazine published by Living Media India Limited, in publication since 1975 based in Mumbai. India Today is also the name of its sister-publication in Hindi...
, Mysore was ranked the fifth-best city in India in which to conduct business and the second-cleanest city in India, where only Chandigarh ranked cleaner. Mysore has emerged as the hub of the tourism industry in Karnataka, attracting about 2.5 million tourists in 2006. National Parks 40–60 miles to the south include
Bandipur National ParkBandipur National Park is one of India's best known protected areas and is an important Project Tiger reserve. It is located in the Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka in South India,...
and
Mudumalai National ParkThe Mudumalai National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary Tamil:முதுமலை வனவிலங்கு காப்பகம், now also declared a Tiger Reserve, lies on the northwestern side of the Nilgiri Hills , in Nilgiri District, about north-west of Coimbatore in the westernmost part of Tamil Nadu, on the interstate boundaries with...
sanctuary for
gaurThe gaur , also called Indian bison, is a large bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. The species is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986 as the population decline in parts of the species' range is likely to be well over 70% over the last three generations...
,
chitalThe chital or cheetal , also known as chital deer, spotted deer or axis deer is a deer which commonly inhabits wooded regions of Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and in small numbers in Pakistan...
, elephants as well as
TigerThe tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
s,
Indian LeopardThe Indian leopard is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent. It is one of the five big cats found in India, apart from Asiatic lion, Bengal tiger, snow leopard and clouded leopard....
s and other
threatened speciesThreatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...
.
For the industrial development of the city, the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has established four industrial areas in and around Mysore and are located in Belagola, Belawadi, Hebbal (Electronic City) and Hootagalli areas. The major industries in Mysore include
BEMLBharat Earth Movers Limited now known as BEML is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, with headquarters in Bangalore. It manufactures a variety of heavy equipment, such as that used for earth moving, transport and mining....
, J. K. Tyres,
WiproWipro Limited formally Western India Products Limited is a global IT services and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. As of 2011, Wipro is the second largest IT services company by turnover in India and employs more than 120,000 people worldwide as of March 2011...
, SPI, Unilog Content Solutions, Falcon Tyres,
L&TLarsen & Toubro Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company has four main business sectors: technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing. L&T has an international presence, with a global spread of offices and factories, further...
, Theorem India and
InfosysInfosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
.
Since 2003, information technology companies have been creating bases in Mysore, with the city contributing Rs. 1100 crores (US$220 million) to Karnataka's IT exports in the financial year 2007–2008. Infosys has established one of the largest technical training centres in the world and Wipro has established its Global Service Management Center (GSMC) at Mysore. Non-IT related services have been outsourced from other countries to companies in Mysore.
The industrial sector in the city experienced setbacks when the automobile manufacturer
Ideal JawaIdeal Jawa Ltd was an Indian motorcycle company based in Mysore, sold licensed Jawa and ČZ motorcycles beginning in 1960 under the brand name Jawa and later Yezdi...
and the Sri Krishnarajendra Mills closed their operations. Revival efforts, such as the takeover of the Krishnarajendra Mills by the Atlantic Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd. have been made, but these attempts have run into other problems.
Education
Before the advent of the English system of education in Mysore,
agraharas imparted the
VedicThe Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
system of education to Hindus and
madrasas served as centres of learning for Muslims. Modern education saw its beginning in Mysore when a free English school was established in 1833. In 1854, the East India Company promulgated the
Halifax Dispatch which looked at organising education based on the Western model within the princely state of Mysore. The first college to be set up for
higher educationHigher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
in Mysore was the
Maharajas College, which was founded in 1864.{{rp|p.50}} In 1868, the Mysore state decided to establish
hobli schools to extend education to the masses. Under this scheme, a school was established in each
hobli (a locality within the city) and the education was free. This led to the establishment of a
normal school in Mysore which imparted coaching to teachers who were meant to teach in the
hobli schools. In 1881, a high school exclusively for girls was established and this was later converted into the
Maharanis Women's College. In 1892, the
Industrial School, the first institute to impart technical education in the city was started and this was followed by the
Chamarajendra Technical InstituteChamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts is a visual art school in Mysore.The Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts , is situated in the city of Mysore, in the state of Karnataka in India. The academy is affiliated to the University of Mysore, and offers courses in drawing, painting, sculpture,...
in 1913. While the modern system of education was making inroads in the city, colleges such as the
Mysore Sanskrit college, which was established in 1876, continued to provide Vedic education.
