Floral replicas of various models beckon visitors; Show open till Dec.31

Mysuru:  Like the Khas Durbar by the Royal family during Navaratri, it’s Floral Durbar by the District Administration during Winter in the backdrop of the illuminated Mysore Palace.

Floral  replicas of Lalitha Mahal Palace, Vintage car, Yakshagana, Gajapade (Dasara elephants), Vajramushti Kalaga, Jumbo performing Shivalinga puja, Dancing peacock, Mr. Bean, Keelu Kudure are some of the main attractions at the Fourth Annual Flower Show that was inaugurated last evening at Mysore Palace premises.

The Show, organised by District Administration, Mysore Palace Board and State Tourism Department as part of the Winter Festival – 2018 to boost tourism in the region, is beckoning tourists who visit the city to celebrate Christmas and to ring in the New Year. The flower show  will be open daily from 10 am to 9 pm till Dec. 31. Entry is free for all visitors.

Speaking after inaugurating the Flower Show near Shwetha Varahaswamy Temple in the premises of Mysore Palace yesterday, Tourism Minister S.R. Mahesh said the Government has organised various events as part of the 10-day Winter Festival to attract the visitors — Paramotor gliding, Chitra Santhe, Organic Fair, Bird Festival, Heritage Walk, Film Festival, Cake and Food Festival and Dolls Show apart from cultural programmes at Mysore Palace.

Chamaraja MLA L. Nagendra, Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G.Sankar, Deputy Director of Tourism H.P. Janardhan, Deputy Director of Palace Board T.S. Subramanya, Assistant Director of Information R. Raju and others were present during the inaugural function where the organisers distributed more than 300 plants like alovera, tulsi and jasmine to visitors.

After the formal inauguration, Mahesh offered floral tributes to the 17 ft. tall flower replica of Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar as a prelude to the centenary celebrations of the last Maharaja of the erstwhile Mysore Royal family. Over 20,000 ornamental flower pots, varieties of bonsai plants, flower replicas decorated with four lakh ornamental and Ooty cut flowers are on display at the Show.

For children’s amusement, floral models of cycling squirrel (6 feet), Bahubali Part-2 ship measuring 20x8x9 feet, vintage car model (13×8 feet),  Zoo animals like Peacock, Deer, Anaconda, Tiger, Elephant calf and Zebra are the other attractions. Apart from this, the bust of Rajarshi Sri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar located in the vertical garden close to Varahaswamy temple was decorated by placing special plants and ornamental flowers.

In addition to flower show, the Palace Board and Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage have organised an exhibition of historic photographs of Wadiyars under the banner ‘Dasara Andu Indu – Wadiyar Rulers.’ They include rare photos of Nalwadi with his mother, Yuvaraja Kanteerava Narasimharaja Wadiyar with family members, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar and his family, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar and his family, the Golden Throne, Golden Howdah, Wooden Palace among others.

Dolls Show

Exhibition of various idols, depicting Indian epic stories in Bombe Mane, is another centre of attraction at the Palace.  Jayashree Nagaprasad has displayed dolls on Devi Vaibhava, Annapurna Gopalakrishna on Vishnu Darshana, Geetha Srihari on Krishna Leelamrutha,  Leelavathi on Sri Ramayana Darshanam, Manjula Venkateshamurthy on Shivamayamidam Jagath and Mangala Krishna on Srinivasa Vaibhava.

Visitors can take a stroll in the garden with the illuminated Palace in the background between 7 pm and 9 pm on all 10 days of the festival.

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