Wadiyar Dynasty - Curse On Wadiyars

Curse On Wadiyars

The Mysore kingdom, founded by Yaduraya in the year 1399, consisted of only the areas surrounding the Present Mysore City. In fact, the original fort was supposed to have been at a place known as haDadana — an extant small village on the southern side of Chamundi Hill. Wadiyars, like all others at that time, were under the suzerainty of the Vijayanagar Empire. The viceroy of the Vijayanagar kingdom was headquartered at Srirangapatna. Wadiyars after Yaduraya slowly and steadily increased their influence and territory over the next 200 years. Raja Wadiyar the ninth ruler of the dynasty was a remarkable man known for his valor and patronage of art and culture. He ruled from 1578 to 1617. In 1610, he conquered the fort of Srirangapatna from Tirumala, the then Viceroy of Vijayanagar. Tirumala is said to have retired to Talakad along with his two wives. One of them Alamelamma was known to be a staunch devotee of Sri Ranganayaki — consort of Sri Ranganatha the presiding deity of the famous Adi-Ranga temple in the island fortress of Srirangapatna.

Tirumala was afflicted with a deadly disease on his back which was known as the disease of the kings. But the condition of Srirangaraya deteriorated and he died. Alamelamma had large amount of precious jewellery. Of them was a fine nose ring studded with a big pearl. As Alamelamma was a widow, she had no use of these jewels . Since she was known to be a staunch devotee of Sri Ranganayaki, every Friday and Tuesday, Sri Ranaganayaki was decorated with a big pearl studded nose ring and other precious jewelry. These jewels were in the safe custody of Alamelamma otherwise. Temple authorities requested Raja Wadiyar to provide them with the custody of these jewels as was the practice. Treasury officials informed the king about truth. Raja Wadiyar thought what is the use of these jewels for Alamelamma as she is a widow now and she no longer needs them. Raja Wadiyar sent emissaries to malangi where Alamelamma was staying, with a request to return the jewels. Alamelamma returned only the pearl studded nose ring. Then Raja Wadiyar sent his army to Talakad to request her once again and, if she refused, to get them by force. To escape the wrath of the Mysore Army, Alamelamma uttered the legendary curse on Raja Wadiyar and jumped into the whirlpool in the river Cauvery at Talakadu, with the rest of the jewels and escaped unscathed. The curse which has survived the folklore of last 400 years is:

Hearing of this extreme step taken by Alamelamma, Raja Wadiyar was truly repentant. All he wanted to do was to return the jewelry to the temple and not confiscate them for his own use. In grief, he had an idol of Alamelamma made in gold, installed it in the palace and worshiped it as a deity. Some remnants of her hair is preserved in a box.

Even to this day, Alamelamma’s idol can be found inside the Mysore Palace and is worshipped by the royal family. One can see the same huge pearl nose-stud adorning Goddess Ranganayaki and Alamelamma today.

Dasara festivities inside the palace ends on the evening of Navarathri with a formal pooja to Alamelamma and the Kankana worn by the royal couple is removed there after paving way for the Vijaya Dashami – Sami pooja the next day. For these nine days the royal couple are bound inside the palace precincts.

An interesting part of the story is that this Alamelamma Temple is under the care of the legal heirs of Alamelamma; they stay inside the Mysore Palace fort. Strangely even these priests/caretakers appears to be cursed: Even they do not beget children and follow the same pattern afflicting the Wadiyars.

Here is a brief sketch of Raja Wadiyar which is necessary to get a historical perspective:

Raja Wadiyar after shifting to Srirangapatna is credited with starting the famous Dasara festivities for the first time in 1610. But his only son died (effect of the curse) a day before the commencement of Navaratri. The king after consulting experts laid down the rule that the celebration of the ceremonies will not be interfered even due to the death of royal members.

Raja Wadiyar was a devout of Vaishnavaite, and he donated the famous bejeweled crown to the Lord Cheluvarayasvami of Melkote, which is celebrated as the Raja Mudi car festival today. This crown was confiscated by the Karnataka government from the royal family during emergency.

Legend has it that Raja Wadiyar, having entered the garbha–griha of Cheluvarayasvami Temple on June 20, 1617, became one with the deity (aikya). Today one can find a Bhakthi Vigraha of the king inside the temple. Another Bhakthi Vigraha of the king can be found inside the Lakshmi-Narayanasvami Temple inside the Mysore Palace Fort.

