The Wodeyars of Mysore are at once mighty and mysterious.
Mighty, because they ruled for close to 550 years from AD 1399. Mysterious, because despite their long reign and the wealth of their contributions, they occupy so little of the national imagination, quite unlike other royal families like, say, the Nizams of Hyderabad or the Scindias of Gwalior.
Result: Visitors and tourists have to mostly depend on myth, legend, hearsay, gossip, word-of-mouth and plain fiction.
It’s a vital literary blank that Vikram Sampath tries to fill with “Splendours of Royal Mysore: The Untold Story of The Wodeyars” (Rupa & Co). Bangalore-born Vikram’s interest in the Mysore kings was sparked when he was 12, thanks to the “comical portrayal” of the Wodeyars in Sanjay Khan‘s TV serial Sword of Tipu Sultan. The 800-page tome is a worthy labour of love for the 29-year-old Citibanker, who is also a student of Carnatic classical vocal music.
In this churumuri.com video (above), Vikram speaks about the book, before the main Amba Vilas palace in Mysore. Below, he throws light on little known facts about the Wodeyars.
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SEVEN THINGS YOU DIDN‘T KNOW ABOUT THE WODEYARS—AND DIDN‘T KNOW WHO TO ASK
By VIKRAM SAMPATH
The Wodeyars of Mysore claim their descent from the lunar dynasty of Lord Krishna. The foundation of the dynasty in AD 1399 is attributed to one Yaduraya, son of Raja Deva of Dwaraka in present-day Gujarat. Guided by divine dispensation, they supposedly were driven by dreams to leave Dwaraka for the Mahabala mountains, cradled between the Cauvery and Kapila rivers, and worship the presiding diety, Goddess Chamundeshwari.
By the time the young Yaduraya and his brother Krishnaraya reached Mahisuru (as it was called then), catastrophe had struck the tiny principality. Its chieftain Chamaraja had died and a vile upstart Maranayaka threatened to abduct the pretty princess and usurp the kingdom. These two young men were approached by the helpless queen and after a valiant battle, the villain was killed and Yaduraya was crowned chieftain. This event in the summer of 1399 marked the birth of one of India’s longest reigning houses.
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The term ‘Wodeyar‘ signified the humble beginnings of the family. It was a title bestowed on anyone who held sway over 33 villages—which is all that the early “rulers” had command over. But unlike other contemporaries who were content with their position of eminence, the Wodeyars by virtue of their characteristic valour and the benign influence of lady luck, emerged as the inheritors of the traditions of the glorious Vijayanagara empire.
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In the course of the power struggle with Vijayanagara, Raja Wodeyar skirmished with the empire’s viceroy Tirumalaraya and his subsequent tiff with his wife Rani Alamelamma led to the supposed suicide of the Rani in AD 1610. She threw herself into the Cauvery with the famous three-line curse which is said to be the reason for the submergence of Talakad in sand, a whirlpool at Malingi, and the childlessness in the Wodeyar lineage.
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With the kingdom coming under the spell of weak rulers, a common soldier in the Mysore army—Haidar Ali—rose in the ranks and in 1761 usurped the throne. He and his chivalrous son Tipu Sultan were among the first Indian States to offer a spirited resistance to the British East India Company. Tipu inflicted the most humiliating defeats on the British in the First and Second Anglo-Mysore Wars. But the let-down by all his principal officers and the negotiations with the British by the lingering royal family under Rani Lakshmammanni proved to be Tipu’s ultimate nemesis. He died fighting his kingdom and his honour on 4 May 1799 in the fort of Srirangapatna.
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One of the biggest peasant uprisings in India took place in the Mysore kingdom in Nagar (in today’s Shimoga district). It was a first of its kind and led to a mass movement that shook the very foundations of the Mysore kingdom. The movement was ruthlessly squashed and Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was deposed by the British in 1831 and the kingdom passed under Commissioners.
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Under the later Wodeyars, especially Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar (called as Rajarishi or saint among kings by Mahatma Gandhi himself), Mysore witnessed tremendous economic, social and cultural progress. Mysore State had many firsts to its credit and was hailed as the model State by the founding fathers of independent India. Mysore was the first state to have a democratic system of governance. Local self-government was encouraged as far back as 1918. Mysore was also the first State to provide reservations for the weaker sections of society in government jobs.
Under the amazing Dewan quartet of Rangacharlu, Seshadri Iyer, Sir M. Visveswaraya and Mirza Ismail, industries sprung by the year. Irrigation and power received great priority. The Marihalla project across the Vedavati river, started by Iyer, created the Vani Vilasa Sagar (or Marikanave dam), which was the biggest reservoir in India at the time of completion.
The KRS dam, completed in 1931, created the biggest reservoir in Asia, second only to the Aswan dam across the Nile in Egypt. Since the outlay for the dam exceeded the state budget’s, Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar (then a mere teenager) and his sagacious mother Regent Queen Kempananjammanni sold costly diamonds, ornaments, gold and silver plates of the royal family in Bombay to provide seed capital for the project.
The Shivanasamudram hydroelectric project was the first of its kind in India, implemented in 1899-1900. Electricity was provided to the Kolar Gold Fields in 1902, and Bangalore became India’s first City to be electrified in 1905. The transmission line was also the first and longest one in the world then.
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Mysore developed its own style of playing the veena, called the Mysore Bani. The very name of Mysore evokes memories of great vainikas like Seshanna, Subbanna, Shamanna, Venkatagiriappa and others. Veeneya bedagidhu Mysooru—a line from a popular Kannada poem describes Mysore and the splendour of the veena. Many great classical musicians like Vasudevacharya, Muttaiah Bhagavathar, Chowdaiah, Bidaram Krishnappa and others were patronised.
Mysore also developed its own distinctive style of the classical dance of Bharatanatyam. Many Banis or styles of Kittanna, Nanjangud Rajamma, Mugoor school, Jetti Thayamma school, etc, flourished. Abhinaya was the main forte this style, and was performed seated. Yakshagana was nourished by the Wodeyars and great exponents like Basappa Shastri and Parti Subba were encouraged by Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar. Mysore school of painting was also a distinctive one from the Tanjore style. The ganjifa cards were the characteristic Mysorean cards with elaborate paintings.
Thus, in a long and chequered history, Mysore acquired a distinct social and cultural ethos. For this, and the sound economic foundations on which the modern State of Karnataka were built, we need to give due credit to the rulers of Mysore—the Wodeyars.
Read an excerpt here: Spendours of Royal Mysore
ivattu karnatakakke enadhru churu paaru maryadhe idhaare adhakke namma Wodeyare kaaraNa.
This is a fascinating account of Mysore’s Royal family. Vikram is gracefully eloquent in the video. Congrats to Vikram for rekindling the pride in all of us…
Thanks Vikram, I didnt knew most of the things you have mentioned. Will surely read your book. I wonder why didnt our state syllabus didnt had study on wodeyars in detail.
*yawn*
It is a must read. Even the white and Indian historians and other non-fiction writers have totally ignored Mysore kings and their contributions.
Sanjay Khan got away with portraying the Maharajas of Mysore as eunuchs because Kannadigas took it lying down. It was not the Maharajas who were eunuchs, but crores of Kannadigas who took it lying down without a single protest, without a single word uttered. Imagine something like that showing on TV, now with Karnataka Rakshana Vedike around!
Thank you Mr.Vikrm. The Mysore Royal family, in particular His Highness Sri Jayachamaraja Wodeyar was always well respected for their contribution towards Education, Culture, Sports and Development. The rajah’s of other states filled up their coffers from the public funds (like our present politicians), where as the Maharajah of Mysore spent all the funds on development of the welfare of the people of Mysore. How many of our readers remember the World Youth Festival in Mysore in 1959 60 when Mysore was on fire and every street light was broken. But the students did not touch even a single Lamp around the Mysore palace.
I remember when in school in Mysore we used to get ladu and bundy for any good occasion in the palace.
I am sure this is a loabor of love. But its reportedly 800 pages long and given our iconophilic stance most things nostalgic I am inclined to think this book is likely to be an uncritical mish mash of apocrypha and hearsay-a megillah of sorts.
I wonder if there will ever be an objective interpretation of the Wodeyars since they so deserve it. In the meanwhile I will just read Vasudevacharya’s ‘ naa kanda kalavidharu’.