The education system in Mysore received further impetus when the
University of MysoreThe University of Mysore , is a public university in India. The University founded during the reign of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore, and was conceptualized on the basis of a report on educational progress in the United States and Australia, submitted by Messrs Thomas Denham and...
was established in 1916. This was the sixth university to be established in India and first in Karnataka. It was named
Manasagangotri ("fountainhead of the Ganges of the mind") by the poet laureate,
KuvempuKuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa was a Kannada writer and poet, widely regarded as the greatest poet of 20th century Kannada literature. He is the first among eight recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada. Puttappa wrote all his literary works using the pen name Kuvempu...
. The university caters to the districts of
MysoreMysore District is an administrative district located in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. The district is bounded by Mandya district to the northeast, Chamrajanagar district to the southeast, Kerala state to the south, Kodagu district to the west, and Hassan district to the north...
,
Mandya,
HassanHassan is a district in Karnataka state, India. The district headquarters are Hassan.Hassan district was the seat of the Hoysala Empire which at its peak ruled large parts of south India from Belur as its early capital and Halebidu as its later capital during the period 1000 - 1334 CE...
and
ChamarajanagarChamarajanagara is the southern-most district in the state of Karnataka, India. It was carved out of the original larger Mysore District in the year 1998...
in Karnataka. About 127 colleges (having a total student population of 53,000) are affiliated with the university. Mysore University is the only university in the state of Karnataka to get a grade of A+ from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of India.
Education in the field of engineering was started in Mysore with the establishment of the
National Institute of EngineeringThe National Institute of Engineering, popularly known as The NIE, established in 1946, is the second oldest engineering college in Karnataka. It is located in Mysore, India. NIE is an autonomous institution affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University. It was granted autonomy in the year 2007...
in 1946, the second oldest engineering college in the state.
Art and culture
{{Main|Culture of Mysore}}
Known as the
cultural capital of Karnataka, Mysore is well known for the festivities that take place during the period of
DasaraMysore Dasara is the Nadahabba of the state of Karnataka. It is also called Navaratri and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October...
, the state festival of Karnataka. The Dasara festivities, which are celebrated over a ten-day period, were first introduced by King Raja Wodeyar I in 1610. On the ninth day of Dasara, called
Mahanavami, the royal sword is worshipped and is taken on a procession of decorated elephants, camels and horses. On the tenth day, called
VijayadashamiVijayadashami also known as Dasara, is one of the most important festivals celebrated in various forms, across India, Nepal and Bangladesh...
, the traditional Dasara procession (locally known as
Jumboo Savari) is held on the streets of Mysore city. An image of the Goddess Chamundeshwari is placed on a golden mantapa on the back of a decorated elephant and taken on a procession, accompanied by tableaux, dance groups, music bands, decorated elephants, horses and camels. The procession starts from the Mysore Palace and culminates at a place called
Bannimantapa where the
banni tree (
Prosopis spicigera) is worshipped. The Dasara festivities culminate on the night of
VijayadashamiVijayadashami also known as Dasara, is one of the most important festivals celebrated in various forms, across India, Nepal and Bangladesh...
with a torchlight parade (locally known as
Panjina Kavayatthu).
