Mysore
Mysore, officially Mysuru, is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the Kingdom of Mysore for almost six centuries. Known for its heritage structures, palaces, and its culture, Mysore has been called the "City of Palaces", the "Heritage City", and the "Cultural capital of Karnataka". It is the second-most populous city in the state and one of the cleanest cities in India according to the Swachh Survekshan.
Mysore is situated at the foothills of the Chamundi Hills. At an altitude of above mean sea level, the city of Mysore is geographically located at 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is about southwest of the state's capital, Bangalore, and spreads across an area of . The population of the city combined with its neighbouring towns in its metropolitan area is about 1,288,000 in 2023.
Most of the city's development during modern times could be attributed to the maharajas of Mysore and the Wadiyar dynasty, who were patrons of art and culture. Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, when they were briefly in power in succession, also contributed significantly to the economic growth of the city and the kingdom by planting mulberry trees and silk in the region, and fighting four wars against the British. In present days, the Mysore City Corporation is responsible for the civic administration of the city.
During the Dasara festivals, Mysore receives hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world. The city is also the namesake to various art forms and culture, such as Mysore Dasara and Mysore painting; foods such as the sweet delicacy Mysore pak; breakfasts like Mysore Dosa and Mysore Masala Dosa; brands such as Mysore Sandal Soap and Mysore Paints; and styles and cosmetics such as Mysore peta, a traditional silk turban, and the Mysore silk saris. Mysore is also known for betel leaves and its own special variety of jasmine flower fondly referred to as "Mysore mallige". Tourism is a lifeline industry for the city alongside the traditional industries. Mysore's intracity public transportation includes bus and intercity public transportation includes rail, bus, and air.
Etymology
The name Mysore is an anglicised form of Mahiṣūru, which means "the abode of Mahiṣa" in the vernacular Kannada. The common noun Mahiṣa, in Sanskrit, means buffalo; in this context, however, Mahiṣa refers to Mahishasura, a mythical daemon who could assume the form of either a human or a buffalo, and who, according to Hindu mythology, ruled the ancient parts of Mysore Kingdom, known in Sanskrit as Mahiṣaka, centred at Mahiṣapura. He was killed by the goddess Chamundeshwari, whose temple is situated atop the Chamundi Hill, after whom it is named. 'Mahishapura' later became Mahisūru, and finally came to be rendered as Mysore by the British and Maisūru in the vernacular Kannada language.In December 2005, the Government of Karnataka announced its intention to change the English spelling of the city to Mysuru. This was approved by the Government of India in October 2014, and Mysore was officially renamed, along with twelve other cities, on 1 November 2014.
History
The site where Mysore Palace now stands was occupied by a village named Puragere at the beginning of the 16th century. The Mahishūru Fort was constructed in 1524 by Chamaraja Wodeyar III, who passed on the dominion of Puragere to his son Chamaraja Wodeyar IV. Since the 16th century, the name of Mayashūru has commonly been used to denote the city. The Kingdom of Mysore, governed by the Wodeyar family, initially served as a vassal state of the Vijayanagara Empire. With the decline of that empire after the Battle of Talikota in 1565, the Mysore Kingdom gradually achieved independence, and by the time of King Narasaraja Wodeyar, it had become a sovereign state. Seringapatam, near Mysore, the present-day Srirangapatna, was the capital of the kingdom beginning in 1610. The 17th century saw a steady expansion of its territory and, under Narasaraja Wodeyar I and Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar, the kingdom annexed large areas of what is now southern Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu, to become a powerful state in the southern Deccan.The kingdom reached the height of its military power and dominion in the latter half of the 18th century, under the de facto rulers Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan. The latter demolished parts of Mysore to remove legacies of the Wodeyar dynasty. During this time, the kingdom of Mysore came into conflict with the Marathas, the British, and the Nizam of Hyderabad, leading to the four Anglo-Mysore wars, success in the first two of which was followed by defeat in the third and fourth. After Tipu Sultan's death in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799, the capital of the kingdom was moved back to Mysore from Seringapatam, and the kingdom was distributed by the British to their allies of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. Part of the kingdom was annexed into the Madras Presidency, another to the Nizam of Hyderabad. The landlocked interior of the defeated kingdom of Mysore was turned into a princely state under the suzerainty of the British Crown, with the five-year-old Wodeyar Krishnaraja III as titular ruler and with Purnaiah, who had served under Tipu, as chief minister or diwan and Lt. Col. Barry Close as Resident. The British took control of Mysore's foreign policy and insisted on an annual tribute for maintaining a standing British army at Mysore. Purnaiah is credited with improving Mysore's public works. In 1831, claiming there was maladministration, the British took direct control of the princely state. For the next fifty years, the kingdom of Mysore was under the direct rule of British Commissioners, and in 1831 the city of Mysore lost its status as the administrative centre, when the British Commissioner moved the capital to Bangalore.
