To give a fillip to the tourism sector, temple tourism has been mooted with special focus on religious structures on the palace premises in the city.
Though Mysuru used to attract over 3.5 million tourists in the pre-pandemic times, stakeholders believe it will take some time before the city can reach that level of footfall provided there was no further waves of the pandemic.
The fulcrum of tourism in Mysuru continues to be the palace but stakeholders aver that tourists don’t spend more than two hours exploring it. But almost 99 per cent of the visitors tend to skip the important temples located within the fort and even the locals are oblivious of their importance.
Sources in the Palace Board said promoting eight main temples within the Amba Vilas Palace precincts was sufficient to lure the tourists to spend an additional day in the city.
Officials point to the recorded history of some of the temples within the palace fort and which are protected by the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage. This includes the Lakshmiramana Swamy temple built by Chamaraja Wadiyar depicting the Dravidian style of architecture and dated to the 15th century. This temple was important as some of the important religious ceremonies in connection with the coronation of the kings used to take place here.
The Trinayaneshwara temple which is agog with devotees during the Mahashivaratri is another major temple which is ancient and its existence is known to precede the days of Raja Wadiyar who ascended the throne in 1610 CE at Srirangapatna.
Palace records indicate that the temple existed even before the fort was constructed and was outside the original boundary of the fort. When the fort was extended the temple was brought within the fort complex as it exists in the present times.
Prasanna Krishnaswami temple was constructed in the 1820s as per the records and officials say during the time of the maharajas this temple alone had over 150 staff but now it is not frequented by the public. Similarly, the Gayatri temple and Bhuvaneshwari temple are worth exploring as also Shweta Varahaswamy temple which is constructed in the Hoysala style, say the stakeholders.
The visit to the palace coupled with the private museum should be backed with promoting the ancient temples within the palace fort. This will keep the tourists occupied for at least half a day after which they can be engaged with sound and light at night, according to officials.
At present there is a grouse that tourists don’t spend more than a day in Mysuru and this is not helping the tourism or the hospitality sector and hence want a comprehensive plan for promoting the palace temples.