Promises to be an interesting read. Putting it on my reading list…
Ramesh,
>>Sanjay Khan got away with portraying the Maharajas of Mysore as eunuchs because Kannadigas took it lying down.>>
The Khan brothers are from mysore(feroz,sanjay,akbar). The mysore muslims still believe that it was the wodeyars who were responsible for dethroning and humiliation of Tipu Sultan and hence harbour ill-will to this day towards the mysore royal family. So, what better way than portray them as eunuchs in the serial.
Sorry to bring back everyone to the present from the past glory, the current dynasty ruling Karnataka is the Hardanahalli DeveGowda clan..
Sorry to puncture the balloon, but Vikram Sampath must be the most precocious man-child in our midst. How could he remember what he saw on television when he was a 12-year-old when most of us can’t even remember what we saw 12 hours ago?
And how can a 29-year-old banker who is an engineer by training and a B-school grad write an 800-page “history” of a 600-year-old empire? How authentic can it be to called the “definitive account” when all he could have fallen back on are the second-hand voices of other historians or a couple of “rare” books that they were too lazy to microfilm?
The Wodeyars arguably deserve better notice than they have got, but I am not so sure that a babe in the historical woods can give it. What the world deserves is a critical apprisal of a fine kingdom which was not without its flaws. What a first-time author promises is plain hagiography.
For a long time now, right-wing historians have been desperate to do a whitewash job on the Wodeyars because of the wimpish reputation they have justly earned and immensely enjoy. Suddenly out of nowhere it seems to have emerged from the vaults of Citi Bank.
Guys,
All that is said about Wodeyars and much more was contained in a history text book we had in primary and secondary schools called ‘Mysooru Kaipidi’. Those days, I am talkng about late 1940s and early 1950s, Mysore history was a compulsory subject in state -run primary and middle schools where Kannada was used extensively. My parents could not afford the glitzy private and convent education at those levels and I now thank them. I can give some more details about Wodeyars and Mysore during their days from the Kaipidi, but unfortunately I am a resident in a Western capital city and the Kaipidi is safely sitting in our attic
in Mysore.
Aatmasakshi…you sound like a total doofus!!
I should have said primary and middle schools as ‘Mysooru Kaipidi’ was recommended as a text by the education department. In my primary years Mysore was still the capital of Mysore State , and JC Wodeyar was still the powerful head in the immediate years after 1947 and before the reorganisation of states In our primary school, we gathered every morning during the school days for a prayer and wound it up with the recitation of ‘Kaayow SriGowri’ ‘ which has line on JC Wodeyar. Our head teacher, an avid royalist used to prop up a large photograph of JC Wodeyar on a chair at that time.
wow!! english professor can write kannada, kannada professor can write english. english teachers, lawyers, economists, journalists, politicians, can write history. historians and psychologists can do statistics, science, economics, policy and much more but an engineer cant go anywhere near history and humanities?
where have we heard these types of arguments and injunctions before? the type of arguments that grant rights by pedigree? without even reading the book. joe engineer+banker kick him out. doora nillu, baay mucchu, muTTbeDa. paadrasa suryodond baaki.
and i am not even going to get into the whole nonsense about school, graduate school, “training” and the rest of it.
the book might be crappy or it might be good. but atleast read it before you cast aspirations. and in other sundry threads people piss on the mullahs and cheddis who protest without reading the book. even if ill-informed atleast they are protesting on the content and not pedigree.
Worthy successors have built the Mysore state. Thank them for this contribution. Because of changing situations and circumstances they could not concentrate on further development. The last in the Wodeyar family who could be remembered is the scholar sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, an unique personality. Sampath has lit a nandadipa on Mysore, let this dipa light thousands of lights so that there would be more and more light on the history of Mysore.
yella ok aadre shivanasamdra”m” yeke!..
hege yella hesrugallannu naave haalu madkotha idhivi.
Some of the information spelled out here is already know. But will still go ahead and read the book.
@Aatmasakshi
First, To debunk a few myths about History being a Science. Science is about building creative stories based on the limitations of data at hand: One can have multiple theories explaining the same phenomenon equally well. The theory one picks is a matter of convenience. A theory about how something may work does is merely a possibility, one among infinite, and hence is not objective truth. This works great for “material” sciences, but is suspect (to put it mildly) at best in the case of History.
History through folklore, myths, or incestuous peer reviewed journals all have equal relevance: They are all telling beautiful stories not truth. So get off your high horse and shove it where the sun don’t shine. I for one am tired of assholes claiming to be oh so pristine because they “published” in some peer reviewed journals where the gatekeepers decide what gets published and what is shoved under the carpet. There is no group as vile, despicable and harmful as Historians: causing wars, hatreds and violence through some phony-baloney “science”.
Kudos to Vikram Sampath for the labor, time and interest in bringing out this tome. I’m sure it is a lot better than anything written by all those cretin that call themselves Historians in India.
To say that there isn’t much written about the Wodeyars is an insult to the scores of works in Kannada that have dealt in great depth the history of this dynasty. Maybe there wasn’t much in English, but then good translations would have taken care of the matter.
Having said that, this book is welcome.
As for why the Wodeyars don’t figure much in popular discourse, I have a few theories
– Compared to other dynasties, the Wodeyars were much more focused on good governance especially around the time of independence. That might explain why they didn’t really care much for big profiles for themselves
– Efficient diwans and their administrations probably took away a lot of the workload and stress of running a kingdom. This led them to actually relax and enjoy their wealth, which led to them not being all that motivated to do anything else
– They are in South India, and the national media don’t really care much for our history
There is nothing new to say the least. Though Major Wilks book on Mysore history was the first definitive account on Wodeyars, it is still available. But book – Annals of Mysore Royal family ( vol-1 & II )( Kannada) by the Government of Mysore (1916 & 1922) and History of Mysore (Vol-I,II& III) by Hayavadana Rao are simply not available. Even books like Modern Mysore ( Vol-I & II) by Shama Rao and History of Mysore and Yadava Dynasty by Josyer are also out of print. I do not think there is anything like untold story of Wodeyars which are not available in these books. Mr. Vikram is flamboyant in giving such a title to his book and his main source of information has to be theses books. For post 1799 history of Wodeyars’ ( Wadiyars’) one may a have to fall on books by O.M.Linganniah( Mummadi srikrsihna rajendra wodeyar) , M.Shingriah ( sri Chmarajendra wodeyara charitre) and C.K.Venkataramiah ( Alida Mahasvamiyavaru- about Nalvadi). One may have to draw a blank when it comes to JCRW ( other than a collection of articles published Mysore after his death) . Even Mysore Vasudevacharya’s delightful books Nenupgalu and nA kanda kalAvidaru gives vivid picture of a glorious bygone era. Very recently(2007) Prof PVN Urs published a book quaintly titled as maisUru nUru innUru varShagaLa hinde. All that Vikram has done is using high blitz publicity to his book which PVN failed to do. There were some related books by Dr. Sukanaya Prabhakar ( JCRW and his compositions) and Dr. Meera Rajatram Pranesh ( Muiscla composers during Wodeyar), M.B. Vedavall ( Mysore as a seat of Music), Prof. Ramaratanam ( maisuru oDeyaru mattu karantaka saMgIta). Even Prof R.S. wrote a book maisUrina nAlvaru saMgitarAjaru in2007. It is just that no one cared to read them due to lack of publicity and awareness. Nevertheless nothing can take away from the credit due to him for one so young to pen 800 pages on an unchartered territory.
kayO shri Gauri was a state anthem written during Chamaraja wodeyar times by the court poet Basavappa Shastry. It had a line on the reigning King CRW . The names of succeeding Kings like KRW IV and JCRW were appropriately incorporated during their respective reigns. For the record despite India becoming an indpendent dominion in 1947, JCRW continued a a sovereign Ruler till India becoming a Republic in 1950. As such till that day the schools had kayo shrI gauri as an Anthem till then.
For the record Mysore city saw electric lights in 1908 exclty 100 years ago .
TS,
the problem is with the exaggerated sales pitch employed by everyone from cricket players to history book writers. Everybody wants to be a rock star in their 15 mins. That apart, I have little to protest against engineers writing history. Most of the early British and German ‘indologists’ were missionaries and we owe much of our history studies to likes of Rev. Kittel and others. And if we can have the likes of Iravatham Mahadevan morph from IAS officers to super-specialist epigraphers(!) spouting cooked up crap overnight, I dont see the problem here.