In 1876–77, towards the end of the period of direct British rule, Mysore suffered from the Great Famine of 1876–1878, in which nearly a fifth of the population died. In 1881, Maharaja Chamaraja Wadiyar X was given control of Mysore, in a process called rendition, but with a resident British officer and a diwan to handle the Maharaja's administration, and the city of Mysore regained its status as the capital. The Mysore municipality was established in 1888 and the city was divided into eight wards. In 1897 an outbreak of bubonic plague killed nearly half of the population of the city. With the establishment of the City Improvement Trust Board in 1903, Mysore became one of the first cities in Asia to undertake planned urban development. Public demonstrations and meetings were held there during the Quit India movement and other phases of the Indian independence movement.
Until the independence of British India in 1947, Mysore remained a Princely State within the British Indian Empire, with the Wodeyars continuing their rule. After Indian Independence, Mysore city remained as part of the Mysore State, now known as Karnataka. Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, then king of Mysore, was allowed to retain his titles and was nominated as the Rajapramukh of the state with a £20,000 payment. He died in September 1974 and was cremated in Mysore.
Over the years, Mysore became well known as a centre for tourism; the city remained largely peaceful, except for occasional riots related to the Kaveri River Water Dispute. Among the events that took place in Mysore and made national headlines were a fire at a television studio that claimed 62 lives in 1989, and the sudden deaths of many animals at the Mysore Zoo.
Geography
Area and extent
Mysore is located at and has an average altitude of. It is spread across an area of at the base of the Chamundi Hills in the southern region of Karnataka. Mysore is the southernmost city of Karnataka and is a neighbouring city of the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the south, flanked by the state cities Madikeri, Chamarajanagara, and Mandya. People in and around Mysore extensively use Kannada as a medium of language. Mysore has several lakes, such as the Kukkarahalli, the Karanji, and the Lingambudhi lakes. Mysore has The Biggest 'Walk-Through Aviary' called Karanji Lake in India. In 2001, total land area usage in Mysore city was 39.9% residential, 16.1% roads, 13.74% parks and open spaces, 13.48% industrial, 8.96% public property, 3.02% commercial, 2.27% agriculture and 2.02 water. The city is located between two rivers: the Kaveri River that flows through the north of the city and the Kabini River, a tributary of the Kaveri, that lies to the south.Climate
Mysore has a tropical savanna climate bordering on a hot semi-arid climate under the Köppen climate classification. The main seasons are Summer from March to May, the monsoon season from June to October and winter from November to February. The highest temperature recorded in Mysore was on 25 April 2016, and the lowest was on 16 January 2012.In the early hours of 20 December 2025, Mysore city recorded its lowest temperature in December at 8.4°C. The city's average annual rainfall is.Rainfall
As per Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, Mysore taluk has been divided into 4 hoblis. In 2022, the rainfall received by these hoblis are as follows:- Mysore -
- Elivala -
- Jayapura -
- Varuna -
Demographics
, Mysore city had an estimated population of 920,550 consisting of 461,042 males and 459,508 females, making it the third most populous city in Karnataka Mysore urban agglomeration is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state and is home to 1,060,120 people, consisting of 497,132 males and 493,762 females. According to 2011 census, Mysore was the largest non-metropolitan city in India and had the highest basic infrastructure index of 2.846. Mysore was estimated to have crossed 1 million in 2017 making it a metropolitan city. For the year 2022, the projected population of Mysuru Metropolitan Area, which includes Mysore City Corporation, Hootagalli City Municipal Council, and Bogadi, Srirampura, Rammanahalli and Kadakola Town Panchayats is 1,261,000, as per the United Nation's World Urbanization Prospects - 2018.The gender ratio of Mysore is 1,000 females to every 1,000 males and the population density is. According to the census of 2001, 73.65% of the city population are Hindus, 21.92% are Muslims, 2.71% are Christians, 1.13% are Jains and the remainder belong to other religions. The population exceeded 100,000 in the census of 1931 and grew by 20.5 per cent in the decade 1991–2001., the literacy rate of the city is 86.84 per cent, which is higher than the state's average of 75.6 per cent.
Kannada is the most widely spoken language in the city. Approximately 19% of the population live below the poverty line, and 9% live in slums. According to the 2001 census, 35.75% of the population in the urban areas of Karnataka are workers, but only 33.3% of the population of Mysore are. Members of Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes constitute 15.1% of the population. According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, the number of cognisable crime incidents reported in Mysore during 2010 was 3,407 , increasing from 3,183 incidents reported in 2009.
The residents of the city are known as Mysoreans in English and Mysoorinavaru in Kannada. The dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of Kaveri river water often leads to minor altercations and demonstrations in the city. Growth in the information technology industry in Mysore has led to a change in the city's demographic profile; likely strains on the infrastructure and haphazard growth of the city resulting from the demographic change have been a cause of concern for some of its citizens.