Mysore Dussehera

Four hundred years after the royal festival first began, the occupant of the golden howdah is the 24 carat idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari.

The chief participants in the festivities are no longer kings and queens, but politicians and government officials.
Today, Mysore's Dussehra has become a people's festival

The highlight is the procession held on Vijayadashami, the tenth and final day of the festival.
The procession is led by caparisoned elephants carrying an idol of the Goddess Chamundeshwari seated in a golden howdah.
In the days of the Wodeyars, the king used to sit in the howdah.

Considered to be the mother of all poorams, the Thrissur Pooram is a cultural highlight par excellence, celebrated in the Malayalam month Medam (April/May).

The two century old festival of spectacular procession of caparisoned elephants and enthralling percussion performances in a never ending succession is an 36 hours marathon event of incredible beauty, a feast for the eye and the ear, unfolding between 6 am to 12 noon the other day. Different from the usual temple festival, Thrissur Pooram is participated and conducted by people across all barriers of religion and caste. Adhering to the medieval Peruvanam tradition, the festival is confined to the temples of Devi (goddess) and Sastha (divine combination of Shiva and Vishnu

In Mysore, Dussehra is easily the most popular festival. It is celebrated on a grandiose scale here. Elephants are decked up with robes and jewelery and taken in processions through the streets of the city.

In fact, many people visit Mysore from all over the country to watch this colorful event. There is also a floating festival in the temple tank at the foot of Chamundi Hill and a procession of chariots around the temple at the top.The Dussehra of Mysore or Mysore Dassara as it is famously called is a 10-day long festival. On the day of Dussehra, a procession of caparisoned elephants carrying the idol of goddess Chamundi is taken through the city. The festival is celebrated in a grand style with scores of cultural performances in the great Durbar Hall of the Maharaja's Palace. On Vijaydashami, the 10th day of the festival, a colorful procession featuring caparisoned elephants winding through the gaily-decorated streets of the city, mark the occasion