Mysore, Dec 11: The death of Srikantadatta Wadiyar may be the end of his family legacy, with no heir apparent to succeed nor any will to bank upon. But more than anything else, what bothers historians and experts is whether the curse on the royal family is at work.

We know about the king and his involvement with the cricket association in Karnataka, but few of us know of the curse that haunts him and his dynasty. According to the family historian, the royal family of Mysore were cursed by a woman Alamelamma, the wife of an enemy chieftain who was defeated by Srikantadatta's ancestors. The curse resulted in the lack of direct progeny in the dynasty. In fact, since 1612, the family has been resorting to frequent adoptions to ensure continuation of the dynasty.

Revealing the history of the curse

In 1612, King Raja Wadiyar was recognised as an independent kingdom of Mysore by the Venkatapatiraya II of the Vijayanagara empire. The empire ruled from Penugonda in Andhra Pradesh. During this period, the representative of the emperor of Vijaynagar at Srirangapatna was Tirumala who spent his retired life and died there. Following his death, Raja Wadiyar wanted to seize the property of Tirumala. But, Tirumala's wife Alamelamma stopped his intentions by running away with all the royal ornaments in a chest.

In order to escape the soldiers of Wadiyar, she jumped to her death in river Cauvery. But before jumping, she cursed the entire Wadiyar dynasty,"May Talakadu be deluged in sand, may Malangi become a whirlpool and may the Mysore kings never beget children."

It is since then that the Royal family has to look for a male heir frequently.

Looking for a King?

The lookout for a king has haunted the Wadiyar Royals for ages now. A queen in the dynasty-Vani Vilas Sannidhana ruled as a regent after the death of Chamarajendra Wadiyar X in 1894. She headed the dynasty till her son Krishnaraja Wadiyar came of age. He too did not have any male heirs and was succeeded by his brother's son Jayachamaraja Wadiyar XI, who was the father of Srikantadatta.

In fact, it is said that Chamarajendra Wadiyar X was himself adopted as his grandfather Krishnaraja Wadiyar III had no male heir.

Why don't we have a heir now?

Accordding to the palace historian, Srikantadatta had a dream where Alamelamma took back her curse and said that he would have children. It is believed that Srikantadatta believed the dream and did not adopt a child and had also worked toward the resurrection of the Alamelamma temple that was originally built by his ancestor Raja Wadiyar.

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