Home > Jayachamaraja Wodeyar Bahadur

He was the only son of Yuvaraja Kanteerava Narasimharaja Wodeyar and Yuvarani Kempu Cheluvajammanni.

He graduated from Maharaja's College, Mysore in 1938 bagging five awards and gold medals. Touring Europe for the first time in 1939, he visited many associations in London and got acquainted with many artists and scholars.

He ascended the throne of Mysore on 8 September 1940 after the demise of his uncle Maharaja Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar . He signed the instrument of accession with the Indian Dominion on the eve of Indian independence. Mysore became an Indian state on 26 January 1950. He was Rajpramukh of Mysore State during 1950- 19561956 is a leap year starting on Sunday. see link for calendar) Events January January 1 End of Anglo- Egyptian Condominium in Sudan. January 16 President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine January 26 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in. After the integration of the Mysore State with the neighboring Kannada-speaking parts of Madras and Hyderabad stateHyderbd was an autonomous princely state of south-central India from 1724 until 1948, ruled by a hereditary Nizam and an Indian state from 1948 to 1956. Its capital city Hyderabad was for most of that time one of India's four largest cities. Hyderabad wass, he became the first elected Governor of the enlarged Mysore State (now Karnataka) from 1956- 1965 and later was elected Governor of Madras State (now Tamil Nadu) from 1964- 1967.

He was a good horse-rider and a tennis player. He helped Mr. Krishnan to participate at Wimbledon. He was a great lover of music and literature. He had a special interest in Western music also. He helped the Western world discover the music of a little-known Russian composer, Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951), financed the complete recordings of his compositions, and founded the Medtner Society in 1949.

He had such great musicians adorning his Court like the Mysore Vasudevacharya, Veena Venkata Giriyappa, B. Devendrappa, V. Doreswamy iyengar, T. Chwodiah and many others. He was a Shree Vidya Upasaka and composed 94 Carnatic Kruti’s under the name Shree Vidya.

He wrote many books, including:

• The Quest for Peace: an Indian Approach, U. Of Minnesota, Minneapolis 1959;
• Dattatreya: the Way and the Goal, Allen and Unwin, London 1957;
• The Gita and Indian Culture, Orient Longmans, Bombay, 1963;
• Religion and Man, Bombay, Orient Longmans, 1965;
• Avadhuta: Reason and Reverence, Bangalore, Indian Institute of World Culture, 1958;
• An Aspect of Indian Aesthetics, U. Of Madras, 1956;
• "Puranas as the vehicles of India's philosophy of history", in a journal called urana, issue5,1963;
• "Advaita philosophy", published in Srngeri Souvenir Volume, 1965, pages 62-64;
• "Sri Suresvaracharya", Srngeri Souvenir Volume, Srirangam 1970, pages 1-8.

He also translated many classics from Sanskrit to Kannada under Jayachamaraja Grantha Mala including Rigveda (35 parts).

He was the recipient of 1. D.Lit from University of Queensland, Australia, 2. Doctor of Law from Banaras Hindu University, 3. D. Lit from Annamalai University. 4. Licentiate of Guild Hall of Music, London. 5. honorary Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London, in the year 1945. 6. GCSI in 1945 7. GCB in 1946.

He was also the first Chairman of the Indian Board for Wildlife and founder president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).