The second destination on the tour was the Art Gallery within the Jaganmohan Palace. Jaganmohan Palace is one of the oldest buildings in Mysore. It was built in 1861 and housed the royal family when their old wooden palace was gutted in a fire in 1897.
The Art Gallery was marred by how I felt (I was too weak to fully appreciate it). In the midst of it all, Santhos told entertaining stories about some of the paintings. Two of his ancestors were musicians and they used to play music for the Raj. Every morning they would sit outside the palace and play so the Raj would wake up to the sound of music. There was even a portrait of one of the men in the upstairs gallery.
There were some paintings from the Ramayana in the gallery. In one Ravana is slaying Jatayu, the bird friend of Rama and Lakshmana, as the bird tries to save Sita from being kidnapped by Ravana. After this battle, Ravana steals Sita away to Lanka where she waits a very long time for Rama to come and save her. In some circles, Sita is seen as the incarnation of Lakshmi — Vishnu’s consort.
In another painting, Rama is angry with at Varuna. Varuna is the god of the sea and Rama is angry because the god would not part the water to make it easy for Rama go to Lanka. Rama threatens to send one of his arrows into the water and thus dry up the ocean. Varuna suggests a different route – he suggests the heroes bring rocks to the ocean so they could build a bridge across. In the end, this is what they choose to do.
I find this all fascinating because you can learn a lot about people by listening to their stories; you can also see their connections to other religions.
There is one final story / painting that I found interesting: the “Lady and the Lamp” by Haldenkar. As the story goes, one Raj and his family were cursed by a priest in the 1700s. The curse stated that they would never have children born into the existing Raj line. As time passed, the original cursed Raj did not have a child — only an adopted a son. The adopted son had many kids but not a one of them born into the raj line had children. The oldest son also adopted and this pattern continued to the present day and the current Raj who does not have a child. The Lady and the Lamp is a painting depicting one of the Raj wives hoping for a child.
Destinations: