The Wadiyar dynasty has been one of South India’s most powerful ruling kingdoms since the middle ages. Considered one amongst India’s richest royal families, the Mysore kings have inhabited the region since at least the 14th century.
A strange phenomenon has seemed to have caught hold of the Mysore kings, though, since the last 400 years. A curse is said to haunt the royal family from the 1600s wherein the Mysore royal family has only given births to their offsprings in alternate generations. Most monarchs of the royal family adopted a child from their extended family when they couldn’t beget any children.
Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, a former Mysore king was himself a nephew of Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV whose son then became the last ruler of Mysore. Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, a distant relative of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar is the current head of the Mysore royal family since the latter and his queen were childless.
In the early years of the 17th century, Tirumalaraja ruled over the region under the Vijayanagara Empire from his throne at Srirangapatna. Falling prey to a disease, the king retired to the ancient town of Talakad situated in the vicinity of his capital. His wife, Rani Alamelamma took control of the administration of the region in his absence. On hearing that the king was on his deathbed, the queen proceeded to Talakad; it was then that the Wadiyar raja attacked and captured the throne of Srirangapatna.
It is said that the queen had in her possession a beautiful nose pearl ornament. The queen was an ardent devotee of Lord Ranganatha’s consort, Sri Ranganayaki of the Srirangapatna temple. She offered her jewelry in the service of the Goddess and acted as their custodian.
The Wadiyar raja, however, wanted to seize the jewels and sent his troops to get them by force. It was then that the queen jumped into the waters of the Kaveri and before dying, cursed the royal family of Mysore, the town of Talakad and the village of Malangi. The curse, ‘May Talakad turn into an expanse of sand, May Malangi became a whirlpool and May the Mysore kings not have any children for eternity!’ literally came true, becoming a part of the folklore of the region and has remained a legend for over 300 years now.
The town of Talakad today is a barren land where all that lies across the Kaveri bank is a vast expanse of sand. The river attains its maximum depth at Malangi and the royal family is still haunted by the curse. It is said that the pattern of the throne being affected by the curse has been followed continuously for 19 generations of the Wadiyars now.
On hearing of the queen’s deadly curse, the Wadiyar raja, it is believed, had an idol of Alamelama constructed in gold and worshiped her as a deity in the palace. The idol can still be seen even today in the Mysore Palace.
The ancient town of Talakad still stands as a testimony to the curse and its after effects. Home to numerous temples, which still lie buried under the Kaveri sands, Talakad is a mystery even today. Regular excavations reveal the buried temples but the sands soon engulf them underneath again.
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