Things to Buy in Mysore – Best Places to Shop in Mysore
Mysore is just the place for you to buy its indigenous products like the beautifully designed saris, exclusive sandalwood products, and sweets like Mysore Pak and original folk handicrafts. Interacting with the shop-keepers, bargaining for the right price, getting to delve into the hustle of local markets with all its colours and its array of displays can truly have an astounding effect. If you happen to be a street photographer, the markets are the best places for a photo walk.
1. Silk Saris
Location: Government Silk Factory; Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation
Open:
Pocket Pinch: ₹10,000 onwards
Karnataka produced 9000 metric tons of mulberry silk every year, and about 90% of it is just produced here. Known for its characteristic shine, the saris are designed with elaborate zari made of golden and silver threads. Initially developed by Tipu Sultan in the 1780s, the silk industry has been recently developed by the Mysore royalty to maintain its authenticity and not lose its value to the synthetic rayon. This high-quality silk is used to make stoles, shirts, Kurtis, dupattas, neckties, and bags and you can visit the Government Silk Factory or the Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation to purchase them for yourself. Due to the originality and the superiority of the fine weaves and delicate designs, they can cost you over 10,000 apiece, but its sure to make you look grand draped in one.
2. Mysore Pak
Location: Mahalakshmi Sweets, Devaraj URS Road; Guru Sweet Mart, Sayyaji Rao Road
Open:
Pocket Pinch: ₹400/kg
If you want to taste Mysore, Mysore Pak is what you should purchase, and even pack home a kg or two. Made with sugar, flour, and ghee, they are ideally a gram flour fudge, and it is available at sweet shops like Mahalakshmi Sweets on Devaraj URS Road or Guru Sweet Mart on Sayyaji Rao Road for Rs. 400 a kg. You will never be able to have just one piece of this delicious heavenly dessert. Every bite would make you want more and the taste makes you feel at home even in a land far from it.
3. Sandalwood Products
Location: The Government Sandalwood Oil Factory, Ashokapuram; Devaraja Market; Gandhi Square
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
The dense sandalwood forest in Mysore has led to the establishment of the Government Sandalwood Oil Factory in 1917, which not only protects the trees from exploitation but also promotes this rare and expensive wood in all forms. Scented oils, perfumes, soaps, incense sticks, sandalwood handicrafts are available ideally in The Government Sandalwood Oil Factory is Ashokapuram. Although they are available at the Devaraja Market and Gandhi Square, the factory enables you to view the entire process, from extraction to production.
4. Incense Sticks or Agarbattis
Location: Devaraja Market; KR Circle
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
Mysore is famously known for its varied range of incense sticks. Agarbattis, as they are known locally, are usually lighted in front of deities during prayer and they create a beautiful aromatic fragrance that is believed to calm the nerves. They are a thin layer of sticks covered in coal and usually dipped in sandalwood, rosewood, or jasmine perfumes, available at Devaraja Market, a place for all original Mysore products, or at KR Circle.
5. Mysore Paintings
Location: Cauvery Arts and Crafts Emporium
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
If you want to bring home souvenirs of unique creation, the Ganjifa paintings are the best gifts you could get for your friends and families. Ideal for art enthusiasts, these paintings are available at the famous Cauvery Arts and Crafts Emporium. They were ideally a cards game but now integrated into the Mysore culture, they are sold as brightly painted tinny circular canvasses. Shri Raghupathi Bhatta is one of its famous developers. Since it uses an intricate and delicate style, the artists consider the process as a spiritual mediation and they often depict gods and goddesses and scenes from epics. The paints are made with natural dyes and squirrel hair brushes are used to achieve a high level of precision. The style of painting has been since the days of Ajanta and Ellora caves, and to think that you too could possess a painting of equal excellence is truly humbling.
6. Rosewood Artefacts
Location: Cauvery Arts and Crafts Emporium
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
Rosewood handicrafts, like sandalwood, are available at local street bazaars and were originally introduced by Tipu Sultan years ago, however, the original ones are available at emporiums like Cauvery Arts and Crafts Emporium and other government shops. The items range from intricately sculpted figures of elephants and bulls, carved furniture like tables, cabinets and swings, idols of Ganesh, and small thrones for gods in the household. Motifs made with mother of pearl, ivory, and horns are beautifully etched on the wood creating designs and figures of animals and gods.
7. Stone Sculptures
Location: Mandi Mohalla, Ashoka Road
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
Inspired by the ancient art of carving stones, and the elaborate wall carvings on temples and palaces, the Mysorians have recognized Soapstone statues as a skilled art form and thousands of artisans’ everyday work of statues of gods, and designs of flowers and petals. They are usually of a single colour and the sculpting is perfectly symmetrical, each piece made of a single stone. They are sleek and polished and can be available at Mandi Mohalla located on the Ashoka Road. You can also see them hard at work, cutting stone and with the use of chisel and hammer, they create smooth figures like Krishna with a flute, the snake around shiv Linga, Goddess Lakshmi, Chamundi Devi, and many others.
8. Coffee Powder
Location: Gandhi Square
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
South India is known for its Coffee all over India and Mysore is the second place after Coorg where you can get high-quality coffee. Travellers often take-home boxes of coffee and the elaborate network of producers, wholesalers, and retailers keep the supply running continuously throughout the year. What makes them different from the instant coffee we are used to having is a mixture of sweetness with a slight acidity along with richness in flavour. The moist monsoon beans, when brewed has a heavy essence along with a syrupy flatness which often excites vintage feel. You can either drink it at local cafes with powder brought from Sakleshpur, Coorg, and Chikmagalur or pack some from Gandhi Square.
9. Channapatna Dolls & Wooden Toys
Location: Channapatna Town
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
The town of Channapatna a few miles off Mysore is famous for its wooden toys and is protected under the World Trade Organisation as an indigenous craft. One can take a tour of the place to view the process of creating or can easily avail them at handicraft stores in Mysore itself. They are ideally made with rubber, sycamore, cedar, pine or teak and then painted in vibrant colours made of vegetable dyes. They are narrow perpendicular dolls of kings and queens, small Ganesh figures, a woman carrying water, men playing the table. They look like tinny adorable puppets and attract children greatly. However, you can buy them for yourself as well in the form of key chains, pencil covers, and paperweights.
10. Khadi Cotton
Location: Melkote Town
Open:
Pocket Pinch:
Mysore is not just known for Silk but also comfortable breezy and superior-quality Khadi cotton. Available especially in the town of Melkote one can either get a stitched attire or you can buy the cloth and get it made separately. They are also available as saris, stoles, and pupates of pastel shades and earthen colours. What is interesting is that in Mysore they are not machine made but the entire cloth is handwoven with care. It is for this very reason that they are priced exclusively but affordable ones are also available.