Having said that, and having read the excerpt available on Vikram’s site, I must say I also get the feeling that parts of the book (if not the whole) will be steeped in un-objective hagiography. Also, I’d have liked to know if any primary sources hitherto unknown to scholarship was used in this book. imo, its unlikely… and given the overwhelming amount of info on Mysore Google books has made available to us, I suspect there is very little in the book that can justify a “definitive account!” billing. And to that extent, I think the book is a bit overpriced.
But to give credit where its due, the book is a labour of love and if nothing else will almost surely be an interesting, easy read especially if you’re interested in the subject. But, if the entire book is like the excerpt provided on the site, I get the feeling that Vikram was attempting to do a Dan Brown and passed up the opportunity to instead pen a dispassionate historical atlas of the dynasty – which would have been really useful as a quick reference.
Notwithstanding any of the above, I certainly intend to read it but I’m not sure it has excited me enough to order a copy right now.
First of all many congratulations to the young writer for even attempting to do something like this that goes beyond his age and pedigree. Of course some of the comments here displayed such utter lack of grace. We as a country are full of cynics. we can never be graceful in praising a fellow countryman. Instead we pick loopholes and nitpick.
May be this writer is a first timer, ,may be not a trained historian but what prevents him from writing abt it? And for all those picking holes and claiming to know more–what have you done to talk abt Mysore to the world than pass silly comments on websites? The Kaipidis will remain in your attics and just that !
Someone here said people want to become rock stars—if you saw the video, out of 4-5 mins, the entire coverage was on wodeyar history, rather than on self glorificiation. And pls dont give so much importance to a website to make pop stars of people—and therez nothing wrong IMHO in making a sales pitch. Everything today, needs marketing and sales—this website and all of u included.
I have been an aspirant of Mysore history and im sorry to contradict some wise person here who says umpteen books are there on google search. its a hugely mistaken fact. In fact i bought this book after seeing so many media reports abt it. After all the Governor of Karnataka doesnt agree to release trash—FYKI, his office scrutinizes the book that “His excellency” has to release and only then agrees. So dont deride it before even reading it. May be Vikram has randomly and unwittingly put a wrong excerpt on the site. I have just started reading this tome and left in awe—like a surgeon, he cuts and analyzes every historical myth and legend, puts a lot of modern perspective on the subject which we have not seen for decades.
Vikram, people are always there to crticise and crib–price is too much, it is too bulky, u r a nobody—dont be detered by such negative and pessimistic influences who have nothing to show by way of their contributions. I have not met you, nor have i heard of u before, but reading through just the first 2 sections of the epic, i feel all we kannadigas owe you our respects. Keep it up and great going, congrats!!!
Ee pusthakada kannada anuvaadha ideya guruve?
I think Vikram’s book is the first comprehensive work on Wodeyars of Mysore. Shama Rao (2 volumes from beginning to Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar) and others have written exhaustively on the Wodeyars and the History of Mysore. However, Vikram should be complimented for including excellent old pictures of Mysore and the royal family not published so far. Strangely history was served wrongly by a professor at the book release function! Another professor minced no words in exposing those blunders!
“Since the outlay for the dam exceeded the state budget’s, Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar (then a mere teenager) and his sagacious mother Regent Queen Kempananjammanni sold costly diamonds, ornaments, gold and silver plates of the royal family in Bombay to provide seed capital for the project.”
Whether it is a true story or hearsay, this is a statement which just makes one feel good. We would like to believe it is true.
Imagine this happening now with our current setup. Everyone wants to grab as many jewels and property as possible in the few months they rule and get ready for the next election!
One of the places that JW would frequent in his yellow car was his drive along Kantharaja urs road to Kenne gowdana koppal (No relation of HD!) in Chamarajapuram. The Koppal residents would worship Him and sprinkle the dust from the road where His car passed on their head.
Where is that Koppal now??
I bet a lot of us did not know that the ancestors of our much loved loyals were from Gujarath. Naming a prominent street after Sayyajirao was the result of a desire to pay homage to one’s origins, of course, without consulting the citizenry.
As TS points out, Atmasakshi is dead wrong in casting aspersions on the author of the book in question simply because his avowed profession is engineering. B-school grad? We are steeped in casteism and elitism.
President George Bush never had a GPA higher than a C average during his entire scholastic career. Wait till you see ghosted autobiography.
If I had any interest in the tall claims made for the royal family, I would look at the book, but no thanks.
When the British departed, leaving us to our own devices of casteism, superstition, hagiology, and all those qualities that make us Indians, the Maharaja of Mysore, along with his Kochchi counterpart, fought the accession of Mysore to the Union until the last minute. I do no have enough zeroes in my head to calculate the money he received as privy purse until 1973 or the one lump sum payment made when the privilege was abolished. This was your money and my money.
As for the love the family lavished on its ignorant, unwilling subjects, one wonders why Jaganmohana Palace could not be restored instead of building a new one that cost 120 crores in those days’ money. Couldn’t that fabulous amount have been invested in ventures promoting the well-being of the subjects? What is the current worth of Srikanthadaththa and how much of it is self-earned? Whatever happened to the money the British paid the family for sovereignty over much of the eastern part of Bengaluru? It is this act of parting with people’s property for a paltry sum and patronage that is the reason for much Bengaluru’s religious, cultural, and language fissures today.
I cannot share Mayura and others’ outrage about the way the Khans are said to have depicted the royal family on their show. Fiction is fiction no matter how realistic it looks.
I am tired of hearing Tipu glorified. I am even more tired of hearing about a long line of self-indulgent rulers (Nalvadi an exception because of his diwans) who never had to do a stint of work to earn an honest living. Also keep in mind the irony of a “Maharaja” accepting a knighthood from the British. If we Kannadigas as a whole lack self-respect, we have had good role models.
Many decades ago, when I was in primary school, we were treated to fulsome, mawkish narratives about Mummadi K and Lakshammanni and expected to take great joy in the manner in which they enslaved us all to the British. We got half a day off for K’s jayanthi and J’s vardhanti, without ever understanding what jayanti and vardhanti meant. The glum face of JCW stared at us from one of the walls of our dusty classrooms.
Ranga, if I were you, I would joy in the fact of having lost my copy of the Kaipidi.
Poor Vikram, the royal family’s YSV Dutta.
Finally people are taking effort in chronicling the history of our kingdoms and cities and presenting it to the lay person.
Well done and congratulations Mr. Vikram. Hats off to you. It is heartening to know that in today’s generation too, there are some people, who are serious, sensible, mature, responsible and proud of their past.
@ jeevarathna
You are a scholar sir and the books you have mentioned are all amazing. I am currently reading Vikram’s book. I would challenge you to show me, any of those long books, including that of WIlks, Hayavadana Rao and others who have perhaps cast a cold and rational view of myths lke that of Yaduraya and Rani Alamelamma. I have read all those books too and with my age and sincerity at command, NONE of them have. So why do you bark at a young person, who has done what you have not? Why cant you be graceful? Typical Indian Crab mentality—pull down anyone who seeks something higher with a scorn–whats so great, we anyway knew this. Yes, you knew it, but you all sat on the pot waiting for the slench to spread.
You contradict yourself—u rightly list those wonderful books–but most of them r out of print. Also the topics r diverse and so are the books. But here i see Mr VIkram has presented a comprise and comprehensive account of all aspects–political, economic, social, cultural development which has not happened till now. In fact my sister who attended the Mysore launch said, DR AVN, the reputed historian and Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan Chairman, said just that in his scholarly analysis of the book—that after wilks, hayavadana rao, buchanan, rice and other pre-independence era books, if there is any modern analysis of Mysore History seen from a 21st century eye, it is this book. So dont rubbish things before even reading it.
And if speaking on Churmuri is called publicity blitz, then why dont we ban this website??? If all it does is give wannabe pop stars a chance to sell their souls??? Isnt this the best forum to let people know that a book abt mysore is out. Its open for reviews—and reviews need not be personal criticisms that hit below the belt. Shameful !
Vikram, Naayi bogaLadhre devaloka haaLagalla, you carry on undaunted !
Congratulations, Pulikeshi. That was scholarly.
itihasa priya ,
I only commented on the title as Untold story ! For that purpose i listed the books. I have not read the book by Vikram so i cannot comment on the quality of the efforts.
My comment on publicity blitz is in comparison to Prof.PVN’s book and Vikram’s book. PVN’s book is hardly known even among the Mysoreans.
I have acknowledged Vikram’s effort otherwise as a stupendous and a book waiting to be written.( Nevertheless nothing can take away from the credit due to him for one so young to pen 800 pages on an unchartered territory)
It is unfair to use the words like nAyi bogalidare …. It just shows your attitude to honest comments.
