1K for Today: Talakadu and the Mysore Kings: Part-1

ತಲಕಾಡು ಮರಳಾಗಿ ಮಾಲಿಂಗಿ ಮಡುವಾಗಿ ಮೈಸೂರು ದೊರೆಗೆ ಮಕ್ಕಳಾಗದೇ ಹೋಗಲಿ

The Curse

The year was 1610, a woman stood in front of the speeding waters of River Cauvery. Across the river, was the ancient town of Talakadu, more than a thousand years old, its origins steeped in myth. As she stood there, she contemplated taking her life by giving herself up to the water. She was Alamelamma, wife of Thirumalaraja Srirangaraya, a chieftain of the island temple town of Srirangapatna. Only days earlier, she had lost her husband to a terrible cancer that had spread to his back, supposedly leaving a hood like protuberance. Srirangaraya was a vassal of the powerful, but fading Vijayanagara Empire, once a great political power in southern India, but now on the descent. Srirangaraya had entrusted the administration of the temple town to Alamelamma and headed east to the temple town of Talakadu with its shrine of Vaidyanatheshwara, with its supposed healing powers. But the gods had not willed him to survive and day by day his strength seeped away. Hearing this, Alamelamma had rushed to Talakadu to be able to see him once, before he died. She was too late, for by the time she arrived, Srirangaraya was no more. 

Adding to that, she heard that Raja Wodeyar, the king of Mysore, had threatened to annex Srirangapatna and had demanded that she give up the royal jewels of her house. Raja Wodeyar had no doubt, heard of the demise of Srirangaraya and had decided to act upon this opportune moment to annex Srirangapatna. Mysore like Srirangapatna was once a vassal of Vijayanagara. In 1565, the Bahmani Sultanates banded together and attacked the Vijayanagara Empire of Aliya Rama Raya. Rama Raya would lose and Vijayanagara would be sacked, beginning the decline of a once great empire. In the next fifty years as Vijayanagara declined, Mysore rose to the threshold of becoming the most powerful kingdom of the Deccan.

Now, in 1610 as the forces of Raja Wodeyar marched east towards Talakadu where Alamelamma had made camp, she seethed inwardly, at the Mysore Kings who threatened her life, at Vaidyanatheshwara for not saving her dear husband and, at the Cauvery river that raged before her. She threw herself into the river along with the royal jewels, leaving nothing but a single nose ring for the conqueror from Mysore. Before she jumped, she threw a terrible a terrible curse; "Let Talakadu become sand, Malingi become a whirlpool, and let the Kings of Mysore never have any children."

According to legend, Tala and Kadu, two Kirata brothers, probably from a mountain tribe that peopled the Western Ghats, found wild elephants worshiping a tree. On felling the tree, they found an image of Lord Shiva within it. When they saw blood gushing out of the image, they applied a balm of leaves and herbs on it. On this spot, they established a town, named after them and Talakadu came into being. Shiva was worshiped here as Vaidyanatheshwara.

During the fourth and fifth centuries, the upper reaches of the Kaveri basin saw the birth of the first great political power of  the region in the Ganga kings, also known today as the Western Gangas. They controlled an area consisting largely of the southern parts of present day Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and some regions in northwest Tamil Nadu. The kingdom was called Gangavadi and their capital was initially Kolar, and later Talakadu. One theory suggests that they shifted their capital west to be better prepared to face imminent threats from another great dynasty that was indigenous to the Kannada lands, the Kadamba kings of Banavasi. The Gangas ruled from the middle of the fourth century to the end of the millennium, a reign spanning over six hundred years. In this time, Talakadu is supposed to have flourished into a city of art, architecture and learning. In around 1000 A.D, the Chola king Rajaraja Chola I conquered Gangavadi and brought the Ganga dynasty to an end. A hundred years later, Talakadu and Gangavadi was conquered by another rising Kannadiga power, the Hoysala dynasty of Belur and Halebid, under king Vishnuvardhana. In the first half of the fourteenth century, the Hoysala dynasty came to an end with Veera Ballala III and the Vijayanagara Empire was founded by Harihara Raya. Talakadu along with Gangavadi came under Vijayanagara. 

It is believed that the curse of Alamelamma is the cause of the sand dunes that have covered the ancient city, burying it below the earth. Some scholars believe however, that the dunes are caused by the wind patterns of the area. The Kaveri is known to have dangerous spots where frequent whirlpools occur in the stretch of the river on which Talakadu lies. The last part of the curse too, is said to affect the royal family of Mysore to this day and it is said that in every alternate generation, there is no heir to the Mysore throne since this time.

But, what actually happened to the Kings of Mysore? How did the curse of Alamelamma visit upon them?

Click here for Part 2.