Overview
- Early-morning rites began with Abhyanjana and Panchamrita Abhisheka and continued through ceremonial prayers that opened the temple to worshippers.
- The procession featured the utsava murti in a gold palanquin that was symbolically pulled by Mysuru MP Yaduveer Wadiyar with other members of the erstwhile royal family present.
- City police banned private vehicles to Chamundi Hill, ran KSRTC shuttle buses from foothill parking and deployed large numbers of officers to regulate queues and manage safety.
- Vardhanti was also observed across Mysuru with neighborhood pandals, mass pujas and widespread distribution of prasada that drew local community participation.
- The temple’s chief priest said the procession idol was donated by Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in 1820, but an alternate account links the celebration to the king’s birth anniversary and a practice that began in 1935, leaving the murti’s precise origin disputed.