JOIN USDharmadhikari of Kshetra Dharmastahala D Veerendra Heggade performed puja to the idol of Goddess of Sri Chamundeswari, marking the commencement of the festival.
Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa was among those who participated in the function and offered puja.
This year’s dasara assumes importance in as much as it marks 400 years of the inheritance of the traditional form of Dasara by Mysore Wodeyar rulers from the Vijayanagar Kings.
Raja Wodeyar, who was the chieftain in the Vijayanagar Kingdom at Srirangapatna, inherited the traditional form of Dasara and organised the festival in 1610 at Srirangapatna.
This was continued and after the death of Tipu in the battle against the British in 1799, the kingdom was restored to Wodeyars. Krishnarajawodeyar shifted the capital from Srirangapatna to Mysore, which later became the venue of the festival.