Gauri Satya, : I assume you are talking about the pat between PVN and AVN. ( I was not present but informed) but what about the spat between AVN and a reader about Lakshamanjni in SOM recently. Even AVN’s article on Ranadhira Kanteerava was full of historical errors.
Thes days, while it is fashionable to write about Film Stars,Ruling party, it is a creditable effort by Sampat to bring back the era of Wodeyars rule of over 600 years.Some of the comments are amusing : Whether an Engineer can write a book with historical perspective or whatever he has written is already known. That somebody made an effort to go in depth and bring out nuggets of information hitherto unknown to a vast majority is itself creditable. Mysore Wodeyars are still largely unknown outside Mysore ( Karnataka) and India.This book comes at the right time to show the world that Mysore has contributed a lot than just Bangalore and that there is more to Karnataka than Bangalore.
When I said, “How can a 29-year-old banker who is an engineer by training and a B-school grad write an 800-page “history” of a 600-year-old empire?” I didn’t mean to say as Tarle Subba seems to think that a banker cannot write history or an engineer cannot history. They can and should.
My gripe is about technique and method. Can a young man not trained to be a historian—which means to ferret out the truth from the thickets of fact and fiction from first and second hand sources—do the job well enough for his output to be called a “definitive account”?
Writing about the Wodeyars is not like writing about the history of Indian cricket, a job which Boria Mazumdar (who was of the same vintage as Vikram Sampath) seems to have done. The tale of the Mysore kings is complex, confusing, byzantine. There are no scorecards to go by.
If a 29-year-old, whose interest was sparked at 12 by a TV serial by his own admission, has managed to do it while working on his SSLC and PUC exams, while writing his CET and CAT, and while working in a bank and while submitting freelance articles, I doff my nonexistent Mysore peta.
Asking these questions does not necessarily belittle the effort. Far from it, it enhances the debate. The media cannot merely taking a gee-whiz approach. We cannot treat a “definitive account” of the Wodeyars like we treat say the review of Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar.
History is too a serious subject to be left to historians alone. But that doesn’t mean we suspend our disbeliefs for sentimental reasons.
@pulikeshi
that wodeyars hailed from gujarat is not news to anybody. its not even stale news. and its all very well to wallow in your misplaced cynicism and pick on the Wodeyars… but if haLe mysore region didnt end up like our unfortunate brethern from erstwhile nizam ruled parts, we have only the wodeyars to thank. not to mention their unparalleled contributions to literature and arts, not just by way of patronage but even by their own personal contributions. historians are almost unanimous that mysore was the best governed of all the 100s of princely states. the british held it as a model of governance and wanted to replicate their Mysore experiment across the country. i’d like to know what you know about the wodeyars that historians dont and we dont. I’d really like to. Dont give me crap about their supposed opulence etc.. for heavens’ sakes they were kings!! We owe our Mysuru Dasara eshtondu sundara to them! The Mysore palace you whine about is India’s most visited monument ahead of the Taj Mahal.
Even if we were to take your puerile rant about JCW at face value, JCW would still go down in history as a legend purely for his contributions to Carnatic music – his own compositions and the legends he and H H Nalvadi patronised in their courts.
And talking of trivia, how many of you knew JCW was a freemason? (many Indian princes were) Or that he was the first president of the VHP?
I am sincerely not interested in His Highness or His Heaviness, because one thing I know is that if we had that man (JCW) continue as our king his reign would have ended with his son the duffer being foisted on us as the new king, and sufficiently shamed we would have not even had the gumption to write on Churumuri with any claim of intelligence.
It is indeed a great effort that someone young and intelligent and charming as Vikram Sampath has written this book but my only complaint is that instead of writing about the people whom we should have best forgotten after Independence, giving reasons to make them worship worthy in a Mysore that is already sterile and off key he could have written a better tome something rather purely fictional.
The following are the reasons why I would not read Vikram Sampath’s book:
1. The Mysore Maharajas were smooth operators. They were masters in the game of survival.
2. Most of the developmental activities they took up were an eye wash to keep themselves in power and to impress the British than in the interest of the people.
3. There was abject poverty in many parts of Mysore and even areas around the palace which does not justify the glory of a Kingdom whose king sat on a golden throne and palaces built spending crores of rupees.
4. In T. Narsipur still people defecate around the temple even in broad day light and there are stories of how the king used to frequently visit those temples. So much for the great erstwhile Mysore Kingdom. Is Vikram Sampath aware of the mala horuva paddati?
5. All the palaces, gold and wealth of the kings of Mysore are not result of their earnings but the rightful property of the people of Mysore and need to be returned to them or should be sold to alleviate poverty or to pay off high interest loans of those who are still eking out a miserable living.
6. Even during the British Raj, the Mysore Maharajas were smart enough to fool the people into believing that Mysore was an independent state which was ensured through smart dealings with their British bosses. Did Samapath find proof for that in the form of gifts from the Mysore Rajas to their foreign masters?
7. The Mysore Royalty has always had a bad PR and this book appears like it was commissioned by the remnant royals who are still living in the hope of being called Maharaja and Maharajakumari and all that shit.
8. How can a seemingly intelligent guy like Sampath even imagine that die hard republicans like me 2008 (unless I am a dreamy, jobless Mysorean) even take a look at his book. Is history as we know not sufficient, already?
9. We were ruled enough by our kings, benevolent or not. Even with a Deve Gowda, democracy is still better. Mysore with its weakest economy could sustain the royalty, only because of hagiography.
10. The Wodeyars were able to rule for so long only because they were able swallow any insult and domination, they were just happy as long as they could in turn rule the people of Mysore. The long reign also has to do with easy subjugation, the people’s loyalty to the king which helped any aggressor and even the geographical location of Mysore .
Shame on us or will someone write a bold book about the truth about Mysore maharajas inspired by Vikram’s monumental work?
pulakeshi,
if not for wodeyars,karnataka state would have been similar to orrissa or bihar.It was wodeyars who brought great institutions like IISC by offerring them free land,opened great universities like mysore university built life saving KRS dam and lot many things.I can just keep on listing their achivements.
Don’t forget that it was they who dreamed about industralising karnataka through mysore sandal soap,mysore lamps etc companies.
if you stay in heart of bangalore ask yourself,how are getting water tippagonDanahlli lake?who built all those sewage lines intially?
If at all karnatik music saw its relife it was due to them.
as sisya said,its not a open secret that they hailed from gujurath.but man don’t forget their contribution to kannadigas or kannada culture.I would have been happy to see they ruling us than the stupid current politiscians.
@jeevarathna and aatmasaakshi
Didnt intend to hurt you with any remarks. I was just upset that instead of first reading and commenting on the contens of the work of a young man—while most of our young lot we say are weaned towards western influences—-was a very shameful thing to do. Please get a copy and read the book…if Mysore interests you, i am sure the critical and clinical analysis he does —something unknown even in “trained” historians —would surprise you. I literally had no words to bless this young lad, whom i havent even met, who could write with such mastery of language and conviction of thoughts. All controversial aspects have been so beautifully dealt with. Of course if there is debate on historical accuracy then thats another point.
And is it a great thing that in today;s world of information, PVN has chosen to keep his book anonymous? The work would surely be better than Vikram’s given PVN”s age and experience–but if as you yourself say that Mysoreans also dont know abt it, then what purpose is served? Does that do good to the cause of Mysore or to his own work? and being a younger man and tech savvy (hoping) if Vikram has tried to reach out to ppl, why should we call it a publicity blitz and a sales pitch? Is talking abt ur work a cheap thing to do? Beats me completely!
Aatmasakhi, pls do get ready to get rid off your mysore-peta :-) This boy apparently is very talented and multitasks a variety of things and does them well. My relative who attended the Mysore event said he was a symbol of humility and was respectfully treating each and every scholar and guest in the audience of over 350 people who gathered at the Jaganmohan that day.
