All temples in Mysuru scale down Dasara fete

Mysuru: Besides the celebrations of Dasara by State government and royal family of Mysuru, while atleast 50 ancient and traditional 'Shaiva' 'vaishnava' 'shaaktha' temples in Mysuru, which celebrated Dasara grandly every year are restricting celebrations to just traditional poojas, paaraayanas, homas and other rituals this year. Thanks to Covid 19 pandemic situation. On one hand Temples remained closed from 19 March to 7 June due to lockdown. And even after they are opened from 8 June, the devotees to the temples and their revenues have dropped by atleast 70 percent, according to noted historian and archaeology expert Dr Shalvapille Iyengar.

He explained , "There are several ancient temples which are over 500 to 1000 year old, traditional temples which are over 200 to 400 year old, and modern temples which are over 100 to 200 year old in Mysuru. And among them Dasara is usually celebrated grandly every year by atleast 50 Shaiva temples (where lord Shiva is worshipped), Vaishnava temples (where incarnations of lord Vishnu are worshipped) and Shaaktha temples (Where Goddesses of different forms are worshipped) in Mysuru," Dr Shalvapille Iyengar said.

He added, "Now due to decline in devotees and their offerings due to financial issues due to covid 19 pandemic situation, and decline in the revenue, the Dasara celebrations at most of these temples are restricted to traditional rituals. The prasadam quantity prepared is reduced from 50 kg rice to 1.5 kgs at big temples and prasadam is limited to God. Even at temples which come under endowment department they can only spend 35 percent of their revenue earned. And some temples which are having corpus funds are surviving and there are many temples which are even closed due to crisis. Also besides low salaries, there have been salary cuts for few priests and since people are not hosting private poojas at homes, due to covid 19 pandemic situation and also due to financial crisis, priests are badly hit. ," Dr Shalva Pille Iyengar said.

He said, "In Mysuru among Vaishnava temples besides popular temples including, Sri Datta Venkateshwara temple of at Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashram, Sri Lakshmi Venkataramana temple of Vontikoppal, there are many other temples including Hayagreeva temple at Parakaala matt, Prasanna venkataramana swamy temple on VRS temple street, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha swamy temple on Ramavilas road and others. And now there will be only be sriramad ramayana paarayana, srimad bhagavatha paarayana, Lakshminarayana hrudya, sudarshana homa and others as part of Dasara in most of these temples.

Among Shaiva temples besides famous Srikanteswara temple at Nanjangud, Trinayaneswara temple at Mysuru Palace premises, there are several other temples including Prasanna Nanjundeswara temple built by wife of Maharaja of Mysuru Mummadi Sri Krishnaraja Wadiyar at Santhepete, Amritheswara temple on Diwan's road and others. Now there will only be rudra paaraayana, chandi homa, rudra homa, rudra thrishathi paaraayana and others during Dasara in most of these temples.

And at Shaaktha temples besides Sri Chamundeswari temple atop Chamundi hills, Tripura Sundaradevi temple at Uththanahalli. There are many other temples including Sharada temple at Shankarmath, Mahalakshmi temple at Kanakadasanagar, Nimbuja devi temple at Nazarbad, Karumaariyamma temple at Vidyanaranyapuram, Kalamma temple on KT street, Kannikaparameshwari temple on Ashoka road. And now there will only be shatha chandi homa, maarkandaiah purana patana, devi puraana, lalitha thrishathi archane, Lakshminarayana hrudya and others in most of these temples," Dr Shalvapille Iyengar explained.

Now due to reduction of grandeur of Dasara celebrations at these temples, several people who depend on temples for their livelihood including flower vendors and several others are suffering a huge blow too.

According to Endowment department Tahsildar of Mysuru, Mr Jagdeesh, besides several private temples, there are 1279 temples which come under Muzrai department in Mysuru district. Those include two A grade and 327 C grade temples in Mysuru city and Mysuru taluk; one A grade and 146 C grade temples in Nanjangud taluk; one A grade, two B grade and 162 C grade temples in T Narsipur taluk; one A grade and 174 C grade temples in Periyapatna taluk; one B grade and 155 c grade temples in HD Kote taluk; 155 C grade temple in Hunsur taluk; one B grade and 191 C grade temples in KR Nagar taluk.