MYSORE, December 12: The mortal remains of the scion of the Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, was consigned to flames on Wednesday and multitude of people lined up along the procession route to pay their respects during his last journey from the palace to the cremation grounds.
His body was placed in a gold-plated palanquin and taken in a procession accompanied by royal elephant and royal horse. Vedic hymns were chanted in the backdrop of the cymbals and percussion instruments was played out throughout the procession.
Srikantadatta Wadiyar who died in Bangalore on Tuesday, was accorded a State funeral complete with gun salute and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda, former Chief Ministers H. D. Kumaraswamy, B. S. Yeddyurappa, and a large number of elected representatives, members of the Ursu royal family were present at the family’s ancestral cremation ground of Madhuvana on the Mysore-Ooty Road.
After the presentation of the gun salute sounding of the last bugle, the priests took over for completion of the funeral rituals. The pyre was lit by Chaduranga Kantharaja Urs, son of Wadiyar’s elder sister Gayatri Devi bringing the curtains down on the history of a dynasty that spanned more than 500 years.
Earlier in the day, the Kalyana Mantapa at the Mysore Palace, where the body was kept for public to offer their last respects, was teeming with people and by noon police had a tough time controlling the crowd. Finally, all the entry gates to the palace were closed and the crowd movement was regulated to facilitate the family members to commence the funeral rites as per the tradition. Seers from various religious institutions including Paraka Math, Suttur Math, Adi Chunchunagiri Math were visited the palace to pay their last respects.
Madhuvana is also the place where the funeral of the last maharaja of Mysore Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar – father of Srikantadatta Wadiyar – was held in September 1974.
Entry to the cremation grounds was restricted to the family members, elected representatives and media personnel in a bid to regulate the crowd who watched the proceedings from two giant LCD screens erected outside.