Mysore is called the
City of Palaces because of the number of palaces situated in the city, including
Amba VilasThe Palace of Mysore is a palace situated in the city of Mysore in southern India. It is the official residence of the Wodeyars - the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, and also houses two durbar halls ....
popularly known as Mysore Palace, Jaganmohana Palace which has now been converted into an art gallery,
Rajendra Vilas-Description:The Rajendra Vilas palace is located on top of Chamundi Hills, at an elevation of nearly 1,000 feet. An older building existed at the location that dated back to 1822, which was used as a summer palace by the Wodeyars of Mysore. Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV was taught philosophy...
also known as the summer palace, situated in the Chamundi Hills,
Lalitha MahalThe Lalitha Mahal is the second largest palace in Mysore. It is located near the Chamundi Hills, east of the city of Mysore in the Indian state of Karnataka. The palace was built in 1921 at the orders of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore for the exclusive stay of the then Viceroy of...
which has now been converted into a hotel and
Jayalakshmi VilasJayalakshmi Vilas Mansion is a heritage building in Mysore.-Description:Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion is a building in of Mysore city, Karnataka. It is located in the green surroundings of Manasagangothri, the campus of the University_of_Mysore. It rises on a hillock on the west side of Kukkarahalli Kere...
, which is now on the University of Mysore premises. The main palace of Mysore burned down in 1897, and the present-day structure was built on the same site. Externally, Amba Vilas palace exhibits an
Indo-SaracenicThe Indo-Saracenic Revival was an architectural style movement by British architects in the late 19th century in British India...
architecture style though the interior is distinctly
Hoysala style of architectureHoysala architecture is the building style developed under the rule of the Hoysala Empire between the 11th and 14th centuries, in the region known today as Karnataka, a state of India. Hoysala influence was at its peak in the 13th century, when it dominated the Southern Deccan Plateau region...
in nature. Even though the
Government of KarnatakaThe Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers...
now maintains the Mysore palace, a small portion of the palace has been allocated for the erstwhile Royal family to live in. The Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion was constructed by
Sri Chamaraja WodeyarChamaraja Wadiyar X was the ruling Maharaja of Mysore between 1881 and 1894.-Adoption and accession:Chamaraja was born at the old palace in Mysore on February 22, 1863, as the third son of Sardar Chikka Krishnaraj Urs, of the Bettada-Kote branch of the ruling clan. His father died about a week...
for his daughter Jayalakshammanni. It is now a museum dedicated to folk culture. A new gallery is being added for
artifactsAn artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
and collections of the Wodeyars of Mysore.
The
Mysore paintingMysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting that originated in the town of Mysore in Karnataka. Painting in Karnataka has a long and illustrious history, tracing it’s origins back to the Ajanta times Mysore painting is an important form of classical South Indian...
style is an offshoot of the
VijayanagarThe Vijayanagara Empire , referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was an empire based in South Indian in the Deccan Plateau region. It was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of the Yadava lineage. The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts...
school of painting. King Raja Wodeyar (1578–1617 CE) is credited with having been the patron for this style of painting. The distinctive feature of these paintings is the
gesso work in which gold foils are pasted appropriately on the painting.{{rp|p.03}}
Mysore is the location of the International Ganjifa Research Centre, which is involved in the research of the ancient card game
GanjifaGanjifa, or Gânjaphâ, is a card game that originated in Persia and became popular in India under the Mughal emperors in the 16th century.-Description:The name Ganjifa comes from the Persian word ganjifeh , meaning playing card...
and the art associated with it. Mysore is known for
rosewoodRosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...
inlay work, with an estimated 4,000 craftsmen involved in this art. The city lends its name to the
Mysore silkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
saree, a ladies' garment, made with pure silk and gold
zariZari is basically a tinsel thread meant for weaving and embroidery. It is manufactured by winding or wrapping a flattened metallic strip made from pure gold, silver or slitted metallised polyester film, on a core yarn, usually of pure silk, art silk, viscose, cotton, nylon, polyester, P.P.,...
.
Mysore has institutes such as the
Chamarajendra Academy of Visual ArtsChamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts is a visual art school in Mysore.The Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts , is situated in the city of Mysore, in the state of Karnataka in India. The academy is affiliated to the University of Mysore, and offers courses in drawing, painting, sculpture,...
