I hadn’t taken kindly to a suggestion by companions in travel we visit the Maharajah’s palace in Mysore. The palace was commissioned in 1897, and its construction was completed in 1912. This palace is now one of the famous tourist attractions of India.
After a vacation in the mountain cool of Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu we’d descended to blistering heat of the plains, and completed our brief rest stopover in Bangalore following twelve hours of bone shattering road travel from the hills. We now faced another eighteen hours travel to our home in Pune, Mararashtra.
Usually, following a trip of this duration we needed a day to recover before returning to work, and it didn’t seem logical to add this side trip lasting several hours to the physical punishment our bodies endured on annual holiday travel. However, majority were in favor of the trip, so we were soon on our way to Mysore.
Our trip proved to be well worth the effort after all. We marveled at the opulence of ornately carved doors with their gold and silver inlays and statues and works of art beautiful to behold. All this was guarded by men placed in strategic places by a government now proud owner of this palace. The Maharaja who commissioned the palace was long gone.
On the walls were paintings, which graced corridor after corridor. These depicted annual festivals during which time Maharajahs rode elephants through the town of Mysore accompanied by nobles and persons of rank. Rich tapestries hung over doorways where thousands of servants used to await a clap of the Maharaja’s hand to service his every need.
The guide, droning his monotonous commentary led us to a review area where the Maharajah would sit to receive homage of assembled subjects in the square below. We marveled at cleverly constructed air ducts which acted as efficient air conditioners long before the advent of their electronic relatives of this era. Indian engineers of that early era were competent professionals and are so today.
The most spectacular sight was the throne. It was made of gold with precious stones liberally embedded in the support frame, flashing brilliance on all who paused to look. I remember the brilliance of the rubies, and the ever present guards hovering over onlookers, watching carefully lest someone be tempted to stray beyond barriers.
I don’t recall any of the names of Maharajahs who lived in this palace, but will always remember the brilliance of the surroundings, and, of course, the throne. This is indelibly imprinted in my memory with snippets of the history of this area of India, and those who contributed to the countries ancient greatness.
I hope I’ve whetted your appetite for a glimpse of this magnificent tourist attraction. When you do make your journey, be sure you finish the day with an evening visit to the Brindavan Gardens nearby.
“© Ian Grice 2010 All rights reserved”
The above image is copyrighted to Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore_Palace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brindavan_Gardens
ianscyberspace 
Visiting from Holistic Wayfarer’s site, where you liked a post on race featuring me. Thanks.
Love this account of your visit to the palace. Sounds amazing, and I am grateful to enjoy it vicariously through your words. Having spent the early part of my life traveling, I find not much inclination to do so now, much to my husband’s disappointment.
I am a follower.
Best regards,
Elizabeth
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I know what you mean about not wanting to travel. Most of my life was spent travelling the world with the exception of approximately 8 years spent in a college administration and teaching position a boon considering it was in the formative years of my children’s growing up period. We did some overseas volunteer work after retirement. Our children settled in the US as citizens and we live in Australia but for health reasons cannot travel any more. However through the marvels of the internet we can watch our grand children grow up and they do visit.
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How long did you live in India for Ian? I’m kicking myself for never visiting the Taj Mahal when I lived in Jaipur. I also lived in Perth for a time and never got a chance to see a kangaroo.
=)
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Lived in India 20 years and Singapore for 10. Travelled most of the Asia Pacific during those years including a brief University appointment in the Philippines. I’m amazed you didn’t see a kangaroo in Australia the Land of Oz. You are certainly well travelled.
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I was so upset that i didn’t get to see a kangaroo. We almost went one day to a specific park that had them, but then I found out that I wasn’t free from my course to do so. Then we were so busy packing and finishing up. If I ever get to Australia again I will definitely have to make that my number 1 priority. I did, however try some kangaroo meat.
=)
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I our previous home before huge development too place we had kangaroos come up to our back fence each day but even after the development they could be seen in the green areas on my morning walks. In our new home its mostly lakes and birdlife.
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Glad you got to see this rather over the top palace Ian. Karnataka, earlier called Mysore as well, is my home state. The Dussehra festival presided over by the king, complete with elephant processions, used to be a major tourist spectacle. Haven’t witnessed it, except for TV visuals myself!! The last king died – childless – in December. Not sure what will happen to the celebration this year. The queen is expected to name a successor.
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There are so many pictures and tapestries depicting that festival Madhu and those are impressive. I can only imagine the excitement of the actual festival. But Bharat Mata is one big festival isn’t it? My children were raised there and look on the country as just as much home as their passport suggests. My eldest was born in Pune and the second we joke was engineered in Pune and assembled in Sydney Australia. lol
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What beautiful places you have visited so far Ian, and how lucky we are that you can share them with us. 🙂 Thank you. x
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Originally I’d thought of writing stories of our family life and travels for my daughters to remember after we had passed along, but to my surprise I found there were others who actually enjoyed reading these. I feel so privileged to have this extended family of internet pals and treasure you all greatly.
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It’s a wonderful Global Village we have isn’t it Ian? So many unexepected blessings have come from these lovingly supportive links that have been created. x
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We would have loved to have seen this place! Our traveling days are over. Thanks for sharing. En
Sent from my iPad
>
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Unfortunately our travel days are over too.
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MY husband calls such events “serendipity” and we always try to include such our travels.. Like you we have not been disappointed. The palace sounds quite extraordinary. It is sad to think that the Maharaja must have extracted al hat wealth form his surrounding subjects. I suspect that we doe right past the palace when we visited India a couple of years ago- serendipity worked against us that time. Cheerio, Jane
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Sorry you missed it. Sometimes the outward appearance doesn’t keep up with what’s inside though the Indian Government does try and maintain their historic buildings.
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Beautiful palace it must have been really something to see in person. The inside sounds amazingly beautiful. Hugs
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There are beautiful palaces in Europe too, but for gem stone encrusted thrones and walls India is the place. Of course some have been plundered over the years but there are still some remaining
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How sad that some of those beautiful things have been plundered. I saw some very beautiful places when I lived in Germany and visited France and Switzerland.
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I’ve visited the palaces in Vienna and Brussels. I’m glad they have preserved the opulence of those places for us to enjoy.
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There are times when we fight the inevitable and are rewarded wonderfully!
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And this was one of those cases.
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Side trips can sometimes be so very rewarding. It would be interesting to know about those air ducts that provided cooling air – shall look it up when time permits.
Thank you, Ian, for sharing another bit of India from your memory,
Eric
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There were similar engineering marvels in the palaces and buildings of the north I visited. The Moguls were an intelligent people.
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it never ceases to amaze me, how when we travel and we do take that side track (even when tired) how often something fantastic appears and it happened to you. I could envisage the glory of that palace and it whetted my imagination for what had happened in the past. If I eve travel that way, it would definitely be on my agenda.
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The heat around the time of the monsoon is something you couldn’t imagine but while this certainly clouds the mind the splendour of that place is riveting in spite of the heat. There are many more places in India equally captivating.
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