The birth centenary celebrations of Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, the last Maharaja of Mysuru, have entered the third segment with an event organised by HH Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Foundation here on Thursday.
President Ramnath Kovind had launched the birth centenary celebrations in October last year.
The celebrations on Thursday include the Maharaja’s daughters – Kamakshi Devi and Indrakshi Devi – recollecting memories of their father. The programme starts at 3 p.m. at Senate Bhavan on the Manasagangotri campus, said Pramoda Devi Wadiyar of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family, at a press conference at the palace on Tuesday. Palace Secretary M. Lakshminarayan was present.
Ms. Wadiyar said the daughters’ reminiscences will be followed by the presentation of “Sri Jayachamarajendra Prashasthi” to eminent musicians R. Satyanarayana (posthumous), T.S. Satyavathi and Sukanya Prabhakar. Interestingly, Sukhanya Prabhakar had done her research on the works of Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar.
A musical tribute to the last Maharaja has been organised which has been conceptualised and directed by Sukanya Prabhakar. The ‘sangeetha roopaka’ has been titled ‘Ganarajendra Sri Jayachamarajendra’.
The last in the segment is a talk by former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh, on ‘Jayachamaraja Wadiyar and the Indian Board of Wildlife’.
Book on Maharaja’s compositions
A book on the music compositions of Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar – “Sri Jayachamarajakrutha Srividya Sankeerthana Sudhalahari” – will be unveiled at the gathering. Ms. Wadiyar said the book was launched by the President during the inauguration of the birth centenary celebrations in October last year.
Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar was a versatile composer and the magnum opus contains 97 music compositions in Kannada and Sanskrit along with the music notes. It is a 500-plus book with a cover price of ₹900.
The royal family had 94 music compositions in its collections and three other compositions were with another musician. “We are looking for about 108 more compositions that the Maharaja had written. Once we get them, we would like to bring them in print form. The hand-written 94 music compositions had been deciphered and brought out in a book form for the use of musicians and researchers,” Ms. Wadiyar said.
She stated that the book is a tribute to the Maharaja, who was known for his musical acumen, and published by the royal family. “Plans are afoot to bring the digitised version of the book,” Ms. Wadiyar said, adding that 1,000 copies had been printed and they would be made available for sale at the venue on Thursday.
The books would be available later at the Sri Jayachamarajendra Art Gallery at Jaganmohan Palace.