(CAVA), which offers education in visual art forms like painting, graphics, sculpture, applied art, photography, photo-journalism and art history. The theatre repertory
RangayanaRangayana is a theatre institute which operates from Mysore, Karnataka, India. It works as an autonomous cultural institute. The organization consists of a professional repertory company, a theatre-training institute and a documentation and research centre. Rangayana offers courses in stage craft,...
conducts plays and offers certificate courses on subjects related to theatre.
Notable Kannada littérateurs
KuvempuKuppali Venkatappagowda Puttappa was a Kannada writer and poet, widely regarded as the greatest poet of 20th century Kannada literature. He is the first among eight recipients of Jnanpith Award for Kannada. Puttappa wrote all his literary works using the pen name Kuvempu...
,
Gopalakrishna AdigaMogeri Gopalakrishna Adiga was one of the majors figures in modern Kannada poetry. He is known as the "pioneer of New style" poetry.-Early life:...
and
U. R. AnanthamurthyUdupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy is a contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada language and is considered as one of the pioneers of the Navya movement. He is well known among Indian authors. He is the sixth person among eight recipients of the Jnanpith Award for the Kannada language, the...
have had a long association with Mysore, partly because they had their education there and also served as professors at the Mysore University. The famous English novelist and creator of
MalgudiMalgudi is a fictitious town in India created by R.K. Narayan in his novels and short stories. It forms the setting for most of Narayan's works. Starting with his first novel, Swami and Friends, all but one of his fifteen novels and most of his short stories take place here...
,
R. K. NarayanR. K. Narayan , shortened from Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami Tamil: ) , Madras Presidency, British India. His father was a school headmaster, and Narayan did some of his studies at his father's school...
and his brother and cartoonist
R. K. LaxmanRasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman is an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He is widely regarded as India's greatest-ever cartoonist and is best known for his creation The Common Man....
spent much of their life in Mysore.Renowned Violinists Dr.
Mysore Manjunath- Child prodigy :Amazingly Gifted Violin Maestro Dr. Mysore Manjunath represents Carnatic classical music, one of the main branches of Indian music. He was born in the city of Mysore, which is a centre for music, in South India. He trained on the violin under his father, Prof...
and Mysore Nagaraj are originally from Mysore.
Air
Beginning in October 2010, the Mysore Airport (also known as the Mandakalli Airport due to its location) provides flights from Bangalore and Chennai through Kingfisher Airlines.
Railways
Mysore Railway StationMysore is an historical city in the state of Karnataka and was the capital of many kings who ruled over the State in this period.Previously this city was connected to Bangalore by a Meter Gauge line which has now been converted to broad gauge...
has three railway lines that connect it to the cities of
BangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, Hassan and
ChamarajanagarChamarajanagar is a town in the southern end of Karnataka, a state in India. It is also the headquarters of the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. It is named after Chamaraja Wodeyar IX , king of Mysore, who was born in the town...
. The first railway line established in the city was the Bangalore-Mysore Junction
metre gaugeMetre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
line, which was commissioned in 1882. However, all railway lines that serve the city are single track ones which impede faster connectivity to the city. Though there are plans to double at least the Bangalore–Mysore track, the project is yet to be completed. All trains that connect to Mysore are operated by
Indian RailwaysIndian Railways , abbreviated as IR , is a departmental undertaking of Government of India, which owns and operates most of India's rail transport. It is overseen by the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India....
and the fastest train to serve the city is the
Shatabdi ExpressShatabdi Express trains are a series of fast passenger trains operated by Indian Railways to connect Metro cities with other cities important for tourism, pilgrimage or business...
. The new
Railway ProjectThe Golden I.T. Corridor is a railway project to create a rail connection from Nanjangud to Nilambur through Wayanad district of Kerala and Nilagiri district of Tamilnadu...
will improve the development prospects of Mysore.
