Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar (born Yaduveer Gopalraj Urs, 24 March 1992) is an Indian royal and the biological great-grandson and adoptive grandson of Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. He was adopted by Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, the wife of Prince Srikantadatta Wadiyar fourteen months after the latter's demise on 10 December 2013.

Wadiyar was installed as the "Maharaja of Mysore" in an private ceremony in 2015. Although princely pensions, titles, and privileges are abolished in India, families of former princely rulers have created private roles and styled titles for some within their ranks to preside over family ceremonies and traditions; in some instances, this has been done with a view to sustaining the wealth, fame, and influence that the families possess.

Early life and education

Yaduveer Wadiyar was born as Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs, the 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.

Yaduveer's great-great-great-granduncle is Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar X who had been adopted into the royal family and had ascended the throne 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 Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, last ruling Maharaja of Mysore. 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.

Accession

Yaduveer Wadiyar's great-uncle, Srikantadatta Wadiyar, the previous head of the former ruling family, died childless on 10 December 2013 without naming a successor, leaving the family headship vacant. As per the traditions of the family, and in accordance with Hindu custom, it was left to his widow, now the Rajamaate, to adopt an heir to assume the position of head of the family. She and other members of the family, as also the former 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 head of the family because it is the connection 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 head of the family and the rituals were conducted using that traditional device.

The interregnum lasted for more than one year, during which the Rajamate held consultations with members of the family, the Rajaguru and priesthood which traditionally advises the head of the family, 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 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 head of family. The choice, said the Pramoda Devi, had met with the consent of almost every member of the 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. The monarchy does not have formal existence at present; the state had been merged with the rest of India in 1948 and the residual titles and privileges of the titular Maharaja had been taken away by the government of India in 1971. The idea was shocking to the inhabitants of the state, who continue to have a strong emotional resonance with the erstwhile royal family. The Srikantadatta had continued to play an important, pivotal role in religious and social ceremonies, and the 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. Rajamate Pramoda Devi's announced that 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.

Pramoda Devi 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 son of Srikantadatta Wadiyar and Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, and he was formally renamed Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar.

Personal life

With his anointment ceremony on 28 May 2015, Yaduveer became, at 23, the twenty-seventh head of the erstwhile royal family of the Kingdom of Mysore. He conducted his first Dasara durbar in September 2015.

On 27 June 2016, over a year after his appointment, Yaduveer Wadiyar married Trishikha Kumari Devi, daughter of Harshvardhan Singh and Maheshree Kumari of the erstwhile Dungarpur royal family from Rajasthan. Trishikha gave birth to a boy, Aadyaveer Narasimharaja Wadiyar, on 6 December 2017 in Bangalore.

References

External links

Official Mysore Palace Website

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadiyar, Yaduveera Krishnadatta Chamaraja
1992 births
20th-century Indian monarchs
Kings of Mysore
Living people
People of the Kingdom of Mysore
Politicians from Bangalore
University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences alumni
University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni
Yaduveera