Scholars and retired professors associated with Mysuru Mahaprabhugala Vichara Vedike have urged the authorities concerned to install a statue of Sri Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in a suitable place in Mysuru as the Maharaja was instrumental in laying the foundation for Modern Mysore.
“The government should treat their plea as a special case in the wake of the court orders banning statues of persons in public places for paying tributes to the generous and benevolent king,” they said.
They stated that there are statues of Sri Chamaraja Wadiyar X, Sri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, and Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar on Albert Victor Road, on the northern side of the Mysuru palace. However, Sri Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar does not have a similar memorial. Only a bust of the late Maharaja exists on the premises of Maharaja’s PU College on JLB Road.
Retired professors of University of Mysore, S. Shivarajappa and N.S. Rangaraju, S. Shaiva Pille Iyengar of KSOU, scholar N. Nanjundaraje Urs, and vedike convener B. Jayadevaraje Urs, in a letter, urged the President of India to direct the authorities to pay proper tributes to the Wadiyar kings.
The vedike said in the letter that the Mysuru Urban Development Authority has proposed to build four arches in four directions indicating entry to the city by road and urged that the arches should be named after the Maharajas.
The vedike, at a press conference, said the four arches can be named after the four Maharajas who ruled from 1799 to 1950 – Sri Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, Sri Chamaraja Wadiyar X, Sri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, and Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar.
They said the Maharajas who succeeded Sri Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, like Sri Chamaraja Wadiyar X, Sri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, and Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, have contributed immensely for the development of Mysuru, especially Mysuru and Bengaluru cities.