Roadways
Mysore is connected by
National Highway NH-212 to the state border town of
GundlupetGundlupet is a town in Chamarajanagar district in the Indian state of Karnataka. This small town is about 56 km from the Mysore-Ooty / Mysore-Calicut road and about 200 km from Bangalore. Gundlupet is the last town in Karnataka en route to Ooty or Kozhikode.The Bandipur National Park...
which then forks into the states of
Keralaor Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
and
Tamil NaduTamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. The high traffic State Highway 17 which connects Mysore to Bangalore was, in 2006, upgraded to a four-lane highway which has reduced the travel time between the two cities. A project was planned in 1994 to construct a new expressway to connect the cities of Bangalore and Mysore. But this has run into numerous legal hurdles and the work has yet to be completed. Other main roads are State Highways 33 and 88, which connect Mysore to H D Kote and
Madikeri respectively.
The
Karnataka State Road Transport CorporationKarnataka State Road Transport Corporation or KSRTC is the state owned road transportation company in Karnataka.-About:KSRTC was set up in the year 1961 under the provisions of Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. The Government of India is also...
(KSRTC) and other private agencies operate buses from Mysore. The KSRTC also operates, air conditioned volvo and rear-engine deluxe buses in the city. A new division of KSRTC called Mysore City Transport Corporation (MCTC) has been proposed to be formed. Within the city, buses offer a cheap and popular means of transport. Auto-rickshaws are also available for intra-city commute. Tongas are popular in Mysore.
Media
Newspaper publishing in Mysore started in 1859 when Bhashyam Bhashyacharya began publishing a weekly newspaper in Kannada, called the
Mysooru Vrittanta Bodhini. This was followed by other weekly newspapers such as the
Karnataka Prakashika (1865), the
Mysore Gazette (1866) and the
Vrittanta Patrike (1887). One of the well-known publishers in Mysore during the Wodeyar rule was M Venkatakrishnaiya, who is called the father of Kannada journalism. He started news magazines such as
Sampadabhyudaya,
Vidyaadaayini, the
Mysore Patriot and
Saadhvi. Currently, popular newspapers with Mysore editions include the English-written Times of India and
Deccan HeraldThe Deccan Herald is a leading English-language daily newspaper distributed in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is published by the Printers Private Limited and has a number of editions in Bangalore, Hubli, Mysore, Mangalore and Gulbarga....
, and the Kannada-written
PrajavaniPrajavani is a leading Kannada-language newspaper in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is a sister publication of the Deccan Herald. , it had a circulation of 364,000, making it the second-largest-circulation newspaper in Karnataka , and the largest-circulation Kannada-language newspaper in the...
and
Vijaya KarnatakaVijaya Karnataka is a Kannada newspaper. It is the largest circulated Kannada daily and published from a number of cities in Karnataka. This was founded by VRL group, started in October 2000. During its initial days this news paper was distributed for free for one month. Later on this paper was...
. The
Star of Mysore,
Andolana and
Mysooru Mithra and other local newspapers are also published in the city and these carry news mostly related to Mysore city and its surroundings.
SudharmaSudharma is the only daily newspaper published in Sanskrit, a liturgical language for many Indian religions. The paper is published from the city of Mysore in the Indian state of Karnataka...
, the only daily
newspaperA newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
in the
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
language, is also published from Mysore.
Mysore was the location of the first private radio broadcasting station in
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
when
Akashavani (which literally means
voice from the sky) was established in the city on September 10, 1935. The radio station was established by M.V. Gopalaswamy, a professor of psychology at his house in the Vontikoppal area of Mysore, using a 50-watt transmitter. The station was taken over by the princely state of Mysore in 1941 and was moved to Bangalore in 1955. In 1957, the name
Akashvani was chosen as the official name of the
All India RadioAll India Radio , officially known since 1956 as Akashvani , is the radio broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati. Established in 1936, it is the sister service of Prasar Bharati's Doordarshan, the national television broadcaster. All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks...
(AIR), the radio broadcaster of the
Government of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
. The AIR station at Mysore broadcasts an FM radio channel at 100.6 MHz, and
Gyan VaniGyan Vani is an educational FM radio station in several cities of India.-Description:Gyan Vani is an educational FM Radio station in several cities of India...
broadcasts on 105.2. BIG 92.7 became the first private FM channel to broadcast in Mysore when it started operations on November 1, 2007. S FM 93.5 also launched its radio station there in April 2008.
