Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar

Yaduveera Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar
Maharaja of Mysore
27th Maharaja of Mysore (titular pretender)
Reign	28 May 2015 – present
Coronation	28 May 2015, Mysore Palace
Predecessor	Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar (great uncle)
Born	Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs (1992-03-24) 24 March 1992 Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Wife	Maharani Trishika Kumari Wadiyar
Issue	Yuvaraja Aadyaveer Narsimharaja Wadiyar (2017–now)
House	Wadiyar
Father	Swarup Anand Gopal Raj Urs; Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar (adoptive father)
Mother	Tripurasundari Devi; Pramoda Devi Wadiyar (adoptive mother)

Maharaja Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar (born Yaduveer Gopalraj Urs, 24 March 1992) is the twenty-seventh Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore and head of the Wadiyar dynasty, a branch of the Yaduvanshi clan within the Chandravanshi lineage.

Early life and education

Yaduveer Wadiyar was born as Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs, only son of Swarup Anand Gopal Raj Urs of Bettada Kote by his wife Leela Tripurasundari Devi of Kallahalli. He has a younger sister, Jayathmika Lakshmi.

Bettada Kote was one of the larger Jagirs (feudal estates) bearing allegiance to the Maharaja of Mysore, and Yaduveer was born a scion of that feudal family. His paternal family is related distantly (but agnatically) to the Wodeyar family of the Maharajas of Mysore, because Yaduveer's great-great-great-granduncle had been adopted into the royal family and had ascended the throne as Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar X in 1868. A closer connection to the royal family exists through Yaduveer's mother. Leela Tripurasundari Devi is the daughter of Kantharaj Basavaraj Urs, ruler of Kallahalli feudal estate (again under Mysore) by his wife Princess Gayatri Devi, eldest daughter of Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, last ruling Maharaja of Mysore.^[1] Thus, Yaduveer's maternal grandmother, Gayatri Devi, was a sister of the late Maharaja Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, Yaduveer's adoptive father.

Yaduveer received his education in Bangalore, initially at Vidya Niketan School and then at the Canadian International School. He then obtained an undergraduate degree in English literature and economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.^[2]

Accession

Yaduveer Wadiyar's great-uncle, Maharaja Srikantadatta Wadiyar, died childless on 10 December 2013 without naming a successor, leaving the throne and family headship vacant. As per the traditions of the royal family, and in accordance with timeless Hindu custom, it was left to the widowed Maharani to adopt an heir and place him on the throne of Mysore. The Maharani and other members of the royal family, as also the erstwhile senior nobility of the state, pondered the question for over one year. During this interregnum, no celebrations or non-religious observances of any kind were held in the palace, except for the rituals connected to Dasara, which, according to tradition, are never deferred even by the death of the Maharaja because it is the connected to honouring Goddess Durga Chamundeshwari, presiding deity of Mysore, in the palace. On this occasion, the "royal sword" was used to represent the majesty of the late Maharaja and the rituals were conducted using that traditional device.

The interregnum lasted for more than one year, during which the widowed Maharani held consultations with members of the royal family, the Rajguru and priesthood which traditionally advises the Maharaja, and with important members of the erstwhile nobility of Mysore. Finally, on 12 February 2015, fourteen months after the death of her husband, the dowager Maharani Satya Pramoda Devi Wadiyar held a press conference in the Palace and announced the name of her 'adopted son designate.' The chosen candidate was Yaduveer Urs, son of Swaroopanand Gopalraj Urs of Bettada Kote, and he was a grandson of Princess Gayatri Devi, the deceased eldest sister of the late Maharaja. The choice, said the Maharani, had met with the consent of almost every member of the royal family, as also of the other eminences temporal and spiritual whose opinion had been sought.

The announcement was met with both relief and acclaim across Mysore state, where people were becoming disturbed at the unprecedented length of the interregnum. After all, the monarchy does not have formal existence at present; the state had been merged with the rest of India in 1948 and even the residual titles and privilages of the Maharaja had been taken away by the government of India in 1971. Could it be that the late Maharaja and his family had decided that they would simply accept the end of the dynasty and the state? Having no children of his own, and no agnatic relatives in many generations, had the Maharaja decided to end the monarchy upon his demise? The idea was shocking to the subjects of the state, who continue to have strong emotional resonance with the royal family. Indeed, the late Maharaja had continued to play an important, pivotal role in religious and social ceremonies, and the royal family is a lodestar and fountainhead of honour for many talented performing artists, musicians and craftsmen; it continues to have an important role in the cultural life of Karnataka state. The misgivings of the people on this point were allayed by the Maharani's announcement; the customs and traditions of the family, and its bond with the people, would continue as before.

Nevertheless, some slight controversy did arise at the time of Yaduveer's adoption.

The Maharani formally adopted him in a ceremony on 23 February 2015. The ceremony was a private affair, followed by a public procession late in the evening. This adoption made him the natural son of Maharaja Srikantadatta Wadiyar and Maharani Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, and he was formally renamed Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.^[3][4][5]

As Maharaja

With his coronation ceremony on 28 May 2015, he became, at 23, the twenty-seventh Maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore. He conducted his first Dasara durbar in September 2015.

On 27 June 2016, over a year after his coronation, Yaduveer Wadiyar married Trishikha Kumari, daughter of Harshvardhan Singh and Maheshree Kumari of the Dungarpur royal family from Rajasthan.^[6] Yaduveer and Trishika were blessed with a baby boy, Aadyaveer Narasimharaja Wadiyar, on 6 December 2017 in Bangalore.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.

• Official Mysore Palace Website
• Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar