Groups demand state celebration status for Mysuru's 'Mahisha Mandalothsava'

Mysuru: Over 500 people observed 'Mahisha Mandalothsava' organised by various dalit organisations at town hall premises in Mysuru on Wednesday.

During the seminar held as part of Utsava, Urilinga Peddi Mutt seer Jnanaprakash Swami urged the State Government to celebrate Mahisha Mandalothsava too like how they celebrate Mysuru Dasara.

"We are not against the Mysuru Dasara festival. Even as the State Government is spending more than Rs 40 Crore which is taxpayers money for Mysuru Dasara, let them spend at least Rs 1 Crore for our Utsava too," Jnanaprakash swami said.

Mysuru city police imposed prohibitory order under section 163 of BNSS act-2023 restricting movement of people within 200 meter from 12 am of September 23 night to 6 am of September 26, due to security reasons since there were differences of opinions between BJP leaders and organisers of Utsava. Even as organisers of Utsava had sought permission to offer floral benediction to the statue of Mahisha atop Chamundi Hill, police had not permitted it as BJP leaders had objected to it. However, Police allowed few to offer flowers to the statue later.

Objecting restrictions to their Utsava, Jnanaprakash swami said, "The Constitution guarantees the right to follow the faith of our choice. Recently the High Court and Supreme Court have reiterated the same when few people approached Court against Dasara inauguration by International Booker prize winner Banu Musthaq. So it would be against the Constitution to restrict us from offering floral tribute to Mahisha or oppose our Utsava. If the district administration restricts us in future, we may have to approach the Court and get the right answer through the Court," he said.

Objecting several aspects in a book Mahishasuramardhini by R Krishnamurthy, Jnanaprakash swami said, "history should not be misinterpreted and people should not be misled." He invited the author R Krishnamurthy for a peaceful debate about the facts related to Mahisha.

Meanwhile, former Mayor Purushotham also reiterated that the Mahisha was not a demon or Raakshasa but he was Rakkasa that means a protector. They are observing Utsava to celebrate him as a good administrator. He urged the State Government to install the statue of King Ashoka in Mysuru.

Retired Prof K S Bhagavan called on participants to fight for their rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution given by Dr B R Ambedkar.

They began utsava by offering floral obeisance to statues of Mahisha, Buddha and Dr B R Ambedkar.

Kolathur T S Mani of Dravida Liberation movement, Periyar movement, Tamilnadu, retired DCP and President of Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, Karnataka (Southern division), Bengaluru, S Siddaraju, author of Mahisha Mandala book, Siddaswamy, writer Dilip Narasaiah and others participated.

Utsava was organised by State, district and taluk level dalit and Ambedkar organisations, Dalit students' federation, University of Mysore Dalit Students organisations, Researchers' association.