The town of forts Srirangapatna the erstwhile capital of Wadiyars, came alive with Dasara on Saturday.

A band of four caparisoned Dasara elephants from Mysore- Prashanth, Gopi and Chaitra led by Abhimanyu who carried the wooden howdah with the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari inside, relived the festive mood.

The procession that began with the offering of puja at Bannimantap passed through the main thoroughfares of the town. 

Though unmatchable to the pomp and gaiety of Mysore Dasara, it was not behind in beckoning the people irrespective of religions. The festival in its fifth year is slowly creating a festive feeling ever since it was resumed after a gap of  some years.

Cultural troupes performed Dollu Kunitha, Bombe Kunitha, Kolata  along Jamboo Savari route.

People with equal devotion had gathered in large numbers on the either side of the road to have a darshan of the deity and feel part of the festival.

Rajya Sabha member B Jayashri who inaugurated the celebrations said that it’s essential to continue with the tradition at least to introduce the good old and rich custom of the past to the present genre.

District in charge minister C P Yogeshwar, MLA A B Ramesh Babu Bandisiddhe Gowda, deputy commissioner B N Krishnaiah, MLAs C S Puttaraju, K B Chandrashekar, ZP CEO P C Jayanna, assistant commissioner R Latha and tahsildhar Arul Kumar were present.