Mysore Dasara, a state affair, is associated with the masses, but a close look at the profile of the tourists that it attracts reveals that the festival is slowly getting confined to the rich and middle classes.
One of the reasons for this is that the festival is alienating itself from the poor, simply because they can’t afford to pay and stay overnight in the city.
Only those residing in and around Mysore city, and those who can reach home the same day after enjoying the Dasara events, make it to the city.
Historian P V Nanjaraj Urs wonders why the Naada Habba is projected as a people’s festival while there have been no efforts to provide affordable accommodation for the common man, though a small fortune is spent from the exchequer.
He said that the Wadiyars were known for their philanthropy and had constructed ‘Dharma Chatras’ or choultries across their kingdom, to provide free accommodation and food to the poor throughout the year. But, as they were shut down or converted into Kalyana Mantaps, the city started distancing itself from the poor.
He said that there were over half-a-dozen ‘Dharma Chatras’ along the erstwhile Doddakere, most of which has now been converted into an exhibition ground.
They were constructed during the tenure of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and Nalwadi Krishnara Wadiyar.
The villagers who used to visit the cities for the festival would stay there and get free food and use the Doddakere water for cleaning their cattle. There were an equal number of ‘mantaps,’ a shelter without side walls, along the Doddakere, which also served as rest houses for the villagers and outsiders.
The Nanjaraj Bahadur Choultry, Sriman Maharajara Chatra, Sahukar Bommaiah Dharmachatra and Yalakappa Choultry were some of them.
Except for a few, the remaining have either been converted into marriage halls or have shut down. The poor do not get a chance to stay in Nanjaraj Bahadur Choultry (nominal fee charged) during Dasara season, as it is reserved for artistes performing in the festival.