Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar's community vision

In significant respects, the old Mysore society…read more

Thursday, 29th April 2021

The efforts of Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar are responsible for the creation of modern Karnataka's cultural ethos (1884-1940). Between 1902 and 1940, he was the Maharaja of Mysore, and during that period, he cultivated a humanistic vision of group co-ex...

The 18-year-old Krishnaraja Wadiyar proclaimed, like his parents before him, that he would "continue to promote the welfare of all classes and creeds among my people" at the formal ceremony of assuming rulership of Mysore on August 8, 1902. Over time, this contribution to nondiscriminatory social care proved to be more than a symbolic gesture.

Krishnaraja Wadiyar's education allowed him to relate to the world in a rich way, as he was fluent in three languages: English, Kannada, and Urdu. He spoke fluently in each of these languages in public. He also studied Vedanta, Islamic, Christian, Jaina, and Buddhist theologies, as well as Western philosophy in general.

Krishnaraja Wadiyar was completely comfortable relating to the other religions around him, identifying himself as Hindu and, on occasion, as Ursu, the caste group from which he came. He was pleased that his forefathers had constructed a new Jumma Masjid in Mysore, which had replaced Srirangapatna as the state capital in 1799. He expressed faith that “its power, social, moral, and educational, would be all for the good” when laying the foundation stone for the first Young Men of Christian Association in Bangalore in 1912, not only of its Christian members, but also of young men of other faiths who would spend their free time within its confines.”

While Krishnaraja Wadiyar recognised the importance of religion in the lives of Indians, he believed that in political matters, the country was above all religions. In his Chancellor's address at Banaras Hindu University's first convocation ceremony in 1919, he expressed a "earnest expectation" that the new university would "attract the young of all religious persuasions by the standard of its secular education."

In Krishnaraja Wadiyar, the idea that the nation, not any of the social communities living within it, provided the foundation for a political culture remained firm. “I look upon you all, whether Hindus, Mahomedans, or others, as equally dear to me,” he said at the dedication of a newly constructed mosque in Mysore in 1922. I hope you remember that you are Mysoreans first and all others second, and that you owe a responsibility to the State...” His concerns, on the other hand, did not fit into a neat box. “The fostering of inter-racial and international fellowship,” for example, was something he believed in.

Also Read : Origin of Bengaluru.

His vision of achieving justice among communities was grounded by an ethic of reconciliation and mutual support. At a meeting of non-Brahmin leaders in mid-1918, Krishnaraja Wadiyar expressed his "earnest desire to see all groups of my subjects represented in just proportion in public service," hoping that the measure of reserving government posts would not result in "a cleavage" among the citizens. He urged the non-Brahmin leaders to make sure that their work "did not in any way mar the unity and harmonious ties that have hitherto existed to a large extent among the various classes of my subjects," which he defined as "an important condition of all real progress." “I appeal to the Brahmin community as well to act in a conciliatory and tolerant manner towards the other,” he added even in the State, and show realistic sympathy for their natural desires.” He had put his trust in the upper and lower castes' moral capacity to behave selflessly when he asked them to realign themselves to the new demands of social justice.

Krishnaraja Wadiyar asked the better-off groups to positively assist the less fortunate on several occasions. He was a firm believer in “the sacred responsibility of more advanced communities...to offer a helping hand to less fortunate communities.” There is no historical record of the hundreds of schools and hostels constructed for Dalit children in Mysore during his political tenure.

Krishnaraja Wadiyar expressed "sorrow" at the clashes "over the externals of faith" in different parts of India and "rejoiced" that such a "force" of "following the shadow rather than the material" was not found in Mysore, believing that all religions were seeking "the same eternal truths."

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Source

Deccan Herald