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MYSORE and its environs are a tourist's delight. It is a one-stop destination where you can submerge yourself in the charms of history such as archaeological sites and forts; step into a palace and reconstruct the life of royalty; savour the grandeur of imposing architectural edifices; relax in the backwaters of the placid Kabini reservoir; trek into the forests of Bandipur or Nagarhole and glare at a tiger from your jeep; fish for trout in the swirling waters of the Cauvery - the attractions are innumerable.
Located 139 km south of Bangalore, Mysore is well connected to the rest of the country by a network of road and rail traffic. It will also shortly have its own airport. In addition, the pleasant weather makes the entire year a tourist season.
Having been home to a number of royal dynasties - the Gangas, the Hoysalas, the Vijayanagar kings, Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan - Mysore has had the unique opportunity to imbibe the cultures of each one of them. And, it has earnined for itself a charm of its very own, where the heritage and culture of one era has seamlessly blended into another.
Forming an excellent backdrop to the city is the Chamundi Hill. The 12th century Chamundeshwari temple atop the hill houses the presiding deity of the Wodeyars. Halfway up the Hill, which is 1074 metres above sea level, is the gigantic Nandi (bull), the vehicle of Shiva.
For any tourist, a visit to Mysore has to start with a walk through the opulent Amba Vilas Palace. Not far from the palace is St. Philomena's Church, built in 1840. Said to be modelled on St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York and the Gothic Church at Cologne, the Church has two tall spires, which rise to a height of 165 feet, and a crypt containing a statue of St. Philomena, a saint who lived in 3rd century A.D. Designed by French architects, the interior of the Church has colonnades and brilliant glass paintings, depicting the crucifixion of Christ.
The Sri Jayachamrajendra Zoological Gardens, established in 1892, is home to a variety of animals bred in captivity and over 110 species of plants and trees from various countries.
Mysore has a number of art galleries and museums. The three-story Jagan Mohan Palace, built in 1861, houses the Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery, a repository of paintings by artists like Raja Ravi Varma, Rabindranath Tagore, Jilladin Ville and Svetoslav Roerich, musical instruments, sculptures, brassware and antiques, along with traditional Mysore gold leaf painting.
The country's only regional railway museum is found in the city, located a few metres from the railway station and modelled on the National Railway Museum in Delhi. The Museum gives a glimpse into the era of steam driven engines and the luxury of the maharani's Saloon (built in the U.K. in 1899) and the maharaja's dining car.
While the Regional Museum of Natural History gives tourists an opportunity to explore the natural world, the Folklore Museum at the Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion on the Manasagangotri campus is a veritable storehouse of folk culture with its costumes, dolls, handicrafts, farm implements and articles of daily use.
Nineteen kilometres from Mysore are the Brindavan Gardens. Laid out in typical Mughal style and adjacent to India's first irrigation dam - the Krishnarajasagar across the Cauvery - the gardens are transformed after sundown into a complex of coloured, musical fountains.
Further afield are the temple town of Nanjangud (23 km from Mysore and on the banks of the Kapila), the riverine island fort town of Srirangapatnam (20 km), the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary (5 km), Talakkad a city which is buried in dunes of sand that stretch for nearly a mile (45 km), and the scenic and magnificent Shivasamudram Falls where the Cauvery cascades from a height of 75 metres into a deep, rocky gorge to form two falls. Further downstream is Asia's first hydroelectric power project (65 km away), the religious centre of Melkote which overlooks the Cauvery valley and is synonymous with Vaishnava history (20 km) and the Hoysala style Chennakeshava Temple at Somnathpur (35 km).
Belur, Halebid and Shravanabelagola are rich in the Hoysala style of architecture and Jain monuments, including the 57-foot-tall statue of Gomateshwara (150 km away).
The Mysore region has an astonishing variety of flora and fauna - the 5,500 square km Bandipur National Park, which is a Project Tiger Reserve (80 km away), the Nagarhole National Park (90 km), which is situated in the foothills of the Westen Ghats, and the backwaters of the river Kabini (80 km).
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