SO my humble request, as seniors and elders, let us encourage the efforts of Vikram, first of all congratulate him for doing smthing none of his age group have done. If the book has historical blunders, let us all surely take him to task and that way also help him to correct himself and better himself. But below the belt attacks and arrogant remarks would only put off a young dream….think abt it…
Enemy of the Kings(!) what a name—to find exactly the answers of the questions u ask, i think u shud read the book. In some chapters i just read, Vikram has criticised the Wodeyar in a manner even their enemies wouldnot have. If there is a historical pan balance where chaacters can be weighed and thereafter given credit, this seems to be just that. The chapters on Tipu too are a case in point. While Tipu’s greatness has been mentioned at length and rightly so, his negative acts like conversions and atrocities have also been chronicled. usually we always have one-sided accounts either glorifying one or other. But here i think the portryal is clinical and unbiased. Being a non-historian may be helps him to do this too as the “technique” that is being spoken abt, makes one sometimes very biased. I dont know if Romila Thapar the Leftist or a Suryanath Kamath a rightist can write unbiasedly as they have agendas. But atleast vikram doesnt show signs of any leanings here. He takes JCW also to task for suppressing the freedom movement and killing protesters. So calling it a project commissioned by some maharaja etc is so naieve and childish. I suspect being aware that he is a nobody right now in the literary and historical world and that vultures like u would prowl on him, he has tried to play safe and taken the forewords from a variety of people (was bored to see so many!!!!) HD Kumaraswamy to get political sanction, Meenakshi Devi to get royal sanction and Suryanath Kamath to get historical sanction….i dont blame him, he seemed to be pre-empting controversies…..
Itihasapriya, you are committing the same crime you are accusing me of. You have not read my post properly. I have not criticised Vikram. Read my post properly before calling me a vulture. Scurrying as mouse under the shade of anonymity may certainly make me look like a vulture to you.
“How can a seemingly intelligent guy like Sampath even imagine that die hard republicans like me 2008 (unless I am a dreamy, jobless Mysorean) even take a look at his book. Is history as we know not sufficient, already?
this book appears like it was commissioned by the remnant royals who are still living in the hope of being called Maharaja and Maharajakumari and all that shit.”
—–may be in my limited understanding and 55 summers i think this is criticism. But if you belong to modern generation, may be this means somethng else to you!?
With respect to you Sir, I can only laugh.
Laughter they say is the best medicine—for eveything including insanity:-) so dear son/daughter, pls keep smiling and laughing !
Raja Virodhi,
You bring in many issues and I had great difficulty in understanding your viewpoint. ,,,,”2. Most of the developmental activities they took up were an eye wash to keep themselves in power and to impress the British than in the interest of the people….” really?!! :))
So going by your logic KRS, Vanivilas Sagar were all imaginary projects simply conceived to impress the British?:)) And Vishweshwarayya and Mirza Ismail were some kind of actors who were pretending to be progressive statesmen?
You appear more like Brain Virodhi to me:)
Jeevarathna’s posts are among the most dispassionate and objective ones here, it seems. I take it his intention is Vikram’s book should be judged with the works he has mentioned in mind.
Thanks to Sword Master.
These days, even in those “incestuous, peer reviewed” journals the discussion takes place within the framework of historiography. Who writes history and what stated or unstated ideology informs the writing are serious issues.
The oft quoted George Santayana edict about remembering history is now perhaps in need of revisiting. What kind of history are we to remember? In the perpetually changing landscape of consciousness, what markers enable us to create at least a partially objective view of the past?
frankly speaking, i knew most of those 7 things which have been described as “we dint know” … I have been reading several articles about state of Mysore and maharaja’s of Mysore in newspapers like Prajavani, hindu.. And many of these things have appeared in Suvarna Karnataka Malike (series) which appeared in Prajavani. And we read lot in prajavani mysore metro edition.
i think vikram has taken help of p v nanjaraja urs. this nanjaraja urs also has written a couple of books about mysore. anyway it is nice to see a person from non-historical background coming and doing research and bringing out a huge book. for the pain he has taken to compile it all… and those old photographs… im sure most of the black and white photographs were taken at least 60-70 years ago. its time to find out the original photographers and list them under public domain.
The people who criticise Vikram sampath’s book are real LOSERS. Go write a book yourself.You have to be passionate enough to hold a corporate job and still write about what u feel for. People can just criticize, catch them doing .001% of what vikram has attempted. Vikram, Ignore people like that. We are proud.
and there will always be loosers.
Cheers
Someone here says jeevarathna is the most disapassionate commentator. I was just browsing this site and in another story jeevarathna avaru gives the following wise comments—“The fact remains that even after 50 years of Independence no scholor has written the History of Mysore after 1799. C.H.Rao’s three part book on History odf Mysore stops at 1799” (the story f the sound and light controversy with PVN Urs, dated 10th May 2006)
There the “scholar ” laments the lack of a book written after 1799…and now when someone has written it from 1399 to 1947, he says where is the need, already so many books exists!!!! WOnderful double standards and a genereal tendency to rabble rouse for ANYTHING!! Dispassionate indeed !!
ChaLigaala bandaaga eshtu chaLi embaru
Banthalla besige Ketta bisilembaru
MaLe bithu Bidathalla shani emba teeke
Ivaru mechuva vasthu illilla joke
Ninthavara keLuvaru neeneke ninthe
Maligadare gonaguvaru ninagilla chinthe
odidare benna hindeye ivara teeke
ivaru mechuva vasthu illilla jokey.
Vikram, I am yet to get my hands on your book, but i sure am at awe about the very idea of a young boy of your age even attempting to do something of this sort!! kudos to you and all your efforts. Simply brilliant. After reading this poem (one of my fav), I am sure you understood my response to some of the comments posted here!! All the best to you and to all your future endeavors!!
Churumuri–
Are you happy that you have encouraged an army of vandi maagadharu in fealty to the dynasty to sally forth firing volleys in every direction?
Is it not possible to state one’s disagreement with a point of view without name calling and gratuitous insults if enlightenment is what we seek through exchange of ideas?
I am aware that my use of “vandi maagadharu” leaves me vulnerable.
Pulikeshi,
>>I cannot share Mayura and others’ outrage about the way the Khans are said to have depicted the royal family on their show. Fiction is fiction no matter how realistic it looks.
>>
The serial tipu sultan was not fiction serial. It was based Bhagwan Gidwani’s book on Tipu Sultan. My objection was for depicting the Mysore Royal family as bunch of buffoons instead treating them fairly in the serial, while Tipu for all his short comings and savagery towards the Malabar hindus, was portrayed as a noble king.
Thanks Pulilkeshi the Last.
Incidentally royalsplendourofmysore.com is a site owned by SDNR Wadiyar !
I have just got the book and found not all the books i have cited have been shown in the bibliography. Even Hydernama is missing . Language is lucid and engaging.
But just a casual reading on Hyder made me find something of a howler ( as the author does not give the source) He goes poetic with eloquence like a littérateur about how Hyder’s mother enters Dodda Krishna Raja’s court seeking alms. But the truth of the matter is Hyder’s uncle Gulam hyder was in the employ of Wodeyar at Muddagiri and had played a vital role in dethroning Dodda Krsihna Raja ‘s successor Chamaraja Wodeyar ( a distant relative who was chosen by the king to succeed before his death as he had no children thus ending the reign of Yaduraya’s lineage as kings of Mysore – a direct cause of the Almelamma’s Curse ). It was because of this Gulam Hyder was able to extract succor to his nephews from Dalvoy Devarajiah. This happened during the reign of Immdi Krishna Raja ( he was an infant at that time).
This is history !!!
Ofcourse the projects were to impress the British, even the best projects, otherwise certainly the British would have found some reason to dethrone the rulers effortlessly. The Mysore rulers had to appear progressive and very very European in their outlook by doing the so called developmental works that was otherwise so alien to the Indian culture, ironically. And, remember, all this was not done independently by the Mysore Maharajas – who was overseeing all that? The British ofcourse. In the end Mysoreans benefitted, god bless them.
Enemy of the Kings:
Your analysis is right on the money. The British consolidated their hold on Mysuru by having the Raja and his Diwans answer to a paltry Resident. I cannot imagine a worse indignity visited on a royal. Many of the deputy commissioners were of the imported variety. Karnataka is one of the few states where the independence movement was just a flame, never a fire.
The tendency to romanticise the past instead of analysing it is an antidote to the harshness of the present. Alas, the numbness lasts only so long. We wake up and romanticise even to a greater degree.
SEVEN THINGS YOU DIDN‘T KNOW ABOUT THE WODEYARS—AND DIDN‘T KNOW WHO TO ASK
what are you saying? read any history text book you get all this. it is like a school essay writing competition. READ my dear boy read. before you say such things like….
>>”The British consolidated their hold on Mysuru by having the Raja and his Diwans answer to a paltry Resident. I cannot imagine a worse indignity visited on a royal.”
