Wadiyar Srikanta
Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Bahadur (February 20, 1953 – December 10, 2013), also referred to as Prince Srikanta
Wadiyar, was the prince of Mysore Kingdom and head of the Wadiyar dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of Mysore between 1399 and 1950. Wadiyar was also a member of Indian Parliament from the Mysore
constituency. He was a fashion designer and a promoter of Mysore silk sarees under his Royal Silk of Mysore brand name. In the second half of the 20th century, silk industry in South India
revived , and Mysore State became the top multivoltine silk producer in India.
Born in 1953 as the only son of the last ruling Maharaja of Mysore His Highness, His Excellency Dr. Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar and his second wife, Maharani Tripura Sundari Ammani Avaru,
Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar succeeded his father as the head of the dynasty after his father's death on 9th September 1974. He continued the informal and titular rule of the royal family
as king from 1974 until his death on 10th December, 2013, preceding his nephew Chaduranga Kantharaja Urs to the title. He studied in the private royal school at the Mysore Palace and completed
his secondary school education in 1967. He took horse riding lessons from the Government Riding School, Mysore.
He had a British nanny and an Anglo-Indian nanny who groomed him. Mr Watsa was a mentor to him during his formative years. Wadiyar joined Maharaja College, Mysore in 1968 to pursue his
pre-university course (one year) and studied for a BA degree from 1969-72 majoring in English literature and political science. His minor subject was sociology. His second language was Kannada,
tutored by Prof K. Venkataramappa. He did his Masters in political science in Manasa Gangotri, University of Mysore, from 1972-74. He studied a course in law as an open University student.
Throughout his college career, he was an avid cricketer and had a collection of cricket bats signed by international Test cricket players. He also studied Western classical music and Carnatic
classical music. In his youth he had studied Vedas as well. He was awarded the Gold Medal as the first rank student in MA Political Science. His wife, Mrs. Pramoda Devi, is a post-graduate in
Hindi.
His love of cricket which saw him captain the University team, later prompted his involvement in leading the Karnataka State Cricket Association in the position of President. He was married to
Maharani Pramoda Devi Avaru, from the Bettada Kote Ursu family of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore. They had no children. Although he was never the official king of Mysore Kingdom but
only its prince, people called him with esteems as Maharaja. Wadiyar was the only brother of 5 sisters - (Princesses) Gayatri Devi Avaru, Meenakshi Devi Avaru, Kamakshi Devi Avaru, Indrakshi Devi
Avaru and the youngest, Vishalakshi Devi Avaru.
Wadiyar was a longtime member of the Indian National Congress. He participated four times in elections for Member of Parliament representing the Mysore Parliamentary Constituency. Results were
that he won twice as the INC member, and lost twice; once as a BJP candidate and more recently as a Congress party candidate.
On 10 December 2013, Wadiyar died from cardiac arrest aged 60 at Vikram Hospital, Bangalore. He was cremated with State honours at Madhu Vana, the burial ground of the royal family. On the day of
his demise, the whole city of Mysore shut its business voluntarily in respects to His Highness. The Government of Karnataka declared a two day mourning ceremony, and a state government holiday.
Further to this, lighting of his Ambavilas Palace (Mysore Palace) was halted for thirteen days as a symbol of sorrow. He is survived by his wife Pramoda Devi Avaru.