The man of many facets

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, born on July 18, 1919, to Yuvaraja Kanteerava Narasimharaja Wadiyar and Yuvarani Kempu Cheluvaja Ammanni, graduated from the Maharaja’s College in 1938, with five awards and gold medals.

He toured Europe in 1939 and ascended the throne of Mysore on September 8, 1940, after the demise of his uncle Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. After Independence, he held the position of Rajpramukh of Mysore state from January 26, 1950, to November 1, 1956.

After the unification of the state, he became the first Governor of the unified Mysore state from November 1, 1956, to  May 4, 1964. He then served as Governor of Madras state from May 4, 1964, to June 28, 1966. He died at the age of 55 on September 23, 1974.

Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar was a philosopher, musicologist, political thinker and philanthropist and the founder-president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. He was a good horseman and a tennis player, and helped Ramanathan Krishnan to participate in Wimbledon.

He helped the Western world discover the music of Russian composer Nikolai Medtner (1880–1951), financing recording of his compositions and founding the Medtner Society in 1949. Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar became a Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music, London, and honorary Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London, in 1945.

After becoming maharaja, he learnt to play veena under Venkatagiriappa and mastered Carnatic music under the tutelage of Vasudevacharya.

His 94 compositions in Carnatic music were published by his son-in-law R Raja Chandra as ‘Sree Vidyaa Gaana Vaaridhi’ in 2010. Many musicians, including Mysore Vasudevachar, Veena Venkatagiriyappa, B Devendrappa, V Doraiswamy Iyengar, T Chowdiah, Tiger Vardachar, Chennakeshaviah, Titte Krishna Iyengar, S N Mariappa, Chintalapalli Ramachandra Rao, received patronage at his court.

Jayachamarajendra’s literary works include ‘The Quest for Peace: An Indian Approach’ (1959); ‘Dattatreya: The Way and The Goal’ (1957); ‘The Gita and Indian Culture’ (1963); ‘Religion and Man’ (1965); ‘Avadhuta: Reason and Reverence’ (1958); ‘An Aspect of Indian Aesthetics’ (1956); ‘Puranas As The Vehicles Of India’s Philosophy Of History’ (1963); ‘Sri Suresvaracharya’ (1970); and ‘Kundalini Yoga: The Virtuous Way of Life’ (1964).