GOURI SATYA writes: Churumuri’s publication of T.G. Lakshmana Rao‘s ‘Handbook of the City of Mysore’ makes interesting reading, although most of the details are available in a number of books on the history of Mysore, in particular from the Gazetteer of Mysore.
Nazarbad, as Rao has mentioned, was a new township that was built by Tipu Sultan. As we can see today, it continues to exist and in fact has expanded vastly. We can also see the fort entrance, with the two watch-towers of Nazarbad on the Mysore-Bangalore road, near the Mysore Jail building.
Remnants of this fort were to be seen almost up to the German Press on the T. Narasipur Road until recently. Unfortunately, the widening of the road and other constructions have left no trace of this historic fort. If Nazarbad was a small township that Tipu built, adjacent Kesare (now N.R. Mohalla) has its own historical significance.It is here that the battle between Raja Wodeyar and the ruler of Srirangapatna, Thirumalaraya, took place around 1608, in which the Srirangapatna ruler, a representative of the Vijayanagar king, was defeated and Srirangapatna came under the rule of the Mysore ruler.
This was a significant victory for the Mysore rulers and a major blow for the Vijayanagar kings, who lost their hold on the Mysore province of the Vijayanagar State. However, the Mysore rulers remained loyal to Vijayanagar even after taking over Srirangapatna.
This defeat of the aged Thirumalaraya at Kesare is the seed of the famous historical story relating to his wife, Alamelamma, who is said to have drowned in Malangi section of the river Cauvery at Talkad, cursing the Mysore royal family:
“Talakadu Maralagi
Malangi Maduvagi
Mysore Maharajarige
Makkallilladirali”
The curse came true from then onwards as we can trace from the history of the Wodeyars. The Wodeyar family worships Alamelamma even today during the Dasara.
Some hero stones said to be of this battle are still lying opposite the St. Philomena’s High School. These were prominently visible as one passed through this road. But, now some car garage or so occupies this open place, which belongs to the Mysore City Corporation.
These historic stones need to be preserved and protected.
ALSO READ: A CITY LIKE NO OTHER
churumuri 
Thanks for the refresh…Good read
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How inviolably applicable is Alamelamma’s curse on the Mysore royal
family even to this day is amazing indeed!
As in the case of every other curse we come across in our mythologies or folk-stories I wish even this curse had some way out for its redemption.
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Those interested may also read the following (posted by me and as is the case with wiki any one can edit like indian constitution !)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wodeyar
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Recently i also saw a DVD on the subject called CURSE OF TALAKAD
by SASHI SIVRAMKRISHNA and a book is also avaialbe by the same person !
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Indeed very intresting no matter even if some of us are aware. This is because of the writing style of Gauri Satya which is worth a reading couple of times over.
We defenately need to preserve these and other monuments that are there in our city and district.
shanks
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Thanks Raja Chandran for mentioning my film. Yes, we too visited Kesare, now in Mysore, and filmed the Veerakallu. But we are not certain that they pertain to the battle between Raja Wodeyar and Ranga Raya (Alamellamma’s husband). Hayvadana Rao’s treatise has a interesting account of the Battle of Kesare. We did a lot of research on the Curse of Talakad and came to some very interesting conclusions … please visit our website http://www.kabooka.com
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Gauri Satya says:
“Remnants of this fort were to be seen almost up to the German Press on the T. Narasipur Road until recently. Unfortunately, the widening of the road and other constructions have left no trace of this historic fort”
unquote:
I think remnants of this old fort can still be seen near Jalapuri. There is small portion near Van Ingen’s Bungallow still extant.
I recommend reading Kavita Vatsa’s book: “Brahmins & Bungalows”, for this and other interesting vignettes for people interested in light reading. Incidentally Ms.Vatsa’s ancestors worked for the Maharaja for many years
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True Vatsa’s worked for the Maharaja. One of the Vatsa’s was the Manager of Hotel Krishnaraja Sagar at Brindavan Gardens. He and Lobo worked together in the 60s.
The small portion near Van Ingen’s bungalow is part of the old Nazarbad fort built by Tipu.
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Hello, Sivaramakrishnan. You remember me. I met you in Bangalore at your residence some time back. We discussed about this Kesare battle and Alamelamma’s story when you were planning this project. Glad you have done a book and a DVD on the subject. Are they available in Mysore?
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Documentary film, The Curse of Talakad can be seen online at http://www.archaeologychannel.org
It is also featured on WindowsMedia.com for a week.
Please take some time off to watch the film and hope you enjoy it.
Documentary is by SASHI SIVRAMKRISHNA
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Hi all,
indeed this topic is one of the most spoken one and infact most interesting too….. below is a link which opens to a pdf file which gives scientific reason for this curse please do go through….
Click to access 1495.pdf
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Shivaramakrishna:
The site you mentioned doesn’t seem to be working. Any typing error?
The video is very nice. Great job, thanks.
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Nice reading
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can any one come out with – stated to be factual history of the agreement between hadinaru & kalale in entrusting powers of mysore empire for change of every king please – this history seems does not hold waters for the curse of alamelamma in any manner
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