19 November 2016

Quartz: How a 400-year-old curse continues to haunt one of India’s richest royal families

Since the curse, the Wadiyars have birthed offsprings only in alternate generations. Whenever a king (or in some cases queen) could not have a child, the monarch adopted a child from the extended family.

The last king of Mysore was a direct descendent of the former ruler Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. But Jayachamarajendra was a nephew of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the king who ruled before him.

Mysore’s royal family has assets worth some Rs80,000 crore ($12.6 billion) and is the custodian of a number of palaces and much artwork. [...]

The glittering coronation ceremony for the young, bespectacled king was held at the Amba Vilas Palace at Mysore between 9.25 am and 10.38 am on Thursday. It was conducted amid Vedic chants and slogans hailing the Mysore royalty and the new king. Several top political leaders of Karnataka were also present.

Yet, the coronation is only symbolic as the royal family does not hold any power to run the state or collect taxes. In an interview with Scroll.in, Pramoda Devi explained: “I don’t think of myself as a Maharani… It was only during Dussehra celebrations when we had to perform certain rituals as per the custom, that we wore all the royal finery. Other than that, both my late husband and I, are just normal people.”

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