Chamaraja Wodeyar I (Bettada Chamaraja; 1408 – 1459) was the second

raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

of the

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in South India, southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary allia ...

from 1423, right after his father's death, until his own in 1459. He was the elder son of Yaduraya.

Inheritance and expansion

He inherited a crown for which recognition and respect was growing amongst people. However, the realm the 24-year-old crown controlled had just taken the form of a principality and a young kingdom. Further, Mysore Kingdom was a subordinate power to the Vijayanagara Empire and wouldn't survive without aids and grants from the high command. When Chamaraja Wadiyar I ascended the throne, the Vijayanagara Empire, although prosperous and a militarily super power in India, was under political crisis, with successive and frequent assassinations of the

Sangama Mekedatu is a location along Kaveri in the border of Chamarajanagar and Ramanagara Districts. From this point, about 3.5 kilometers downstream, the river Kaveri flows through a deep and narrow gorge. Mekedatu' means 'goat's leap' in Kannada. ...

emperors. His father also faced similar problems, owing to which the persistence of their own power was called into question at times. In spite of political uncertainty in the empire, Mysore saw slow but steady expansion by accession of unincorporated villages and towns in and around Mysore, both during Yaduraya and Chamaraja Wodeyar's reigns. Soon after Chamaraja Wodeyar I's taking over power, Vijaya Bukka Raya died. However, his successor,

Deva Raya II Deva Raya II (r. 1422–1446 CE) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire. The greatest of the Sangama dynasty rulers, he was an able administrator, warrior, and scholar. He authored well-known works in the Kannada language (''Sobagina Sone'' a ...

, proved to be an able politician as much as the administrator he was. Deva Raya, with Chamaraja Wodeyar I in Mysore, came to become the most powerful ruler in his time in India, and is regarded as the greatest ruler of the

Sangama dynasty The Sangama dynasty was a dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire founded in the 14th century by two brothers: Harihara I (also called ''Vira Harihara'' or ''Hakka Raya'') and Bukka Raya I. They were the sons of Bhavana Sangama, members of a pastora ...

. Hence, Deva Raya II's reign, and transitively Chamaraja Wodeyar I's, is regarded as the golden era of South India under the Vijayanagara Empire. Chamaraja Wodeyar took village-level organisations and other governing bodies beyond his domain under his control, without resorting to military action, thereby diplomatically accessing not only remote, uninhabited places, but also those with settlements. He is also noted for checking and containing the contempt of the remnant ''Dalvoys'' for the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...

and the new

Growing threats of foreigners

The Mughal rulers, like the

Bahmani The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,

and Deccan sultanates, had already conquered several northern Hindu kingdoms and were marching down South. The glorious stories of the Vijayanagara Empire had reached through the Muslim world to the West during

's empire. The European invasion was a fast-approaching threat, which was to be countered by a perpetual royal family in both Vijayanagara and Mysore, two of very few strong Hindu powers in India.

Mysore establishment, perpetuity, and death

Chamaraja Wodeyar I died in 1459. He ruled under three emperors, Vijaya Bukka Raya briefly,

for the most part of his rule, and finally under

Mallikarjuna Raya Mallikarjuna Raya (or Deva Raya III) (born 1420, r. 1446–1465 CE) was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty. Mallikarjuna Raya succeeded his father Deva Raya II, who had brought prosperity throughout the Vijayanagara e ...

for nearly a decade. With his father's 24-year and his own 36-year reigns, Mysore had already come to be recognised as Vijayanagara Empire's prodigy and a potential successor in case of the Empire's disintegration, which, in the course of a century and a half, proved to be true. The focus had begun to shift on Mysore because of several reasons, some being royal-family-feud in

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bell ...

, interim emperors, and other incompetent subordinate rulers parallel to the Mysore rajas. However, after Deva Raya II's coming to power, both Vijayanagara and Mysore began to flourish in development.

External links

Mysore Palace and the Wodeyar Dynasty
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadiyar 1408 births 1459 deaths Kings of Mysore Chamaraja 01

Inheritance and expansion

Growing threats of foreigners

Mysore establishment, perpetuity, and death

See also

External links