Built in 1861 as a secondary royal palace and later converted into an auditorium for public events, the Jaganmohan Palace now houses the Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery — one of South India's more eclectic museum collections. The ground floor holds European and Indian paintings including a significant number of works by Raja Ravi Varma, the Kerala-born artist whose mythological canvases defined popular Hindu iconography across India in the late 19th century. Varma's prints, reproduced by the millions, became the template for devotional imagery from Bombay to Madras; the originals here give a sense of the skill beneath the sentimentality.
The upper floors contain the personal collection of the last Mysore maharaja, Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar — a mix of carved ivories, jade, European and Japanese porcelain, arms, and musical instruments that reflects the acquisitive enthusiasms of a well-travelled royal in the early 20th century. The palace is small and often quiet, a good contrast to the crowds at the main Mysore Palace a few hundred metres away.