Started for Srirangapatna at 9. My hotel guy told me that all buses bound for Bangalore pass through S’na. Got an express bus, 13 rupees for the 15 km ride, which takes half an hour. I got dropped at the S’na bus stop, the croosroads has two clusters on either side of the road – the one on the left has the mosque, temple, dungeons and obelisk; while the one on the right has the fort museum, Gumbaz and the sangam.
I decided to take the one on the right first. Seems I took a wrong route, a side route used by the locals as after 300 meters through light vegetation and small mud paths, I ended up bang in the middle of the Garden at ‘Daria daulat bagh’. I proceeded to the main structure, a light blue rectangular building which apparently houses some artifacts and old weapons, photography not allowed. I got caught here as the entry guard asked me for the ticket which obviously i did not have. So he directed me to the main gate 200 meters away at the other end of the garden. I proceeded to the gate but was too tired to walk in the sun again so took some snaps of the place and proceeded out. There are autos here that can be used to travel to other sites, I decided to walk it, not a good idea in sunny weather in jeans. I entered the other cluster of places on the opposite side of the road, about a km of walk this time around.
The first monument you hit is the Jumma Masjid, apparently still operational as a masjid today. The main prayer area was also open and I sat there for 10 minutes. The caretaker there told me he had to close as this area was only opened for the morning prayers, I looked at the carved white walls once again before going out. The caretaker was kind enough to let people know of the history of the place, and take their snaps. When I wanted to take a snap of his with the masjid minarets in the background, the poor chap shied away.
From here on forth on one corner you come to Thomas Immam’s dungeon, the whole area has maps so its easy to find your way, I took a snap of one of these maps and kept referring to it on my camera to make sure I did not miss any place. The dungeon also houses a small temple next to it which has a shaded area which I utilized to rest a bit. A shame that they have kept the outer wall area out of bounds of people visiting by means of wires, it would’ve been fun to walk on it to see the river (Cauvery I believe) running next to it. A further 100 meters on the road you come to the place where Tipu Sultan’s body was found, a small stone declaring the fact. Further on the road bifurcates as on the left hand side it leads to the Ranganathaswamy temple. I took this path to get to the temple, again no photography inside, outside on both sides you had the normal shops selling small stone deities and other stuff. I removed my shoes and joined the long line inside the temple compound after purchasing 2 tickets for 10 bucks. The going was slow, apparently because it was a Sunday, quite a few people from other states were also here. Met a coupe of elderly ladies who had come down from Bombay all the way here, as we chatted while waiting for our turn to see the deity.
Apparently the tickets I had bought entitled me to some sort of special pujaand were not entry tickets. I wouldn’t have even known had one of the priests not noticed me holding the pink piece of paper and called me aside from the masses. He started reciting prayers next to me for 1 whole minute, asking me questions, answers to which I obviously did not have. The only word I did recognize in his interrogation was ‘goutra’, to which I replied ‘Mann’, my surname (I believe my interpretation of even that word was wrong). The priest smiled and asked me in broken English if it was my first time here, I smiled back an affirmative. Then he handed me over a few flowers from the main statue’s feet, and I proceeded away from the impatient crowd. At another place inside the temple, I was again given the special 1 minute pooja, the other orange slip coming into play this time. I don’t really even visit temples when my mom pesters me to, and here I was having pujas done in a faraway town!
The heat was still a bit bearable as I clicked snaps of kids (and a middle aged guy!) swinging on Banyan vines, enjoying themselves inspite of the heat. Crossed over to see Colonel Bailey’s dungeon close by, seemed quiet a nice dungeon if you ask me, even though it was in the basement. Further on you have to cross the railway line to get to the obelisk. It’s a bit far away from everything, so did not see anyone else there. Situated on a small elevated mass, it’s almost on a corner where you can see the river bifurcating into two, and the rocks coming out in between the streams. I continued back, it was just 1:45 in the afternoon, so I decided to visit the Gumbaz at the other cluster as well. The auto chap charged 40 bucks (the returning journey cost only 30) from the bus stand to the Gumbaz, 3.5 km away. Small shops again dot the entrance to this tomb, where the bodies of Tipu and his family have been laid to rest. The white marble tomb has the usual beautiful designs that you can see on most of the Islamic structures. I paid my respects to the dead while looking at the exquisite designs on the door, walls and ceilings of the tomb.
Started back for Mysore at around 3 only, having spent a lot of time at the tomb. In the evening I ventured out again to see the Church and Palace lights. I took the circular walk around the palace as I came to the entrance gate. Here I found a lot of people, as I saw that they were infact entering the palace compound, at 7 in the evening. I was told that the entry was free, so I joined to take a closer look at the palace lights, what a stroke of luck! The palace visiting hours close around 6, but I believe that on Sundays, or maybe it was because of Dusshehra that they had opened the palace compound to the public at this time. The whole compound was filled with people from across the country and plenty of tourists, all clicking away at the beautifully illuminated palace. In front of the Palace, an army band was also performing various tunes, which continued on for the duration I was there. Seeing the lit palace from this close was a sight to behold, after being able to see it from 300 meters away only last night. Another day well spent, I tucked in at 10 after some random channel viewing.
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