Karnataka Events

Karnataka’s calendar is anchored by a royal festival that has run for over four hundred years.

Mysore Dasara — September or October

Ten days marking the goddess Chamundeshwari’s victory over the buffalo demon, celebrated by the Wodeyar rulers since the Vijayanagara period and continued as a state festival. The Mysore Palace is illuminated with around a hundred thousand bulbs every evening for the duration, which is a genuinely startling sight, and the city holds concerts, wrestling and exhibitions throughout. It culminates on the tenth day with the Jamboo Savari: a decorated elephant carries a golden howdah holding the idol of the goddess in procession from the palace through the city, accompanied by mounted guards, dancers and bands, ending with a torchlight parade after dark. Several hundred thousand people attend and accommodation books out well ahead.

Hampi Utsav — usually November

A three-day festival of music, dance and light staged among the ruins, with performances against the temples and boulders.

Mahamastakabhisheka — every twelve years, Shravanabelagola

The 17-metre monolithic Jain statue of Bahubali is anointed from a scaffold with milk, saffron, sandalwood and gold by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. The next occurrence is worth checking, as it is among the largest Jain events anywhere.

Ugadi — March or April

The Kannada new year, marked with a ritual mouthful of neem and jaggery together — bitter and sweet — to acknowledge that the year will hold both.

Kambala — November to March, coastal

Buffalo racing through flooded paddy fields, run at genuinely high speed and followed keenly.