Day 12 (21/02/12) - Around Mysore

Chamundi Hills, A Nandi (no bull), Mysore Palace, and Sugar Cane Juice

We started by going up to the Chamundi Hills around Mysore which includes wildlife and the injunction against feeding them.

Another example of our being in the south is that the script has changed from that use for Hindi (Devangari -- identifiable by the horizontal line) to that used for the Dravidian languages in the south.  I believe this sign uses the Malayalam script which can be used for most Dravidian languages but whether the sign is in Malayalam (which actually is the main language in Kerala to the south of Mysore) or Kannada (which is the language of Mysore) or some other language, I don't know.  There issue of language is a fascinating one in India which I alluded to a few days ago and which I'll probably cover in greater detail in the blog posts after the end of these "daily" messages.  

While we only saw a few monkeys (strange how quickly they become commonplace) we did see the magnificent Nandi ("bull") at the Nandi Temple.  This bull, carved from a single rock, dates from the mid 17th century and is reputed to be the third largest Nandi in India (yes, there is a list of the 8 largest Nandis in the fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia)..  

True pilgrims apparently use the steps which are contemporary to bull itself and which number 1,180 from the valley floor.  Fortunately there is a road.  The bull is the mount/vehicle for Shiva.  But (and here I am not on solid ground) I'm told that this is not the origin of the sacred nature of the cow in Hindu India.  (This subject was discussed in an earlier email.)

This was also the day we toured the inside of the Maharaja's Palace in Mysore.  Mysore claims to be the city of palaces and this is the most noted of them.  

The palace is off-limits for photography inside.  But as you can see from the outside, it is an imposing structure.  We did tour the Mysore Palace where there were murals showing the processions of a Maharaja.  And for those of you who live in the Bay Area, if you have not yet been to the exhibit "Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts," do yourself a favor and go before it closes on April 8.  One of the murals shows a silver carriage (carriage made almost entirely of silver), that is part of the Asian Art Museum's exhibition.

After visiting the palace, you can (if you enjoy living on the edge) sample some sugar cane juice from a local street vendor.  You can see the fresh sugar cane itself on the right side of the picture and the press, with some sugar cane coming out of it pressed, on the left side.