International Booker Prize-winning writer Banu Mushtaq, who inaugurated Mysuru Dasara on September 22, called the festival a symbol of Karnataka’s collective culture.

Mysuru’s presiding deity, Goddess Chamundeshwari, symbolises power in a woman and her undefeatable will power, she said, adding that womanhood stands not only for softness and motherly affection, but also for strength that fights injustice.