That was the story of every single one of the hundreds of princely states. It is to the Wodeyars’ eternal credit that they went beyond those constraints and made Mysore the most progressive state of its times. But for the KRS dam, TN would be using every single drop of Kaveri and we’d be getting a grand total fo 0 TMC for our own use. Bengaluru wouldnt be Bengaluru without the plethora of educational institutes the Wodeyars started. Carnatic music in Karnataka would have died with the Vijayanagara empire.
I’m sorry.. but I know people are entitled to opinions, but it insults my intelligence when opinions can be held in utter disregard and ignorance of facts. It is your unsubstantiated opinion that the wodeyars did all that they did to impress the British (talk of kaagakka gubbakka stories) but it is a fact that they did all that they did. And everything they did and its fruits is there for everyone to see. Maybe you know more about frugality than Mahatma Gandhi who hailed the king as a Rajrishi. Paul Brunton and Ramana Maharishi too must have been fools afterall.
>>”Karnataka is one of the few states where the independence movement was just a flame, never a fire.”
Sloppy analysis. Even if we buy it for a moment, it was with good reason. Hale Mysuru was a Rama Rajya of sorts. It was the best governed and most progressive state in the country(read history books) and obviously people had lesser complaints. Also, in any event, the British rule was first and foremost a gift of bungling northie shanda rulers ( Mughal and non-Mughal ). It was a mess they created and naturally they had to fix it. It is our misfortune that not only did we have to put up with the British monster these northies created but also when the British left, we got clubbed with these wimps to form an unwieldy entity called India. And today, we continue to pay taxes to this entity which in turn uses it to bankroll the inefficiency, filth and corruption of the bimaru states.
The stuff about the Wodeyars descending form the Yadavas of Dwaraka is proof of the Wodeyars (or their historians’) Sanskritization. They must have felt it necessary to attach themselves to someone as big as Lord Krishna for deriving lineage. Obviously there is no proof for any of these things. Only hearsay to which Vikram Sampath seems to have succumbed.
I also object to Sampath’s theory that the word Wodeyar signifies a humble beginning. This is Sanskritization gnawing at the otherwise intact reason of the author. It’s just stuck up in his mind that a Kannada word such as Wodeyar cannot mean anything big such as the Sanskrit word used to denote one – Saamraata! Nonsense. Odeya (It’s good to drop the W, really) can also be used to mean Jagadodeya or the ruler of the world. A Odeya need not be a petty ruler.
Congratulations, Vikram!
All right. I am willing to entertain the thought for a moment. The queen sold her precious jewels. Were they a fruit of her own
labor, or inheritance, or extortion? How can one give away what is not one’s own?
She was no saalumarada thimmakka.
We are a strange bunch. We venerate Kitthooru Chennamma for her fight against the imperialism of the British; we also admire a parasitical family that squandered its subjects’ money and surrendered to British colonialism for protection.
Rage on, royalists.
@Sisya,
You are 100% right. Mysore kings were 100 times better than today’s democratically elected leaders.
Jeevarathna,
I think your hurry is always to type a post here to show your scholarliness.(or rather the lack of it ). I am having the book open in front of me and the chapter 8 which is titld “The Early Years of Haidar Ali” says EXACTLY what you have tried to say, but yes, in a better and poetic manner. Pls go to Page 147-148, where it says Majida Begum approached Ghulam Hyder and he took her to Devarajayya from maddagiri (which is the same as your “scholarly” repartee). If the year was 1728 which was when Haidar’s father died –at that time the King in Mysore was NOT immadi Krishnaraja wodeyar but his father Dodda Krishna raja. Immadi KRW ascended throne in 1734 after the deposition of his brother chamaraja which has been mentioned.
This is a reader and self-contradicting commentator !!!!
@Ramesh Gowda,
if you watch the see the video i think author says “according to tradition” the wodeyars came from dwaraka. and even in the write-up he says “Guided by divine dispensation, they supposedly were driven by dreams…” If you read the book as i did, in one full section i have read him pooh-poohing the theory that they were frm divine origins and says they could be local sheperds or potters , else how did they converse in Kannada with local washerwomen. Obviously in a 4 min video the poor man couldnt have given so many details and possibilities.
And there is no sanskritization. In my limited ideaof Mysore history, i know that Wodeyar was a title given to anyone who had 30-33 villages…today even in Tamil Nadu we have places like Odeyarpuram. which shows that “odeya” or “wodeya” was a title given to anyone like a zamindar. These Mysore Wodeyars assumed a larger role but retained the name.. Why you bring Brahminical/sanskritisation angles into a simple thing like this and make it casteist debate??
@subbulakshmi
Old woman, may be you need some grace in life !
awesome awesome thread.
TS–
Parts of the thread, perhaps mine included, are awful, too.
Ithihasapriya–
How do you know Subbulakshmi is an old woman, or even a woman for that matter in this anonymous universe of words? Why is she, he, it, in need of grace?
@DP Satish,
“You are 100% right. Mysore kings were 100 times better than today’s democratically elected leaders.”
Actually now they are democratically elected leaders. They stand for elections like everyone else.
And they may have been 100 times better for a section of the population who are now nostalgic for the old times…
Im amused to note that the hodeyars trace their lineage back to gujarat. A couple of years back, i was visiting mount Abu in Rajasthan and was startled to find kannada boards in the areas adjacent. I then came to know that the tribals there actually speak kannada!! To my utter surprise, a northie friend of mine told me that there is actually a hindi movie directed by one priyadarshan which makes a reference to these tribes.. I dot know how true this is..
The personages in question identifying themselves with a certain vamsha has interesting ramifications. In the Indian classical and middle ages periods anything Sanskritic was considered divine. What I see here is puranicisation. In addition to suggesting longevity, puranicisation raises people to the level of gods, thus making them unanswerable to those they rule. To offend a raja who is a descendent of Krishna is to offend Krishna. Moral: Don’t mess with me and inflict divine wrath on your head because I am not human, but divine.
How much information do we have about Hakka and Bukka? We have many legends about their guru–with a sanskit name, of course– and his miracles. Their wonderful Kannada names don’t imply they represent Krishna or Rama on this sinful plot of earth.
Basava set out depuranicise Karnataka by emphasising the centrality of human effort to find salvation here on earth through word and deed. What was his reward? He became a legend and was apotheosised.
Poor Banjagere tried to restore Basava to his human status. I wish he had had the courage not to “withdraw” his book post facto.
PTL,
Yen maadodhu, naavu irodhe haage… Which makes it ideal for anyone who wants to control us as a group.
@Pulilkeshi
“In the Indian classical and middle ages periods anything Sanskritic was considered divine”
Wow! thats news.
thank you pulikeshi for taking up for me. that itihasapriya himself is itihasa and he si trying to give me grace time! wah kya baat hai!
itihasapriya !
I am unable to fathom your hostility. If you are a real itihasa priya you cannot be averse to different shades of opinions. Even the author of the book probably will not behave like you. I do not write here to show any scholarliness. (or rather the lack of it). When I am virtually unknown how I can benefit from any such extravagant attempts!
My last post was written purely from memory. I do not think I have quoted any year as reference.
Now that you have forced me verify if my presumptions were right, here are some references which I could lay by hands immediately:
1. Hayavadana Rao : History of Mysore- Vol-II, Page 205:
….. Whereupon Gulam Haider , the other uncle made a representation to Dalvoy Devarajiah at Seringaptam, and with his permission succeeded in redeeming the entire debt through Mallarajaiya(c.1735). Sabas and Haider then went to Maddagiri….
Unquote:
Krishna Raja Wodeyar ruled from 1714-1732.
Chamaraja Wodeyar ruled from 1732-1734.
So you can draw your own conclusion.
2. Haider nama : page:2:
tamage baMdu yidda kAgadavaMnne mallarAjaiyyanavarige tOrishi haidara sAbaru bahaLataravAgi hELikoMDu avara hesariMdA paTTaNakke daLavAyi dEvarAjaiyyanavara baLige arji barasalAgi daLavAyi dEvarAjaiyyanavaru appaNekoTa shiKAvutra mallarAjaiyyanavarige barashida vivara. niU barashi kaLuhista arji vivara tiLiyitu. ade mErege 10000 hattu sAvira varahAvannu koTTu kaLuhsi allisAba shAbasAba haidarasAbara mai bAbasta maddagirige karesuvudeMdu appane baMdaddariMda AmyAre mallarAjaayyanavaru haNavU koDsi koTTadAgi shIr^ya baLLApurada taMTe tIrisikoMDu kuTuMba makkaLu sahA allisAbaru shAbasAbaru haidaralliKAM sAbaru saha maddagirige baMdu dAKalAdaru….
