October 29, 2009

Sacred Lamp

"The sacred lamp of day Now dipt in western clouds his parting day"
- William Falconer


October 26, 2009

Mysore - Part 5 (Final)

Also check Mysore Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4

Continued.....

District Commissioners Office which is about 2 min walk away from Mysore University



Krishna Raja Govt Hospital



From another angle



Sri Jayadeva Murugharajendra Pathology Laboratories which is in the same campus of K.R. Hospital



K.R. Hospital Out Patient Wing



Government College of Ayurveda



Govt Library which is right opposite Ayurveda College



Finally this long post has come to an end, Hope you all enjoyed your trip to Mysore :)



October 18, 2009

Mysore - Part 4

You can also read Mysore Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Continued........

Lets go on a fun ride around Mysore and see how the other Heritage buildings and streets are decorated for Dasara, I almost forgot to show you the lightings don one Chamundi Hill to welcome Tourists... It Reads "Suswagatha" which means Welcome, it can me seen even before you enter Mysore.



Now lets come out of the Mysore Palace from the West Gate, and go in the direction same as the vehicles (This place is called KR Circle, One of  the busiest place in Mysore)



After a 3 min ride you will end up here, here's another beautiful statue of Maharaja Krishna Raja Wodayar



lets have a closer look



If you look in the same direction as the Statue is looking your view will be this, by now you would've noticed lights where ever we travelled, most of the buildings and almost all the streets will be decorated with lights.



Most of the Heritage Buildings have been converted into School's, College, Govt Office's, Hospital etc... lets have a look at some of them

Mysore City Corporation Office, Located behind the Main palace 



Jaganmohn Palace which is now a Art Gallery, it is also located behind main palace at a walking distance of about 1000 mts. from the Corporation office. It was built in 1861 to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, the princess of  Mysore. The main door of this Museum is it self a master piece of Art with intricate carvings. The original oil paintings of Raja Ravi Varma of Travancore on display here are on many mythological themes. The painting of lady holding the lamp of the Indian Artist S.G.Heldnker is another Master piece. A good collection of clocks is  also on display here. 



Government primary school located behind Jaganmohan palace



Maharaja Boy's College



Maharani Girls Science College



Mysore University





to be Continued........

you can see other My World entries HERE

October 13, 2009

Wordless / Skywatch

You can view other sky watch entries here

October 5, 2009

Mysore - Part 3

You can also read Part 1 and Part 2

Continued....

Mysore is a city of palaces, but the most magnificent of them all is the Mysore Palace AKA Amba vilasa and sometimes known as the Main Palace. 

The Palace is situated in the middle of the city and is a reminder of the grandeur of a bygone era and is today an invaluable national treasure. 

The Palace that stands today is the fourth one to be built in the same site. The English architect Henry Irwin designed the new Palace and it was completed in 1912 at a cost of about Rs 41 lakhs. 
The Palace has a number of visually delightful rooms like the portrait gallery, the royal armory, collections of costumes and jewellery, delicately carved doors of mahogany and solid silver, graceful chandeliers, decorative stained glass ceilings, ornamental frescoes. During the Dasara the Royal throne made of 200kgs of pure gold is displayed. On the walls of the Palace the Dasara processions have been painted in such a way that, no matter where and how you stand the procession seems to be heading towards you. 

Mysore Palace is an excellent combination of Dravidian and Roman styles of architecture.  One enters the Palace through the Gombe Thotti or the Doll's Pavilion; this is a pavilion of traditional dolls from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This collection also has a wooden elephant howdah (structure for carrying people on the elephant) that is decorated with 84 kilograms of gold. 

There are seven canons in front of the Gombe Thotti and are used to this day to mark the beginning and the end of the Dasara festivities every year. 

There are twelve temples inside the Palace complex dating from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries and have varying architectural styles. Here are photos of some of them.





Now let me show you around Mysore Palace as seen during Dasara, (These are are photo's taken cold rainy night hope you enjoy the photo's as much as i enjoyed shooting them)

One of the most unforgettable images of the city is the image of the illuminated Mysore Palace against the dark black sky. It takes ninety seven thousand light bulbs to produce this enchanting image of the Palace. 
The main entrance also known as Darwaz-e-khas, this entrace was used by the kings to enter the palace
You get to see this once you enter the site from the main entrance

Lets get a little closer
Now if you turn back you can see the main entrance and one of the temples, there is another temple on the other side of the main entrance

If you stand facing the place this will be the view towards your right, you can see beautifully illuminated temple and another entrance to the palace 

Here's the closer look of the entrance seen in the above picture

there is a huge mirror right next to the entrance, its placed in such a way that you can see the reflection of the full place and the temple's and they appear to be much closer than they actually are... not sure why its placed there, may be for some crazy guy to take a photo of a reflection (ya its me with the black jacket and a army sling bag :), could not position myself correctly to get the full view, there was lot of water on the ground because of the rain )

lets turn back and take another look of the palace, you can also see the other entrance and the temple on the other side of the palace
A closer look of the temple seen above

Now its time to go out of palace and see Mysore on a Dasara Night :)

To be continued.....

October 4, 2009

Camera Critter




You can find other Camera Critters entries HERE

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