Remembering Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar: Bharat’s 20th century Rajarshi

Bharat has been a land of rajas and maharajas, but very few have achieved the distinction of being a Rajarshi(a king with saintly qualities), one of those who achieved it was the 20th century king of the Mysore Wodeyar Dynasty.The moniker of Rajarshi was given to Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar by none other than Mahatma Gandhi.

Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was the 24th ruler of Mysore and his reign was from 1902-1940, a period considered by many as the peak of independence, spiritual & social justice moments across the nation. This time frame saw the start of the second world war, the great economic depression & the first world war in its entirety which changed global dynamics, in addition to making the world a polarising place to live in. It's in this era, that not only Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar gained the title of Rajarshi but also gained adulation, fame for his family from all quarters of society, which has made the heritage of modern day Mysore city synonymous with the Wodeyar family. 

Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar’s legacy is alive as an administrator today. The administrative reforms in various fields that the saintly king bought in the then Mysore kingdom was praised by Paul Brunton who said, Mysore is the ideal place for Plato’s Republic. Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was born in 1884. He received the initial lessons in administration from his mother, Maharani Kempanjammani Devi, post the death of his father, Chamarajendra Wodeyar. in 1895, when the young prince was just 11 years of age. The maharani governed the kingdom as a queen regent for 7 years till Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was crowned as the ruler. He had achieved education in Kannada, Sanskrit, Horse riding, Western Classical Music, civil services, jurisprudence & revenue methods from various teachers and with a mix of teaching pedagogy of both experiential as well as theoretical learning, which has gained popularity in the recent years, in the landscape of India’s education system. 

The grooming came in handy later on, which was proven in his administrative successes later on. The people’s expressions were valued in the form of a democracy in the kingdom, when Krishnaraja Wodeyar enlarged the Mysore state assembly to make it as a bicameral legislature(similar to India’s 2 house systems) for efficient administration.Mysore had a legislature system where everyone had voting rights in the year 1881 itself. It can be safely concluded that, in the last 250 years of Indian history, it was the Mysore state who had one of the earliest trysts with democracy in the history of Bharat. The kingdom is also credited for bringing in the policy of reservations in Mysore state, based on the recommendations of the Leslie Miller Committee report. 

Krishnaraja Wodeyar, didn’t stop here, he went on to become the first chancellor of BHU set up by Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya. He oversaw the inauguration of the legendary Indian Institute of Sciences(IISc),which was incidentally also a brainchild of Swami Vivekananda, which has led a wave of inculcating scientific thinking in the nation. 

In addition to the above reforms, he pioneered reforms such as abolition of girl child marriage, scholarships for widowed women. It is perhaps the institutions of education growth he founded that made him immortal in the history of Mysore, some of them are: University of Mysore, started the Maharani College for Women, School of Engineering, Yuvaraja College,Mysore Medical College which have thousands of students studying even today. He led a slew of hydroelectric projects in the state like, the project at the scenic Shivasamudra Falls, KRS dam, Hire Bhaskara dam which even today act as important sources of water supply for the entire region of South Karnataka. 

In addition to education, he also gifted the districts of Hasan & Mandya to the state, which have gone on to become politically influential districts in Karnataka politics. He also gave some interesting economic organisations such as the:Mysore State Bank(equivalent to SBI), Bangalore Printing & Publishing Company, establishment of KR Market, Mysore Chrome & Tanning Factor, Wood Distillation factories among an illustrious list which virtually covered all basic sectors of an economy. All of these institutions are still important factors as far as the growth economies of Mysore & Bangalore are considered even today. 

These are some of the reforms ideated by a king almost a decade before independence which have influenced the direction of economic growth either directly or indirectly that the entire state of Karnataka has had today. It is with the reform oriented legacy both in social & economic sense, that bestowed the young ruler with the title of Rajarshi & made him immortal in the minds of people of the state.