Unquote:
Do not comment on the language! It is what is written!
Again it looks too farfetched for a king to give audience to some Muslim lady who is not even his subject and equally improbable is the possibility of a Muslim Lady appearing before another man!
The story of Dalvoy sanctioning 10000 varahas to bail out a relative of an Employee in the distant Maddagiri would have appeared otherwise farfetched but for the unusual partnership which existed between them! The whole thing was possible as Mallarajiah and Gulam Haider had participated in the evil machination of Dalvoy Brothers in dethroning the Newly anointed King Chamaraja Wodeyar, as he was beginning to assert himself and had appointed his own persons to all key posts in the kingdom.
It is possible the Author have some other sources which I am not privy to as itihasapriya says due to lack of scholarliness on my part ! To quote the enlightened gentlemen : nAyi bogalidare……
There is nothing unusual in Wodeyars claiming as belonging to yadu vamsha. All kShatriya clans i India either claim to belong to Surya Vamsha or Chandra Vamsha.
Besides Wodeyars, Royal family of Kutch, Kotda Sangani, Gondal and few other in Gujrat and Jaislamer in Rajasthan belong to Chandra Vamsha.
When the Sister of Jaya Chmaraja Wodeyar , Rani Vijaya Devi was engaged to marry a visiting prince from Kotada Sangani ( who had apparently come to mysore to get administrative training in Mysore like many other princes at that time ), the Royal family had not expected that the prince belonged to same gotra ! So the princess was adopted by her uncle before her marriage to avoid the problem !
Subbulakshmi, Pulikeshi —
Sorry that you people have such a poor sense of wit and humour. Subbulakshmi’s comment “READ my dear boy read” was like she was telling the author he is a kid who needs to read before he talks….so to make it understandable to you ppl,, it was a sarcastic remark of calling her an old woman—the wise old lady she claims to be and advises authors to read…and subbulakshmi i thought generally belongs to a female species unless it it is being posted anonymously or other genders too have apprpriated the name !!
And lack of grace?? Is it anythign but that??? for belittling the efforts of someone by calling it some school essay competition. If you claim to know so much abt mysore history which you seem have been reading from school history text books, what other than your laziness and self opiniated persona prevented you from writing as extensively abt it….
and yes, of those 7 things i knew some, i frankly didnt know some other…so its not possible for someone writing to assume that everyone knows or doesnt know something….lowest common denominator rule might apply.
Jeevarathna–
Isn’t there a story to the effect that when the founders of this dynasty landed in Maisuru, they encountered a holy Shaiva man who persuaded them to give up meat and become Shiva’s devotees and in his honor the newcomers added “Odearu?” to their names? There might be something to the story given the fact Chaamundi is an incarnation of Durga and Nanjundeshwara (Shiva happily Kannadised) is the family’s favorite god.
I bring this up because I am wondering if the clan at one time renounced its Kshatria allegiance only to regain it later.
You are welcome, Subbulakshmi. Keep on reminding people they should do their homework before they mouth off.
keep things simple and in good faith PTL and RG.
why waste energies in tramplimg over evolution when there is so much else to be done?
and PTL, why shouldn’t we be so big hearted to accomodate both a chenamma and an Lakshmammanni? why is it troublesome? nay, why should we be so airopean and colour blind, in direct contrast to our indian-ness and not see shades and gradations?
remember krushna – the dark complexioned multi-hued character? half the population wouldn’t mind their kids named after him despite all his shenanigans in open domain.
i mean c’mmon man we take some airopean theories and base our identity on that?
gimme a matter of fact argument. sanskrit is useless now, english rules now, now is a good time to revert some original forms. fully behind you. no need to raid imaginary forts.
oh! crap yet another mod q.
I should have acknowledged Ramesh Gowda’s comment on Sanskriicism–sans criticism–in my post abou puranicisation. Sorry, Gowdare.
The process of puranicising is itself a product of sanskritisation.
Hi Vikram
The churumuri.com video on the “Splendours of Royal Mysore: The Untold Story of The Wodeyars” has opned the eyes of those who speak thrash about Mysore Maharajas without knowing the background.
I am really amazed at the pains you have taken to collect such details about the Mysore Maharaja family.
It is high time that youngster like you should join hands with a good TV channel like the History channel to produce a documentary which gives real facts about the 600 year rule of Maharajas of Mysore so that the whole world would come to know of the true facts instead of blindly criticising the Maharaja dynasty lock stock and barrell.
Pulilkeshi the Last :
To the best of my knowledge all Kshatriya/ Rajputs clans are traditionally vegetarians. ursus of mysore are definitely vegetarians. Iam not sure about clans from Andhra like Rajus.
within the Mysore Palace fort there are nearly 20 Temples of all isms. There is Muslim shrine too !
Two temple of Gayatri and Bhuvaneshwari were built after India became a Republic by the last Maharaja. Probably Someshawra temple is the oldest ( pre 1399). As per tradition it was a jungama priest who guided Yaduraya to help the local princess in distress and thus establish the dynasty after marrying her. But Wodeyars appears to have practiced no rigid faiths like shaivism /vaishnavism at any time. As you can see Melkote/ Yadugiri seems to have gained equal attention as Chamundeswari not to forget Ranaganathaswamy at Sriranagapatna. It was only during Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar one can see a overt leaning towards Vaishnavism , which was followed by his son and grand son. It was during this period Parakala Mutt came to established in the Kingdom and became known as rajaguru. But post 1799, there seems to be no such overt affinity as such. Shivaratri and Krishna Jayanthi are known to be performed with equal vigor and faith.
Thanks, Jeevarathna. Surely this crew has always know how to hedge its bets. Hence the Kumara Kantheerava’s tryst with the BJP as well as the Congress.
Has always known.
Pulikeshi the Last ! It is too cynical a view. Even Arjuna ( Chandra Vamshi ) did penance invoking shiva ! Every Hindu who visits Tirupati is not a VAishnavaite ! Evey Hindu vishes to visit Kashi, Matura, Vaishniodevi, Badrinath etc once in their life time. There are Hindu’s other than Iyengar and Lingayat’s who do not fall in to a staight jacketed class.
As for a Politics is considered almost every Karnataka politician who joined BJP have always made a quick exit. ( Alva, Bangarappa, RAkashekara Murthy etc). So why single out SDNR ?
Jeevaratna–
Doesn’t your second paragraph support my contention? Think about the long line of Hindus who did the equivalent of touching Benny Hinn’s feet.
ಇಷ್ತೆಲ್ಲ ವಿಮರ್ಶೆಗಳನ್ನು ಓದಿ ಸಂತೋಷವಾಯಿತು. ಕೆಲವು ಪರ ಕೆಲವು ವಿರೋಧಿ. ಆದರೆ ನಿಮಗೆಲ್ಲಾ ಮ್ಯಸೂರಿನಮೇಲೆ ಅಭಿಮಾನ ಮತ್ತು ಕಳವಳ ಇದೆ ಎಂದು ಗೊತ್ತಾಯಿತು.
ಕಪೂರ್ತಲ, ಪಟಿಯಾಲ ಮತ್ತು ಜುನಘಡ ಮಹಾರಾಜರ ಕಾರನಾಮೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮತ್ತು ನ್ಯೆಜಾಮನಂತಹ ಫರಂಗಿಯರ ಗುಲಾಮತನವನ್ನು ಮತ್ತು ಪೆಷ್ವಾಗಳು ಮಾಡಿದ ವಚನ ಭ್ರಷ್ಥತೆಯನ್ನು ಗಮನಿಸಿದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ವಡೆಯರನ್ನು ಜನಹಿತಾಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳೆಂದೆ ನಾನು ತಿಳಿದುಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೇನೆ. ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ
Shanoi–
Nimma sajjanikegalige vandanegalu.
Ene aadaru Wodeyar vamshastharu thamma jeevanakke eshtu beko ashtannu ittukondu ulida kotyanthara varahagalannu Kannada janakke hindirugisadiddare, avara janhithaabhilaashe bagge nanage ondu eleyashtu nambikeyilla.
