1.1A plateau between two rivers
Mysuru sits at roughly 770 metres above sea level on the southern Deccan plateau, in the rain-shadow interior of Karnataka, some 145 km south-west of Bengaluru.[1] The district is bounded by the Western Ghats to the west and drained principally by the Kaveri (Cauvery) and its tributaries — the Kabini, Lakshmana Tirtha and Hemavati — which converge to form the fertile southern Maidan.[2]
This position, between the wet Malnad hills and the drier eastern plains, gave the region a dual economy: forested uplands supplying timber, sandalwood, elephants and pepper; and irrigated riverine tracts supplying paddy, sugarcane and revenue. Every polity that ruled here, from the Western Gangas to the Wadiyars, organised itself around control of the Kaveri's water.[3]
1.2Chamundi Hill and the sacred landscape
Chamundi Hill rises about 1,065 metres above sea level on the south-eastern edge of the city and is crowned by the Chamundeshwari temple, whose seven-storey gopura was substantially built in the 17th–18th centuries with later Wadiyar patronage.[4] The hill supplies the city's founding legend: the goddess Chamundeshwari's slaying of the demon Mahishasura, from whom the name Mahishuru — 'the town of Mahisha' — is derived.[1]
The island fortress of Srirangapatna, 15 km north, was formed where the Kaveri divides, and repeatedly served as the military capital of the region because of its natural moat.[5]
1.3Climate, soils and vegetation
The climate is tropical savanna, with a mild dry season, temperatures generally between 15 °C and 35 °C, and annual rainfall of roughly 800 mm delivered chiefly by the south-west monsoon between June and September.[1] Red loamy and lateritic soils predominate on the uplands, while black cotton and alluvial soils occupy the river valleys.
To the south and west, the Nagarhole and Bandipur forests — today national parks within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve — preserve the deciduous woodland that once produced the sandalwood and elephants for which Mysore kings were famous across South Asia.[2]
References and footnotes
- [1]"Mysore", Wikipedia. Link
- [2]Karnataka State Gazetteer: Mysore District, Government of Karnataka, Bangalore (rev. edn.), chapters on physical features and forests. Link
- [3]Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1980, on nadu, irrigation and agrarian order.
- [4]"Chamundeshwari Temple", Wikipedia. Link
- [5]"Srirangapatna", Wikipedia. Link