Mysore city started receiving television broadcasts in the early 1980s when
DoordarshanDoordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
started beaming its national channel all over India. This was the only channel available for Mysoreans till
Star TVSatellite Television Asian Region is an Asian TV service owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.In 2009, News Corporation restructured STAR Asia into four units – STAR India, STAR Greater China, STAR Select and Fox International Channels....
started beaming satellite channels in 1991. Direct to home channels are now available in Mysore.
Sports
The
WodeyarThe Wodeyar dynasty was an Indian royal dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947, until the independence of India from British rule and the subsequent unification of the Indian dominion and princely states into the Republic of India.The spelling Wodeyar/Wadiyar is found in most...
kings of Mysore were patrons of various games and sports. King Krishnaraja Wodeyar III had a passion for indoor games. He invented new board games and popularised the
ganjifaGanjifa, or Gânjaphâ, is a card game that originated in Persia and became popular in India under the Mughal emperors in the 16th century.-Description:The name Ganjifa comes from the Persian word ganjifeh , meaning playing card...
card game. The sport of traditional
wrestlingWrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
has a history dating back to the 16th century in Mysore. This tradition still continues and the wrestling competition held in Mysore during the
DasaraMysore Dasara is the Nadahabba of the state of Karnataka. It is also called Navaratri and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October...
celebrations attracts wrestlers from all over India. An annual sports meet including various events is also organised in Mysore during the Dasara season.
In 1997, the city along with Bangalore co-hosted its biggest sports event ever, the
National Games of IndiaThe National Games of India is a sporting event held in India. It comprises various disciplines in which sportsmen from the different states of India participate against each other. It was in 1924, in erstwhile Punjab, that the Indian chapter of the Olympic movement was born. The founder was G.D....
. Mysore was the venue for six events:
archeryArchery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
,
gymnasticsGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
,
equestrianEquestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
events,
handballHandball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
,
table tennisTable tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
and wrestling.
Cricket is by far the most popular sport in Mysore. The city has four established cricket grounds, but is yet to host an
international cricketInternational Cricket is a cricket video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System that was only released in Australia in 1992. Developed by Melbourne-based Beam Software, it was the only cricket game released for the NES. There were no attempts to release a cricket video game to the North...
match.
Javagal SrinathJavagal Srinath is a former Indian cricketer. He was a frontline fast bowler for the Indian cricket team until his retirement, being the second Indian pace bowler after Kapil Dev to take 200 Test wickets. One ball that he bowled during the 1996 tour of South Africa measured...
, who represented
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for several years as its
fast bowlingFast bowling, sometimes known as pace bowling, is one of the two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket. The other is spin bowling...
spearhead, hails from Mysore. Other prominent sportsmen from the city include Prahlad Srinath, who has represented India in
Davis CupThe Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
tennis tournaments;
Reeth AbrahamReeth Abraham is an athlete from India and was once the national champion in long jump and heptathlon. She won the Arjuna Award in 1997.Reeth studied in Christ the King Convent, Mysore. She would participate in many school events. In the concluding function of middle school education, she played a ...
, who was an Indian national champion in the
heptathlonA heptathlon is a track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta and athlon . A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.-Women's Heptathlon:...
and a
long jumpThe long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
record holder; and Rahul Ganapathy, a national amateur
golfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
champion.
The Jayachamaraja Wadiyar Golf Club, an 18-hole golf course, was established in 1906. This golf course is laid around the Mysore race course, which is popular for the
Mysore racing season held each year from August through October. Mysore is the birthplace of the youth hostel movement in India, with the first
youth hostelHostelling International, formerly known as International Youth Hostel Federation , is the federation of more than 90 national youth hostel associations in more than 80 countries who have over 4,500 affiliated hostels around the world....
formed in the Maharaja's College Hostel in 1949.
