The Maverick Maharaja

First, let me make a disclosure. I am not a connoisseur of literature on erstwhile pre-independence maharajas, rajas and nawabs of Bharat. For me they are faded parts of history of Bharat. I read a little about Nizam and Maharaja of Kashmir as a part of study of history of accession. Like most of us, I have had passing knowledge of enlightened maharajas of Baroda and Mysore, Gwalior and Jaipur, Udaipur etc more as an average interest of a tourist or general history. I was impressed with the scholarship of erstwhile Regent of Jammu and Kashmir, Karan Singh. So, when I received a copy of ‘The Maverick Maharaja – The Life and Times of His Highness Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar’ from a friend, I was mildly curious. As I glanced through the book, I got a glimpse of a multi-faceted, multi-talented, multi-tasking and an enlightened soul who seemed to have become a Maharaja not due to his own volition but due to his karma. Left to himself, he might have preferred to be a music artist or a philosopher of Dharma. Beautiful exquisite language of its writer Dr Deepti Navaratna was another reason for me to keep reading this book.

 

 

 

The Maverick Maharaja, like its title tells, is not a biography, but a glimpse of the life and times of the erstwhile Maharaja of Mysore. From the references and quotes and photographs, it is obvious that he is a personality about whom much has been written. However, the way this semi-biographic book has been organised, one understands why it was needed. Author’s access to the valuable archives of the Mysore Palace makes it richer.

 

 

As the chronicler notes, we Indians know of erstwhile last generation rajas as wastrels living a luxurious life, having sold their souls to British or decadent royals living in their own cocooned world like the two nawabs of ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’. Therefore, it becomes more important to bring to light the lives of those royal families who were a reflection of our ancient idea of ‘Maharaja/Maharani’ – a King/Queen who is well educated and conducts his/her life as per Dharma, looking after his/her subjects like a guardian, managing his/her kingdom in a way that uplifts the lives of his/her subjects, treats the kingdom as a trustee and is just in every way.

 

 

Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar fits the bill to the ‘t’. He was a philosopher king, a democrat at heart who used his wealth not only for the betterment of his people, but also to further the cause of art not just in India but in the west too. And he did it when he was in the throes of epochal changes as a successor to a famed dynasty and as an individual; and resources were drying up.

 

 

To my mind, his most important contribution as a king was creation of visionary infrastructure, a long-term irrigation system, promoting education, scientific research and huge contribution to industrialisation of his beloved state. His futuristic mind saw the importance of aviation that led to setting up of HAL for aircraft manufacturing, just to give one example. The author has been able to bring his multifarious activities out successfully. His promotion of creative arts is known, but not to the extent that this book brings out. Most interesting is his contribution to revival of classical western music. His own personal accomplishments in the music, spirituality, dharmic literature with his own deep knowledge of Sanskrit are by themselves legendary. He took Hindu dharma to the world through his books and lectures. He did all this sacrificing his own wealth and comfort.

 

 

 

 

 

To understand, why Dr Deepti Navaratna calls her muse a maverick, let me quote her:

 

 

“Talking of Cantonese while you think in Sanskrit? Thinking about Carnatic swaras in cycles of fifths? Jazz be-hops scats in Carnatic sollukattu? A Spinoz-ian take on Advaitha Vedanta? Maverick geniuses work like this.”

 

 

In his foreword to this book, Tejasvi Surya also gives a glimpse of the maker of modern Karnataka, “The most remarkable aspect of JCW’s tenure is that he coupled industrial development and modernisation with the popularisation of arts, music and technology. With the composition of more than 100 Carnatic kritis and several essays on Indian philosophy, such as the Sanskrit text of Avadhuta Gita (Song of the Free Soul), he gave a fillip to Indian traditional knowledge systems. Having a deep interest in Western compositions and music, JCW quietly contributed to curating the musical legacies of the London based Philharmonic Orchestra and introduced little known Russian composer Nikolai Medtner to the world […] one of the most remarkable achievements is the Jayachamarajendra Granthmala, running into more than 2.5 lakh pages including Vedratnamala...”