Malangi and Talakad are small towns near T Narasipur on the banks of Cauvery where the river takes a bend. Talakad's temples lie buried in the vast expanse of sand and are dug up and exposed every 12 years. At Malangi, the river is at its deepest. Whether these phenomena started only after Alamelamma's curse in AD 1610 is a matter of conjecture.

What can be stated with certainty is the fact that the curse on the royal family seems to have come true.

After Raja Wadiyar’s death in 1617 to Chikka Devaraja Wadiyar in 1704 (there were four rulers in between), the kingdom was ruled by the surviving progeny of Yaduraya, but almost none could beget legal heirs. Incidentally, Chikka Devaraja Wadiyar is credited with the composition Gita Gopala — an opera in Kannada.

The sole exception was Chikka Devaraja's deaf and dumb son Kantheerava Narasaraja Wadiyar II. also known as mookarasu. He was succeeded by his son Dodda Krishna Raja Wadiyar who ruled from 1714 to 1732. With him Yaduraya’s direct lineage came to an end.

What followed was a succession of nominal rulers adopted by the surviving queens to continue the tradition. Traditional Army commanders known as Dalvoy’s virtually ruled the kingdom and paved the way for the ascendancy of a foot soldier like Hyder Ali by 1762. After the famous Mysore War IV and the resultant death of Tipu Sultan, the legendary Arthur Wellesley (also known as Iron Duke) conquered Srirangapatna in 1799. There were five rulers from 1732 to 1796. In this period a definite pattern emerged wherein none of the natural heirs to the throne born to a king (adopted or otherwise) could beget children; one who became a king by virtue of adoption or otherwise was blessed with a legal heir. Hyder and Tipu continued with the tradition of having a nominal Wadiyar king on the throne and the Dasara celebrations continued as usual.

Mummudi personal life is fascinating. He was a modern-day Krishna. He survived a Kamsa in Tipu. He fought the Kaurava’s in British and took the war to the British Parliament and got the kingdom restored to his adopted son. He wrote his Gita in SriTattvanidhi and svara choodamani and other epics. He had his Rukmini and Satyabhamas (five pattamahishis), and he had his share of Radhas too (15 gandharva vivahas). Surprisingly, he had children from his other wives. Mummudi had three sons and many daughters from these minor queens. He had one son — Nanajaraja Bahadur — from a Brahmin known as Puttarangamba Devi. This lineage survives and is known by the name Bahadur (Nanjaraja Bahadur Choultry is a famous heritage structure in Mysore). Ironically none of the three sons survived him. One of the descendants, a successful American citizen, has recently started B.N. Bahadur Institute of Management under the auspices of Mysore University.

Mummudi adopted Chamaraja Wadiyar X as his legal heir in 1865 and, when British refused to accord recognition and restore the kingdom to him, he took the campaign to the British Parliament where, under immense pressure from many Parliamentarians, the British government accepted the adoption and agreed to restore the kingdom to the adopted son on his coming of age. Thus in 1881 the famous rendition of power took place and Chamaraja Wadiyar X, ascended the throne. Chamaraja Wadiyar X died in 1894 at Calcutta, leaving behind two minor sons and three daughters. While the elder seven-year-old boy was crowned as Nalvadi (the fourth) Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the regency was entrusted to his mother, who came to be referred to as Vani Vilas Sannidhana. On turning 18, Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV was invested with full authority personally by the Viceroy, Lord Curzon, in 1902. His brother Kantheerava Narasimharaja Wadiyar was given the title of Yuvaraja. Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV died without children and, as his brother had predeceased him, his son, Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar was crowned in. His only son, Srikanta Datta Narasimha Raja Wadiyar, is now the scion of the Wadiyar family. He has no children.

It is notable that the conditions of the curse, barring the exception noted above, has survived from 1610 until today, for almost 400 years spanning 17 Maharajas.

A recent research, which was conducted by the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) in collaboration with the state archaeology department, Karnataka, found a well-developed canal system extending a few kilometres from Talakad to Cauvery. They analyzed the site through geospatial maps recorded by a satellite using infrared and radar technology. A GPS survey was done on the site for more accuracy.