Yaduveer to be adopted today

Mangalore Today News Network

Mysuru, Feb 23, 2015: Mysuru’s royalty is all ready for the adoption ceremony of Yaduveer, the next scion of Mysore royal family.

With the arrival of Yaduveer Gopalraj Urs in Mysuru from Boston on Sunday, where he is pursuing his studies, the Mysuru royal family is all set for his adoption as successor to late Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the last scion of the Mysore royal family, as the 27th custodian of the royal house of Mysuru.

The preparations are on at the Mysuru Palace. A ’mantap’ has been erected in front of the ’Ane Bagilu’ (elephant gate), facing the main Jayamarthanda Gate. ’Homa’ and other rituals for formal adoption will take place on February 23 in the Kalyana Mantap (wedding hall) of the palace.

The ceremony for adoption has been fixed between 1.20 pm and 1.52 pm which is the ’Mithuna Lagna’. The rituals are to be conducted in presence of a limited number of invited personalities, mostly made of royal family members and dignitaries to whom invitations have been sent out. They include Governor Rudabhai Vala and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The adoption follows the year-long mourning since the demise of Srikanta Datta Wadiyar in December, 2013 without a heir.

After the adoption, a procession of Yaduveer will take place on February 23 from 6.30 pm onwards, for the public to witness, according to Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of Srikanta Datta Wadiyar.

It will start from ’Ane Bagilu’ (elephant gate) of the palace and proceed northwards to enter the ’Balarama Gate’, near Kote Ganapathi Temple, and go around the Chamaraja Statue Circle, reach Kote Anjaneya Temple and enter the Palace through ’Jayarama Gate’ and reach ’Ane Bagilu’ via Chamundi Thotti. The palace will be specially illuminated from 7 pm onwards.

While entry to the palace was restricted to 1.30 pm today, according to Palace Board Deputy Director T S Subramanya entry has barred for tourists all through the day, on February 23 in view of the adoption ceremony.

Yaduveer (22), son of Swarup Anand Gopalaraj Urs and Tripurasundari Devi and grandson of Princess Gayathri Devi, daughter of Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, will be given a new name, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, after adoption, The installation, however, will be after his graduation, it is said.

The adoption ceremony is a rare celebration both for the royal family and the people of Mysuru as it comes after about 75 years. Last Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar had been adopted by his uncle Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the celebrated ruler of the princely State, who passed away in 1940.

Prior to this, Krishnaraja Wadiyar III had taken Chamarajendra Wadiyar as his heir on June 18, 1865. The family tree of the Wadiyars shows that six rulers have adopted their nephews since the 17th century to succeed to the throne.

The most glittering coronation was that of the 25th king of Wadiyar’s dynasty, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, on August 29, 1940. With abolition of privy purse, it has now turned out to be a private ceremony for the royal family, the ancestry of which is traced to Yaduraya in 1399. Unlike in the past, when coronation of Mysore kings was a grand public spectacle of pomp and majesty, it is now descended to a sombre affair.