Kingdom of Mysore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flag of the former princely state of Mysore.

The Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, which was founded about AD 1400 by the Wodeyar dynasty, who ruled the state until the independence of India in 1947, when the kingdom was merged with the Union of India.

[edit] Early history

An 1898 map of Mysore.

The kingdom originated as a small state based in the city of Mysore, and was established by two brothers, Vijaya and Krisha Wodeyar. It remained a kingdom tributary to the Vijayanagara empire until the collapse of the latter in the second half of the 16th century. In common with every other feudatory of that Empire, Mysore, under the Wodeyar dynasty, then assumed the trappings of independence. It was in the reign of Raja Wodeyar and his successor, the celebrated Kantheerava, in the mid-1600s, that the kingdom really asserted its independence, and expanded to include most of the southern part of modern-day Karnataka, as also parts of neighbouring states.

[edit] The Arasus of Kalale

After Chamaraja Wodeyar VI, the failure of the direct male line not only necessitated the adoption of an heir, but also precipitated a minority. The Arasus (feudal barons) of Kalale came to hold sway over the affairs of the Kingdom of Mysore, and the position of "Dalavoy" or supreme commander of the Royal army, became effectively hereditary to that family. The situation was compounded by extensive intermarriage between the royal family of Mysore and that of the Arasus of Kalale. The influence of the family is regarded as having been benign, given the continuance of the legitimate dynasty, as also the similarity and alliance between the two families. This influence continued even into the 20th century; HH Maharani Kempa Nanjammani Vani Vilasa Sannidhana Avaru, regent of Mysore (1894-1902) and mother of HH Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, hailed from this family.

[edit] Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan

Flag of Tippu

During this period, Hyder Ali, who joined the army as a foot soldier, came to prominence. By many accounts, he enjoyed the confidence of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, and hence essayed a meteoric rise in the affairs of the Kingdom. During the minority of Maharaja Nanjaraja Wodeyar, Hyder Ali rose to become the de facto ruler of the state, retaining the Wodeyars as nominal rulers. His son Tipu Sultan dispensed with this charade and assumed full royal powers. Tipu Sultan prosecuted a brilliant military career; his rule contributed a golden chapter to the history of India. Both Hyder and Tipu brought in many technological innovations, modernizing the Mysorean army and expanding Mysore's foreign trade. They also aligned themselves by and large with the French, whose French East India Company was politically very active in southern India at the time. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Mysore Kingdom found itself in a series of four wars with the British East India Company, which was then expanding its control in India. In 1799 Tipu Sultan was finally defeated by the British in the fourth Mysore War, led by Arthur Wellesley, the future 1st Duke of Wellington. The British, who purported to wage that war in support of the legitimate dynasty, reinstated the Wodeyars on the throne in the person of the 5-year-old Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.

Mummudi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was restored to the throne of Mysore after the defeat of Tipu Sultan

[edit] The British Period

After the final defeat of Tipu Sultan, the British annexed a large part of Mysore state, the remainder becoming a princely state in British India. The 5 year old Krishnaraja Wodeyar III ascended the throne under the regency of his adoptive grandmother, HH Maharani Lakshmi Ammani Avaru, relict of HH Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar III. Diwan Purnaiya was appointed diwan or first minister.

The capital was moved to Bangalore in 1830. Charging the Wodeyars with financial mismanagement, the British took direct control of Mysore in 1831 and retained it for half a century. This act manifests the greed for land that characterised the British East India Company in the run up to the indian rebellion of 1857, and is of a piece with its annexation, in the same period, of other princely states like Thanjavur, Satara, Sind, Avadh and Jhansi. The Maharaja chose to argue his case in British courts, and a favourable verdict resulted in the Rendition of 1881, which restored the Wodeyar dynasty to the throne. Mysore again took its place as one of the three highest-ranking princely states in India. For the next seventy years, Mysore enjoyed the reputation of being a model state.

When Nehru visited the state in the 1920s he found that the state was more industrialized than the general status of British India.

[edit] A New Era

Mysore Palace Today

India became independent on 15 August 1947, and a new republican order was established. All the princely states were merged with the Union of India, and provinces were later reorganised on the basis of language. Inevitably, the kingdom of Mysore lost its distinct identity. HH Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar, signed the Instrument of Accession on 9 August, 1947 and the state acceded to the Dominion of India. With the merger of Mysore with the Union of India, the reign of the Wodeyars came to an end. The kingdom initially became a separate state within the Union of India and in 1956 Kannada-speaking areas belonging until then to the neighbouring provinces of Madras, Bombay and Hyderabad were merged with Mysore to create a Kannada-speaking state that retained the former name. The name of the state was changed to Karnataka in 1973.

[edit] Inscriptions

Kannada inscriptions deciphered and recorded from the rule of Mysore kings can be found at the web site provided by Archeological Survey of India (vol. 9,17 & 18)

[edit] Maharajas of Mysore

The following table lists the kings of the Wodeyars dynasty of Mysore from 1399 to 1950.