The Wodeyar dynasty was an Indian Hindu dynasty that ruled the kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947. The kingdom was then annexed into the Indian republic after Independence, like all other princely states.
The name “Wodeyar” means” LORD “or” LORDSHIP “in kannada. The origins of the Wodeyars can be traced back to the Yadavas of Dwarka, Gujarat. who came to Karnataka and made Mysore their seat by seeing its beauty. The Yadavas then ruled for over 600 years. The Wodeyar dynasty was established by Yaduraya Wodeyar in 1399. He ruled Mysore under the Vijayanagar Empire. The kingdom remained fairly small. After the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire, the kingdom of Mysore became independent and it remained until 1799. After that, it came under the control of the British Empire under Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.
After the fall of the Vijanagara Empire, there was a power vacuum and it was aptly used by Raja Wodeyar and he expanded his kingdom. The capital city was changed from Mysore to Srirangapatna, an island in the river Cauvery because of its strategic location. Later ruler Kanthirava Narasaraja extended the kingdom all the way to Trichy, Tamil Nadu. The dynasty From 1760 to 1799, the rule of the dynasty was essentially nominal; the real powers were in the hands of the commander-in-chief of the army. Among them were Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan. who were instrumental in the expansion of the kingdom, but Tippu Sultan clashed with the British and was killed in the battle of Srirangapatna in 1799, and the kingdom size was reduced eventually.
After the battle, the British restored the throne of Mysore to the Wodayars, shifted the capital back to Mysore and made a 4 year old boy, KrishnaRaja Wodeyar III, who was the son of the last king, Khasa Chamraja Wodeyar VIII, anointed. The Wodeyars were the subsidiaries of the British Raj. The British then took over the administration after the king did not pay the subsidy in 1831. They appointed commissioners in charge of the kingdom.
In 1868, the British parliament accepted the King’s plea and restored the kingdom to his adopted son, Chamraja Wodeyar IX. This transfer of power played an important role in the development of modern Mysore under the kings. Democratic experiments were introduced, and the king, Nalvadi Krishna Raja Wodeyar, earned great fame for his rule. It was compared to Lord Rama by Gandhi. The Wodeyars were free of security concerns under British patronage, so they concentrated on the development of the state and on the fine arts.
The last king of the Wodeyar dynasty was Jayachamrajendra Wodeyar, who ruled from 1940 until independence. He ceded his kingdom to the dominion of India and continued to be known as the Maharaja till India became a republic. He was made the head of Mysore state after India became a republic, and after the reorganisation of the states in India, he was appointed as the governor of Karnataka state from 1956 to 1964.
After that, he was governor of Tamil Nadu for 2 years and the Indian constitution continued to recognise him as the maharaja of Mysore until 1971, after the then Prime minister abolished the titles and the privy purse of over 560 maharajas. He died in 1974. His only son, Srikanta Datta Narasimha Raja Wodeyar, was a member of the Indian parliament for many years. He died in 2013, and the current titular scion of the royal family is Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamraja Wodeyar, who is 23 years old and ascended the throne on May 28, 2015, after he was adopted by the wife of the late prince, Mrs. Pramoda Devi, as they didn’t have a biological son.
Late Srikanta Datta Narasimha Raja Wodeyar and his wife Pramoda Devi
Current titular King of Mysore Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamraja Wodeyar with his mother Pramoda Devi.
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