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Mysore’s Golden Age The Princely State of Mysore (today in Karnataka) was hailed as an example of good governance to all the world.

In two parts

1902-1940

© Bikashrd, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source

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The Lalitha Mahal, a palace near the Chamundi Hills, east of the city of Mysore in the Indian state of Karnataka. It was built in 1921 on the orders of Maharajah Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV for the use of the Viceroy of India. Doubtless he felt very much at home, as it deliberately echoes St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Mysore’s Golden Age

Part 1 of 2

The Indian Kingdom of Mysore is associated with two remarkable figures, Tipu Sultan (1750-1799), ‘the Tiger of Mysore’, and Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV (1884-1940). Tipu fought the British and anyone else for nearly twenty years of unrelenting bloodshed; Krishnaraja made Mysore a world leader in industrial, artistic and social advancement.

KRISHNARAJA Wodeyar IV inherited the throne of Mysore in 1894, though his mother acted as regent until 1902. The Kingdom had a recent history of good governance, owing much to chief administrator Purniah from 1799 to 1812, and British Commissioner Sir Mark Cubbon from 1843 to 1861. A democratic legislature had been introduced in 1881.

The new Maharaja capitalised on his inheritance so wisely that Viscount Sankey, British Lord Chancellor, crowned Mysore ‘the best-administered state in the world’. Krishnaraja made shrewd appointments, including the celebrated engineer Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, resisted the temptation to micromanage, and acted with foresight: the historic hydro-electric plant at Shivanasamudra Falls in 1902 and the KRS dam of 1924 powered new industries, irrigated fields blighted by drought, and watered elegant parks, such as Brindavan Gardens, purposely designed for tourists.

Tourism also prompted Krishnaraja to foster traditional Indian crafts – he led by example and learnt to spin – but Mysore was emphatically not a museum state.

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Précis

Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in India from 1902 to 1940, took an already well-run and democratic state to new heights. He pursued essential infrastructure projects to tackle drought and develop industry, and encouraged tourism with purpose-built parks and traditional crafts, winning high praise both at home and in Britain. (52 / 60 words)

Part Two

© Ashwin Kumar, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

About this picture …

Fountains in Brindavan Gardens. After drought in 1875-76 took the lives of a fifth of Mysore’s population, urgent action was required to prevent any recurrence. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya’s proposals for a dam, located just below the confluence of Kaveri with its tributaries Hemavati and Lakshmana Tirtha, met stubborn resistance in Madras, but Krishnaraja and London backed him. The gardens with their fountains, hotels, boat-rides and musical fountains were a clever way of maximising the benefit from the dam.

BUSINESSES from paper and paint to sugar, soap and steel sprang up, served by new roads and railways, and staffed by bustling polytechnics. In 1905 Bangalore became the first city in India to boast streetlights, and her specialist eye hospital was among the first anywhere in the world; the Indian Institute of Science was established in 1909 on land granted by the Maharaja, and Mysore University followed in 1916.

In 1918, Krishnaraja commissioned the pioneering Miller report into social discrimination. On its recommendation, aid was granted for schools admitting ‘untouchables’ and girls, scholarships were endowed, and government preferments rewarded sincerity and compassion rather than mere grades. Women were enfranchised in 1923.*

Nor were the arts forgotten. Krishnaraja, a gifted musician who played eight instruments from the saxophone to the sitar, nurtured Mysore’s distinctive style of Indian music, and his nephew Jayachamarajendra might have been a concert pianist had he not succeeded Krishnaraja in 1940, guiding Mysore through Indian independence in 1947.

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Women over thirty years of age could vote for Parliamentary elections in Britain in 1918, but they could not vote on the same terms as men (eligible from twenty-one) until 1928. Madras was slightly ahead of Mysore, including women in 1921.

Précis

Krishnaraja’s Mysore made rapid progress in industry and urban development, and gained a reputation as a musical kingdom through his active patronage of the arts. Signficiant social progress was also made, with women and other victims of systematic discrimination benefiting from the recommendations of a groundbreaking report personally commissioned by the Maharaja. (52 / 60 words)

Source

Acknowledgements to ‘A Conqueror of Hearts’ (Deccan Herald); ‘Maharaja Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV: A saintly king’; and ‘The Distribution Of Social Justice By Rajarshi Krishnaraj Wodeyar IV’ (EPRA International Journal of Economic and Business Review), by Professor Nirmal Raj (PDF file).

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