Tourism
Mysore is a tourism hot spot within the state of Karnataka and also acts as a base for other tourist places in the vicinity of the city. The city receives the maximum number of tourists during the period of the
DasaraMysore Dasara is the Nadahabba of the state of Karnataka. It is also called Navaratri and is a 10-day festival with the last day being Vijayadashami, the most auspicious day of Dasara. Dasara usually falls in the month of September or October...
festival when festivities take place for a period of 10 days. One of the most visited monuments in India, the
Ambavilas PalaceThe Palace of Mysore is a palace situated in the city of Mysore in southern India. It is the official residence of the Wodeyars - the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, and also houses two durbar halls ....
(also known as Mysore Palace) is the center of the Dasara festivities.
The Jaganmohana Palace, the Jayalakshmi Vilas and the Lalitha Mahal are some of the other palaces in the city. Chamundeshwari Temple, atop the
Chamundi HillsThe Chamundi Hills are located in India, close to the palace city of Mysore. The hills' average elevation is 1,000 meters.According to legend, the demon Mahishasura, king of the area that is currently Mysore, was killed by the Goddess Chamundeswari after a fierce battle. The hills are named after...
and
St. Philomena's ChurchSt. Philomena's church is a church built in the honour of St. Philomena in the Diocese of Mysore, India. It was constructed in 1936 using a Neo Gothic style and its architecture was inspired by the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.-Patron saint:...
are popular religious places in Mysore.
The
Mysore ZooMysore Zoo is a zoo located near the palace in Mysore, India. It is one of the oldest and most popular zoos in Southern India, and is home to a wide range of species. Mysore Zoo is one of the city’s most popular attractions...
, established in 1892, and the
KaranjiKaranji Lake is a lake located in the city of Mysore in the state of Karnataka, India. The lake is surrounded by a nature park consisting of a butterfly park and a walk-through aviary. This aviary is the biggest 'walk-through aviary' in India. There is also a museum, the Regional Museum of Natural...
and Kukkarahalli lakes are also popular spots for tourists. Museums in Mysore include the
Regional Museum of Natural HistoryThe Regional Museum of Natural History at Mysore, is a museum in India with exhibits on plants, animals and geology of the southern region of India.-Description:...
, the
Folk Lore MuseumThe Folklore Museum at Mysore, India, is a museum which exhibits folk art and crafts from all over the state of Karnataka-Description:The folklore museum that contains representative collections of art and crafts from all over Karnataka. The museum was founded in 1968. It is located in the...
, the
Railway MuseumThe Railway Museum at Mysore, India is an outdoor exhibit of vintage locomotives.The Railway Museum was established in 1979 by Indian Railways, the second such museum after the National Railway Museum in Delhi. The museum is opposite the Central Food Technology and Research Institute on Krishnaraja...
and the
Oriental Research InstituteThe Oriental Research Institute at Mysore, India is a research institute which collects, exhibits, edits and publishes rare manuscripts in both Sanskrit and Kannada. Formerly it was known as the Oriental Library....
. The city is also a centre for
yogaYoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
-related health tourism that attracts lot of foreign visitors as well. A Wax Museum "Melody World" was established in October 2010 based on Musical instruments exhibiting over 110 life-size wax statues and 300 musical instruments arranged in various bands and stage settings.
A short distance from Mysore city is the
Krishnarajasagar DamKrishna Raja Sagara , also popularly known as KRS , is the name of both a lake and the dam that causes it. For information about the settlement near the dam and reservoir, see Krishnarajasagara. The dam is across Kaveri River, in Mandya District near Mysore in Karnataka state, India...
and the adjoining
Brindavan GardensThe Brindavan Gardens is a garden located in the state of Karnataka in India. It lies adjoining the Krishnarajasagara dam which is built across the river Kaveri. The work on laying out this garden was started in the year 1927 and completed in 1932...
where a
musical fountainA musical fountain is a type of animated fountain for entertainment purposes that creates an aesthetic design . This is achieved by employing the effects of timed sound waves and timed light against water particles...
show is held in the evening. Places of historic importance lying close to Mysore are
SrirangapatnaSrirangapatna is a town in Mandya district of the Indian state of Karnataka...