Mr. V.P. Menon in his book “Integration of the Indian States” writes as under:
(Mr. V.P. Menon was the unsung hero of the amalagatmation and organic unity of India. He as Secretary of States under Sirdar Vallabahi Patel almost single handedly succeeded in making the nearly 560 rajas and Maharajahs agree to become part of the dominion of Indian and later the Republic. Thus he knows from first hand the list of private properties of all Maharajah’s in India. His descendants own the Leela group of Hotels !)
In Mysore the demarcation between the State and the Maharajah’s personal properties did not present any difficulty. This had been settled many years ago. When, in 1799, on the defeat and death of Tippu, the ruling family was restored, they were practically destitute and the long period of direct administration of the State by the British from 1831 to 1881 did not help them by means of any means to build up some sort of private fortune. Whatever wealth they now may have was built up by the present Maharajah and his predecessor; and it must be said to their credit that they have always contributed considerable sums towards charities, by way of donations and a remarkable degree for the beatification of Mysore and Bangalore.
Unquote:
Diwan Seshadri Iyer built Kumara Krupa ( which originally included the present Grand Ashoka and other peripheral areas) built from his personal earnings. To day if the descendents of the late Diwan had continued to own it, they would have been billionaires. Each and every other Diwans had similar palatial mansions with vast appurtenant lands in Bangalore during their life time. It was only subsequently their descendents could not hold on to it. Likewise the sisters of KRW IV had such palatial mansions like Mansagangothri complex. CFTRI complex and Administrative training Institute Complex in Nazarabad. It was all given away to Indian Government by their descendants for what can be termed as pittance. When the Diwans could own such palatial mansions during their life time, then the Three Generations of Maharajah’s since 1881 could certainly own much more (legitimately from what was earmarked as personal funds). To day even the farmers around Mysore are probably wealthier than the farmer Maharajah’s daughters. Compare that with what today’s Mannina Makkalu, mommakkalu have illegally have amassed.
It requires a much more open mind to assess the contribution of Wodeyar’s or other such other benevolent Kings in India.
Why do I somewhere feel that may be I am being converted… tch tch.
Greetings to everybody who has been following this story for a while now!
Thanks to Churumuri for this unique opportunity to speak to all of you about my book. The responses and reactions of people, especially at the launch of the book in Mysore and also in this website, have been truly humbling. If nothing else, it proves one thing, that the Wodeyars are still a part of our collective consciousness—some of us love them, some of us hate them (for what they did and what they could and didn’t), but we surely don’t ignore them!
But sadly, the national historical discourse today seldom revolves around the history of Mysore. With all humility, I would only submit that this book has been an attempt to portray the story of Mysore as seen by a young Indian man of the 21st century. Of course, there have been many epics written by pre-independence scholars, commentators and historians be it Wilks, Rice, Hayavadana Rao, Shama Rao and others.
But it is unfortunate that most of these books are either unavailable to aspirants or tend to get too verbose for a lay reader. Attempts have seldom been made to find a rational view to the many myths and legends that Mysore’s history finds itself mired in. It is also sad that there is hardly a “one-stop shop,” if I may use the cliched term, where one can find all aspects of Mysore’s past—political, economic, social and cultural history and evolution. I have attempted to take a very small step in this direction through “Splendours of Royal Mysore”
The effort has been completely self-driven and self-funded and not, as someone pointed out here, a royal family commissioned project! Of course I might suffer from a few drawbacks of being a “babe in the woods” or not being “trained” in history academically or otherwise, but the passion for the subject was intense enough to overcome these handicaps.
I was approached by Churumuri to do this story for them and I thought it was the best way to spread the message to as many interested readers as possible. For publicity or monetary gains, I assure you all, that I have quite a lucrative professional career and milking Mysore for that would be the last thing on my mind :-)
Can’t but help recall the words of a noted historian John Noble Wilford:
“What people did in the past is not preserved in amber…immutable through the ages. Each generation looks back and, drawing from its own experience, presumes to find patterns that illuminate both the past and present.”
This is a sincere and honest attempt to do JUST that—look back into the 600 odd years of the Wodeyar history and analyze it from a modern and unbiased perspective. Of course there are a number of scholars and historians on this forum, as I could gather. If any of you have constructive criticism of any kind or errors that you might have encountered after reading the book, I welcome them with all humility.
To the extent possible, I have tried to make the book impartial, fair and error-free ( Dr Suryanath Kamath went through every detail of the book for more than a year before he consented to write an Introductory note). But to err is human despite all this!! The opinions of people who are knowledgeable about the subject would only help me incorporate those in the coming editions!
Thanks for all the comments that have been posted in the last one week on this subject. It really made me feel my efforts have been worthwhile !
Warm regards
Vikram
VS–
Among those who have expressed dissenting views, some had nothing against you. We were expressing our unhappines with feudalism and greed.
PTL,
I do realise that was where the discussion meandered in the course of it all….but it sadly didnt begin that way…not that iam complaining; everyone has the freedom of speech and as i said, i accept constructive criticism of all kinds, with due humility. Personal attacks, in my view, are simply uncalled for and in extremely poor taste…thats all !
Congratulation Vikram. May I suggest you to read ” Mummadi Srikrishnaraja Mahipala Vansharatnakara ” by A.N.Niranjana Raje Urs. Since he comes from the family of Mummadi Krishanraja Wodeyar he at times has exaggerated some aspects of the family. It has been a painstaking research by him though. How Nanja Raja Bahadur, the eldest biological son of His Highness was deposed on flimsy allegations that he was not born to the pattada rani. Finally His Highness was made to adopt a son when he was dying. Later he was called Chamaraja Wodeyar. The great grand son of Rajkumar Nanjaraja Bahadur Col. DC Nanja Raja Bahadur, the legendary polo player of the thirties died in 1977 without receiving any publicity. He was a very close associate of Nalwadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar. Unfortunately his descendents now live in penury in Mysore. The title Wodeyar was supposed to be suffixed to the name of the king only, therefore , other memebrs of the royal family were called Bahadurs. This was revoked by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar who allowed his brother Kantheerava Narasimha Raja to use thie title who was called Yuvarajaru. I will be happy to recieve your comments.
Congrats to Vikram Sampath on this venture of ‘recollecting the Mysoe Royal Dag…
Ups and downs … fames and fooleries are all common to all Royals and as such … Vikram’s recounting tone is very apt… objective but yet sensitive…
Go ahead…and pen moe such socio-political readings…
Dr D V Gundappa’s Mysoru Diwaanaru is a good reading as is many of his other period-writings…
I got some data for my forthcoming stage play as regards the People-count in Model Mysore epoch…
Congratulations ! Well done. As an idividual born and brought and eduacated in Mysore City, I always had a high regard for the Mysore Mahraja. Your write-up brings back memories of my younger days.
B. S. Satyanarayana
The yadu vamsha was able to rule Mysore after treacherously killing Maaranaayaka according to this amazing story which I chanced upon
http://nschar.blogspot.com/2007/10/sunkarimada-aka-madarasa.html
“jungama priest who guided Yaduraya to help the local princess in distress ” any connections to the above story?
Surely a topic to produce an PhD thesis :)
no mention of female issues of nalvadi krishnaraj wadiyar , any where , interesting subject for reserch.
***
none of royal family members samadis are maintained well , present royal family members have no money to maintain ? or they have no respect to great ancestors who created remarkable history.
Wodeyar is an extension of Ode or odissa too. Middle age travel by ancient communities were unlike peoples travel today. Travel at one stretch was unherd of. It was always slow, and the transit between gujrat/rajsthan though true was over one or two generations.
The cheftain who gave girls in marriage to the young fighters was from the Talwar Bosaiah’s Clan Of Hadinaru Village. Talwar Bosaiahs bloodline flows right upto Anuradhapura Of Sri lanka. they are called as Bosa nayakes – more info from – Dr Madhukar G Appaji- mysoreheritage(AT) gmail(.)Com
when the outlay exceed the State’s budget .vikram writes that kempananjammi sold jewels etc to fund the krs dam.Great concern for the princess towards the welfare of her subjects! However I beg to differ with vikram that when the krs dam was being built,he says nalwadi krishnaraj wodeyar was mere teenager? How come! The dam was completed in 1931 and Nalwadi Krishnaraja died in 1041 at an age of 56!
The real rulers of Mysore and the entire cauvery basin are the kodavas of kodagu/Coorg,If u go back in history you will know that the kodavas had defeated the mysore rulers,Tippu and also his father Hyder Ali. and had captured the entire region where cauvery flows. and the tamil region.
i think it is time to compile and publish encyclopedia karnataka .so much to read about.HANS