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King jinx: Mysore Dussehra may lose sheen
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

The last royal Former Mysore king Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar (60) holds court on Dussehra
The last royal Former Mysore king Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar (60) holds court on Dussehra. A file photograph

Bangalore, August 3
A strange phenomenon afflicting the Mysore royal family coupled with the ongoing legal tussle between the Karnataka government and the royal family over Mysore Palace has cast a shadow on the famous Dussehra celebrations of Mysore.

The last royal Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar (60), who died last December, was childless – something that recurs in the Mysore royal family and follows a specific pattern.

According to local legends, this was the result of a curse dating back to 1610. Apparently, a widow, enraged by a Wadiyar king's plot to rob her of her jewels, had cursed the Mysore kings that they would never have biological children.

Uncannyly, the curse, barring an exception (a deaf and dumb son was born to one of the kings), has survived for 400 years spanning 17 Maharajas. In fact, a definite pattern had emerged wherein none of the natural heir to the throne born to a king (adopted as a prince or otherwise) could beget children, whereas one who became a king by virtue of adoption was blessed with a legal heir.

Srikanta Datta Wadiyar’s father Maharaja Jaychamerajendra had also succeeded his uncle in the throne who had died childless.

The presence of a king is absolutely essential for continuance of the Dussehra festival. Though it is a spectacle geared up for the tourists, the Dussehra is mainly a celebration by the royal family of their military tradition.

The last king, though a titular one, even used to hold court in full regalia on the occasion of Dussehra with members of the nobility associated with the family in attendance.

In the absence of a king – since the widowed queen is yet to adopt anyone who could be crowned as king – all these events would fall flat. In fact, the 2014 Dussehra will be the first such event in Mysore that will be held without participation by a king.

The widow Pramoda Devi has cited successive state governments’ attempt to take over the famous Mysore Palace as the reason for her reluctance to adopt a male heir.

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