,
SomanathapuraThe Chennakesava Temple located at Somanathapura is one of the finest examples of Hoysala architecture. This temple was built by Soma, a Dandanayaka in 1268 under Hoysala king Narasimha III, when the Hoysala Empire was the major power in South India.-Deity and sculptures:The ceiling of the hall...
and
TalakadTalakad is a desert-like town on the left bank of the Kaveri river at a spot where the river makes a sharp bend. It is 45 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore in Karnataka, India. A historic site, Talakad once had over 30 temples that today are buried in sand. Now it is a scenic...
. The hills,
B R HillsThe Biligiriranga Hills, commonly called B R Hills, is a hill range situated in south-eastern Karnataka, at its border with Tamil Nadu in South India. The area is called Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary or simply BRT Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a protected reserve under the Wildlife...
and
Himavad Gopalaswamy BettaHimavad Gopalaswamy Betta, is a hill located in the Chamarajanagar district of the state of Karnataka,at a height of 1450m India and is extensively wooded. It is also the highest peak in the Bandipur National Park. It lies in the core area of the Bandipur National Park and is frequented by wild...
and the hill stations of Ooty Sultan Battery and
Madikeri are all near Mysore. Popular destinations for wildlife enthusiasts near Mysore include the National Parks at
BandipurBandipur National Park is one of India's best known protected areas and is an important Project Tiger reserve. It is located in the Chamarajanagar district of southern Karnataka in South India,...
and
NagarholeNagarhole National Park , also known as "Rajiv Gandhi National Park", is located from Mysore in Karnataka in South India. It is spread between Kodagu district and Mysore district. Located to the north-west of Bandipur National Park, Kabini reservoir separates the two. The park has rich forest...
, the wildlife sanctuaries at
MelkoteMelukote in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Karnataka, in southern India, is one of the sacred places in Karnataka. The place is also known as Thirunarayanapuram. It is built on rocky hills, known as Yadavagiri or Yadugiri, overlooking the Cauvery valley. Melukote is about 51 km from...
and B R Hills and the bird sanctuaries at Ranganathittu and
KokrebellurKokkarebellur, usually shortened by the colloquial usage to Kokrebellur, is a village in Maddur taluk of Mandya district of Karnataka, India. The village is named after the Painted Stork called “Kokkare” in Kannada language. It is situated near Maddur between the cities of Mysore and Bangalore...
. Other tourist spots near Mysore include the religious locations of Nanjanagud and
BylakuppeBylakuppe kannada:ಬೈಲಕುಪ್ಪೆ, Tibetian:བལཀུཔེ is the location of "Lugsum Samdupling" and "Dickyi Larsoe" , two adjacent Tibetan refugee settlements, as well as a number of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. The area is located in the west of the Mysore district in the Indian state of Karnataka...
and the waterfalls at
ShivanasamudraShivanasamudra is a small town in the Mandya District of the state of Karnataka, India. It is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri and is the location of the first Hydro-electric Power station in Asia, which was set up in the year 1902.-Waterfalls:The Shivanasamudra Falls is on the Kaveri...
.
Mysore has about 180 parks and playgrounds. Most of the residential areas have their own small parks: e.g. Ambedkar Park in Jayanagar a southern city district has a 500-metre perimeter footpath. The newly built Andolan Circle Park has a walking track that takes five minutes for one round. This park is near Kuvempu Nagar in South Mysore. But many Mysoreans prefer to walk around the many lakes which pepper the landscape such as the central Kukarahalli Kere by the university where the journey around is about 4.5 kilometres. Another is the Lingabudhi Kere which has a footpath with bamboo forests and again takes more than 20 minutes for one round. This park it is a desirable neighbourhood to the southwest called Rama Krishna Nagar, 5 km away from the city centre.
Information technology
Mysore hosts several
information technologyInformation technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
related companies. Prominent amongst them is
Infosys Technologies LimitedInfosys Limited, formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is a global technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is the second largest IT exporter in India with 133,560 employees as of March 2011. It has offices in 33 countries and development centers in India, China,...
. Infosys Mysore also has the largest training center for a private sector organization in Asia. It currently accommodates 15000 trainees each year. In 2009 a new training center has been opened which accommodates 10000 trainee software professionals.
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