Royal family gears up for Dasara festivities

MYSURU: Mysuru maharani Trishikha Kumari is getting ready for private Dasara celebrations. It's seven weeks since her wedding to scion of the Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and the 24-year-old Rajput is getting the hang of Dasara rituals which the royal couple will perform during the 10-day festival in October.
While Yaduveer did the rituals last year, it's the first time for Trishikha.After he was appointed the titular head of the Wadiyar dynasty, Yaduveer had conducted the rituals, mainly ascending the golden throne and conducted the Khas Durbar, the private durbar at the Amba Vilas, the glass-topped ornate auditorium attached to the Mysuru Palace.
While the state government, senior officials in Mysuru in particular, is preparing for the festival which will be eleven days this year, the Mysuru royal family has also started preparing for the private Dasara at the residential palace.
"Trishikha performed pujas on Tuesday as part of the Mangala Gowri festival," a palace priest told TOI. For the next three Tuesdays, she will perform the special pujas, he said.
With the start of the Shravana month, the festival season has commenced. But Dasara will be celebrated with fervour at the palace with many events lined up. A senior member of the Urs community said that while Dasara starts in October, elaborate planning has started. This includes when to fix the muhurta to take the golden throne out of the safe and assemble it at the Amba Vilas for the Vijaya Dashami procession.
During Dasara, the royal couple will conduct some rituals. While Yaduveer will perform the rituals, this time Trishikha will also join him, mainly in offering puja to the golden throne, said Raja Chandra, son-in-law of the last maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, told TOI, adding, "Like Yaduveer, she will also tie kankana on her right wrist and perform rituals."
After Yaduveer was nominated head of the family in May 2015, he was trained in Dasara rituals well ahead of the festival. He was told about various rituals and traditions and practices like wearing of headgear, how to ascend the throne and how to conduct himself, sources said.
As Trishikha is a Rajput from North India, she is not aware of the many rituals and hence needs guidance, they said. But she attended the festival last year and saw the rituals from close quarters which will help her learn fast, they added.