Mysuru Dasara 2026 Begins 11 October on Chamundi Hill

Mysuru Dasara 2026, Karnataka's state festival known as Nada Habba, will open on Sunday, 11 October 2026 atop Chamundi Hill in Mysuru. The approved schedule sets the inaugural ceremony for 11.50 am. The festival will run for 11 days. It will end on Wednesday, 21 October 2026 with the Vijayadashami Jamboo Savari, the grand elephant procession through the city.

Mysuru Dasara links present-day Karnataka with a long cultural history. All India Radio has noted that Dasara celebrations in this region date back to the Vijayanagara empire of the 14th and 15th centuries. The Wodeyar royal family of Mysuru later continued the festival, and the Karnataka government has carried the tradition forward.

The festival draws lakhs of visitors from India and abroad each year. It is Karnataka's state festival, known as Nada Habba, and it is no longer only a royal-era ritual. It now belongs to the whole state, with temple worship, folk arts and civic planning working together.

The date of Vijayadashami shows how Indian traditions follow their own timekeeping. Many national calendars mark Dussehra on 20 October. Mysuru follows its own palace panchanga, which fixes Vijayadashami on 21 October. The Jamboo Savari is therefore set for the afternoon of 21 October.

Animal care by forest staff is part of the story. Abhimanyu has been relieved of heavy duty, so officials are training three male elephants, Mahendra, Dhananjaya and Prashantha, to carry the golden howdah. They also familiarise the elephants with the sound of 21 rounds of cannon fire and with city crowds.

The festival also keeps family customs alive. On Vijayadashami, children write their first letters in Vidyarambha, and families worship the Shami tree, linked in tradition to the Pandavas retrieving their weapons. A torchlight parade at Bannimantap closes the celebrations, and the palace is lit in the evenings.

Short-term: The calendar is now fixed. The inauguration is on 11 October, Mahanavami and Ayudha Puja on 20 October, and the Jamboo Savari with the torchlight parade on 21 October. The elephants are housed in the palace premises ahead of the procession. In late September, a 280-kg wooden howdah was tied to Mahendra, and the load is being raised step by step. The name of the elephant that will carry the golden howdah has not yet been announced.

Long-term: The festival shows how a royal-era ritual continues as a public event shared by the whole state. The Forest Department's work to train Mahendra, Dhananjaya and Prashantha shows how the tradition is being passed on as older elephants such as Abhimanyu retire from heavy duty. The Mysuru Palace panchanga continues to guide the date of Vijayadashami, even where national calendars differ. Every year the Nada Habba brings temple rituals, folk arts and civic planning together into one living tradition.

Who is affected: Residents and visitors in Mysuru are the most directly affected, as lakhs of people from India and abroad come for the festival. District officials coordinate security and crowd management. Mysuru Deputy Commissioner G Lakshmikanth Reddy has acted as Dasara Special Officer in past editions. Forest staff and mahouts care for and train the elephants. Priests such as S V Prahlad Rao, priest of the Mysuru Palace Ganesha Temple, lead the pujas. Folk artists performing Kamsaale, Dollu Kunitha and Chandevaadana also take part in the send-off and celebrations.

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