An ill conceived development project in which a dam was constructed across Cauvery coupled with the practice of close knit family marriages in the Mysore royal family probably had led to the genesis of the curse.

According to the curse uttered by a pious woman, Thalakaadu will become a “land of sand”, “the river at Maalangi (opposite to Thalakaadu) will turn into a whirlpool” and there will be “no sires to the Mysore kings”. The adage has received credibility because Thalakaadu is under thick layers of sand for years and the Wodeyar family experienced many inheritance problems in the last 20 generations. Also a whirlpool does exist at Maalangi. But contrary to popular belief, the process of sand accumulation began in 1336 when Madhava Manthri, a minister from the Vijayanagara regime, is said to have built a dam across Cauvery above Thalakaadu.

The construction dried up the river, exposing the sand banks accumulated there for millions of years, Dr K N Ganeshaiah at the University of Agricultural Sciences, who scientifically explained the curse, told Deccan Herald.
Strong winds from northwest and southwest directions probably brought the sand particles towards Thalakaadu. The particles moved at a rate of 7–10 ft every year thereby covering the entire town with sand and there are geological evidences to support the theory. Sinking of the town because of geological activities nearby a fault line added to the credibility of the curse. For ages, the town is under layers of sand, which does not have commercial value further indicating that these sand particles originated in river. 

Originating in 1610 AD, the curse was targeted at the Wodeyars who took over Srirangapattana from the Vijayanagara rulers. The second point in the curse is related to the absence of an inheritor in Mysore royal family.  “A close examination of the Mysore Royal family tree suggests only 10 out of the last 19 generations have had problems of lineage, primarily because of the practice of consanguineous marriage.” Dr Ganeshaiah reported in the journal Current Science.

The curse dated to a period when the Mysore king received a complaint that Alamelamma (also referred to as Rangamma by some scholars), wife of the dethroned Rangaraya, was hoarding the jewels that belonged to a famous temple. The king sent his soldiers to recover the jewels. Reluctant to part with the jewels, she is claimed to have escaped to Thalakaadu, about 40 km from Srirangapattana.

Perhaps pursued by the soldiers, she is claimed to have uttered three curses, and jumped into a whirlpool in Cauvery near Maalangi, a small village across the river. Since then the town is believed to be under heaps of sands due to the curse.