It
was in early 80s. I was very Active in
Rotary. I used to get many important
persons to our club at Nagamangala. One
such person was Prof Madaiah, a retired professor of Mysore University
a highly knowledgeable and simple person,
a good Speaker, specially a person who could address gathering in chaste
Kannada which was very much appreciated by the audience there. I used to meet him often and he being a very
friendly person, accepted me as his
young friend. During one of our meetings
I came to know that he was once a Teacher to the Prince Srikanta Dutta and had close contact with the
palace. When I inquisitively started
asking so many questions about the Roayal family, Sri Madaiah told about the
grandeur and the way the Wodeyars are great believers in God and what a treat to see
Prince clad in pure Silk Peethambara performing Pooja in the grand Pooja House in Palace. He Promised he would one day take me to the palace right when the Pooja was in
progress I have always held the Royal family of Mysore in high Esteem from Childhood and I
was interested very much in palace matters.
Prof. Once told me that he would
introduce me to Prince who always held the Professor in
high esteem and was very friendly with him.
That happy occasion came sooner than later, when The Rotary Club of
Mysore decided to confer Paul Harris Fellow honour on the Prince in a grand
function at Mysore to which I was also an invitee. I went there and as usual I met Prof. Madaiah there and was with him
when the Prince was conferred with PHF. The prince accepted the same in all humility and made a
short thanks giving speech and immediately after this part of the function was
over he came down from the Dias, and came where Prof. Madaiah and I were
standing in the audience. He was welcomed by Prof and soon Sri Irani of Jawa fame also joined us. I was duly introduced to Prince and Sri
Irani. We started discussing so many
things including Jawa Motor Bicycle. I
told Sri Irani, that our
Bank had purchased 20 of their Bikes and I had the honour to drive all the 20
vehicles, (and perhaps the only person who had such opportunity in the Office)
whenever I had occasion to use the vehicle for Official Purposes. I told Mr. Irani their Jawa Machine was one
of the finest and had many plus points
and only defect according to me was that it was difficult for a weak person like me to kick start the vehicle or
in other words, the Bike had starting problem, and I told him that this needed improvement. He did not agree with me he only said that
they had good research wing in the Company
with many efficient persons who endeavor constantly to improvise the Bike. Afterwords,We discussed so
many things. During my conversation with the Prince I was amazed at the
Knowledge and the sincerity of Wodeyar and above all his simplicity.
By
that time it was time for Food, a lavish food was arranged by the Club where
they had Veg and Non-veg dishes separately.
Mr. Irani and Prof. chose to go to Non-Veg and they invited Prince & me to also
to Join. Prince said I will go to
vegetarian. I am a pure Vegetarian and I
told them Jocularly that the only four
non-veg item I take are, Milk, Curds, Butter and Ghee. Now myself and Princewere left. The prince who never showed in any way that
he was a Prince, and behaved like any ordinary man, further demonstrated his simplicity and
greatness by going and standing in Veg. Queue, Which had grown too long by then. I stood with prince, expecting some body
would recognize us and take special care of us. On a sudden thought,
I immediately excused myself from Prince and went straight to the food
Counter and asked them to give two plates of food for myself and the Prince. Some Rotarian known to me immediately helped
me and I Joined Prince and gave one plate to Prince and we both spent
lot of time in a highly friendly
atmosphere taking the food leisurely talking
about so many things. During our conversation he told me that he was
in search of Oriental Buildings in Places like Hassan to take them and remodel them and start Resorts/Hotels. I was taken aback by the Prince’s simplicity
and his worldly knowledge. And my
respect for him multiplied.
Now let me come to the Wodeyars of Mysore. What great name they have built up. Nalwadi Krishna raja wodeyar was called by no
less a person than Mahathma Gandhi as ‘Rajarushee’ what type of administration they gave and the
concern they showed for the development of the State. They have always been held in high esteem
not only by the people of the State and elsewhere too. It is a pity that the Past Rulers have been treated very badly the successive Governments since Independence. Even the Solemn Promises and Constitutional
Guarantees given by the then Rulers were not honored. Even the petty sums granted as Privy Purses
were taken back by an unholy amendment to the Constitution. How can a promise given in return for the sacrifices the past rulers
made, be dishonored? It shows ethical Bankruptcy of our Rulers. I
do not know whether the amendment which was in the nature of amending the Basic
Structure, was challenged in the Court. What Lord Mountbatten or Patel said was ‘the Rulers could retain even their Titles, extra
territorial rights and personal property or civil list” in return for signing
the Instrument of Accession. Patel had
in unequivocal terms said ‘ we do not
want any thing from you except land, you will retain all other things" What
happened to that Promise? Who can
believe the Government?
I
understand that most of the Maharajas in other States have retained their
Properties. The Blokes in Karnataka & Centre
have from the beginning tortured the
Wodeyars, Our Jaya Chamaraja Wodeyar, a
noble soul, had to sell even arti-facets of
palace and other valuables to meet his
day to day maintenance. Is there a Palace like Mysore palace in the whole world? Should we not be proud of it. Hundreds of employees are needed to maintain
it. Every Article in the Palace is
precious and of historic value and heritage item. Should the Maharaja, sell his jewels to
maintain it or to pay the huge taxes the Government is levying on him. They
deserve special consideration. In my opinion
the Government should maintain all such properties at its cost, without any
preconditions or strings attached for
doing that. Unnecessarily, JC Wodeyar & Srikanta
Dutta have been made to spend their precious time and scarce money for the past
more than five decades fighting Cases in
Courts. (With our Courts it is a different story) Is it the reward for signing the Instrument
of Accession? What we spend for these
thing is pittance. Our politicians are
looting the country in thousands of crores.
Many MP’S and even some of our Corporators
are richer Cashwise than our Wodeyars.
Now I feel, very rightly, expecting all this humiliation, Many princes did
not want to Join our Federation and they had decided to fight. There are many
kings ( called by different names) who are ruling their country better than our
Governors or elected Representitives, in other Countries, like in Britain, Malayasia, UAE, etc., etc., side by side with Monarchy, there is democracy also
in those Countries. Their administration
is thousand times better than ours, and they have made great progress in short time. Where are we
compared to them? By deceit our Rulers have been made tosign the IA from
the then rulers. Our great SDNR Wodeyar
in one of his interviews has stated that he has no regrets for the abolition
of Privy purses. ( Petty 22 lacs p.a. or so) It is time now, at least our Governments
withdraw all cases and let at least the
successors of wodeyars live in peace. Once
again I with profound reverence to Sri Srikanta Dutta, pray for his soul to rest in peace and the
courage to bear the loss for his family members. CSP RAO
