Everything that happens
Dasara is not one event but a hundred. Cultural evenings on a dozen stages, a youth festival, sport, food, flowers, cinema, poetry and a two-month exhibition — and on the last day, the procession that ties it all together.
Cultural programmes
The largest programme of the festival. The Palace stage hosts the marquee concerts each evening; Jaganmohan Palace and Kalamandira carry classical music and dance; Chikka Gadiyara, Town Hall and Kuppanna Park host folk, theatre and youth performances. Entry to most stages is free; the Palace stage is ticketed.
- Palace stage · Jaganmohan Palace · Kalamandira · Chikka Gadiyara · Town Hall · Kuppanna Park
- Daily, 5 PM onwards
Yuva Dasara
Four nights of headline concerts for the young — film music, indie and folk fusion on the biggest stage of the festival, with a crowd of tens of thousands.
- Maharaja College Grounds
- Evenings, 6 PM
Dasara Sports & Kusti
Vajramushti Kalaga — the ancient armed wrestling once fought before the Maharaja — is still held on Vijayadashami morning. Around it run the Dasara Kusti bouts, a marathon, cycling, athletics, chess, body-building and water sports.
- Dasara Kusti at D. Devaraj Urs Stadium · sports at Chamundi Vihar
- Through the festival
Food Mela
A hundred stalls of Karnataka’s regional cooking — Mysore Pak, Mysore Masala Dosa, ragi mudde, Mangalorean seafood, Kodagu pandi curry, Bidar’s biryani — plus a food-craft pavilion and a cookery stage.
- Scouts & Guides Ground, Chamaraja Road
- 11 AM – 10 PM
Flower Show
The Horticulture Department’s show: a themed floral installation each year — palaces, monuments and public figures built in flowers — with rose gardens, bonsai, vegetable carving and the famed tableau in the glasshouse.
- Kuppanna Park (Nishad Bagh)
- 9 AM – 9 PM
Dasara Exhibition
The Karnataka Exhibition Authority’s fair runs for two months from the start of Dasara: government and industry pavilions, a crafts bazaar, amusement rides and an evening entertainment stage.
- Doddakere Maidana, opposite the Palace
- Two months · 11 AM – 10 PM
Heritage Dasara
Guided heritage walks through the city’s British-era and Wadiyar-era architecture, a heritage tonga ride, a vintage car rally, and the Open Street Festival on the closed roads around the Palace.
- Starting from the Palace North Gate
- Daily, 7 AM
Dasara Film Festival
A curated week of Kannada, Indian and international cinema, with retrospectives and a children’s section.
- Kalamandira · city cinemas
- Daily screenings
Children’s & Women’s Dasara
A festival within the festival: children’s theatre and art, a painting competition, storytelling, and a Women’s Dasara of sport, craft and performance.
- Kalamandira · Rangayana
- Selected days
Raitha Dasara
Cattle and pet shows, a farmers’ fair, folk games and the Grameena Dasara of the district’s villages.
- J K Grounds · Chamundi Vihar
- Selected days
Kite Festival
A day of competitive and display kite-flying, with international kite makers and a night-kite show.
- Race Course grounds
- One day
Kavigoshti & Mushaira
The Dasara Kavigoshti brings Kannada poets to the stage; the Mushaira, its Urdu counterpart, is a fixture of the last week.
- Kalamandira · Ganabharathi
- Evening sessions
