Mystery of a temple-tower and a Palace-dome!
Nothing seems to go well for the much loved and regarded Wadiyar dynasty of erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore these days. Rather since independence of our country in 1947. The problem for the then last Maharaja Sri Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar [1940-1950] began when, under wrong advice by his much-hailed Dewan Sir Arcot Ramaswamy Mudaliyar [1946-1947], His Highness refused to sign the all-important Accession Treaty with the Union Government and lost its goodwill for ever. The dilly-dallying did not last long though.
Since then, the events in the Mysore Palace (Amba Vilas Palace), the Bengaluru Palace and the Palace in Ooty (Udhagamandalam) Fern Hill Palace and other minor Palaces in city and may be, elsewhere are under the shadow of ill-omen. Nothing seemed to go well for the Royalty — from domestic affairs to the ownership and management of its multi-crore rupees worth of properties spread all over the State and who knows abroad.
The Wadiyar dynasty, which never drew the battle-sword from its sheath or fired a shot from the gun or cannon eversince Hyder Ali usurped the throne in 1761 till this day, lived a leisurely, languid life under the suzerainty and protective wings of the British Raj. However, after the death of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, whom Mahatma Gandhi rightly called the Raja Rishi, the philosopher King of the kind described by the Greek philosophers, the dynasty seemed to lose its hallow of earlier glory.
The political events in the country moved so fast, the Wadiyars were unable to anticipate the consequences. The worse happened after the death of Sri Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, the father of the scion of the royal family Sri Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar leaving behind the burden of many unsettled property issues among his children and the Government. His son Sri Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar himself died without issues on Dec. 10, 2013 and the Maharani Pramoda Devi Wadiyar had to resort to the Hindu tradition of adopting Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs, a grand nephew of her husband and rechristen him as ‘Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.’ But, the Maharani and her adopted son Yaduveer are now to carry on a different kind of battle — in the law courts. And to think that so many valuable properties are lying around like imaginary assets without generating any income or income commensurate with its value is indeed sad.
What could be the cause for this ashanthi, for these problems haunting the Royal family? Is it similar to the legendary curse of Alamelamma to the Wadiyars that is thought to be the cause for the dynasty not having a son to inherit the throne by a direct descendent of the ruling King? We do not know. But here is a probable cause for the present troubles of the dynasty after the death of Sri Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV as told to me by a reader of this paper.
The root cause is traced to the Palace atop Chamundi Hill, known as Rajendra Vilas Palace, now lying in a state of total neglect — euphemistically called under repair and renovation.
But before I come to that, a brief history of the Palace atop the hill itself. It all started when one englishman by name Sir Arthur Cole constructed his bungalow here in 1822. The kingdom was under the suzerainty of British East India Company following the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799 and Sir Arthur Cole must have been in the service of the company. Lord William Bentinck, the Governor-General of India [1833-1835], had stayed here in 1834 for a few days, according to history.
Later when the British left, under the royal ownership, it was used as a Summer Palace, a hill station residence at an altitude of 1000 feet above mean sea level. It is said, Mahraja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV was taught English and Philosophy here in this ‘Summer Palace.’
It was re-built as a Palace in the Indo-Saracenic architectural style found in Rajasthan by Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and completed in 1938-39. The Palace was further developed with a high dome during the period of Sri Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. However, the Maharaja was cautioned by the Chief Priest of the Palace and the Chamundeshwari temple not to raise the dome to a height which will be higher than that of the vimana gopura atop the tower of the Chamundeshwari temple closeby, hardly 1000 meters away. The warning was ignored.
The Palace was leased to a hotel for some years where ‘sinful’ activities were taking place. And later it was closed. Sri Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar ran it as a hotel for a while but failed and then the Palace fell into disuse and royal neglect. The Palace, located on 15 acres of land, was valued at Rs. 6 crore during the year 2000.
Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar wanted to remodel the Palace with special interiors and re-start the hotel after his vision: “The Rajendra Vilas Hotel will have the stamp of a five-star luxury and heritage Palace hotel. Ancient scenes of Khedda operation, Dasara processions and Jumboo Savari will be depicted on murals by artists,” Wadiyar used to say to journalists who talked to him on seeing the construction work being carried out. Sadly he did not live to see his dream-hotel operational. But, what about the prognosis of the Palace Priest?
Would the property problem of the Wadiyars find a final resolution if the dome of the Palace is reduced in size or removed to comply with the Chief Priest’s warning? Or would it help the Wadiyars if the Palace itself is given up as belonging to the presiding deity Chamundeshwari on the lines how properties of some temples are considered belong to the deity as owner?
God only knows. But I would be happy if Wadiyars are allowed to live in peace by the government and the law of the land under a democratic governance. After all, the Wadiyar Kings were good Kings, benevolent Kings, encouraged art, literature, sculpture and worked to make Mysore a great cultural capital of Karnataka.
e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra….Abracadabra / by K.B. Ganapathy / February 11th, 2016
