Yaduveer named Mysuru royal family heir

Mysore's new Maharaja is a 23-year-old and studying in US

Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs was today declared as the new heir to the Mysuru royal family by Pramoda Devi Wodeyar, widow of the last scion Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wodeyar.

Yaduveer is the grandson of Princess Gayatri Devi, the eldest daughter of the last Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar.

"Chiranjivi Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs' adoption ceremony will happen according to family traditions. I believe that my decision has the blessings of my beloved husband Late scion Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wodeyar," an emotional Pramoda Devi told reporters here.

"This decision has consent from his (Srikanta Datta Wodeyar) sisters and other family members," she said.

Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, the last descendant of the Wodeyar dynasty, died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Bengaluru on December 10, 2013.
Wodeyar, the only son of Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, the last ruling Maharaja of Mysore, and his second wife, Maharani Tripura Sundari Ammani Avaru, succeeded his father as the head of his dynasty in September 1974.

He had remained the titular head of the erstwhile royalty during the famous Dasara festivities after succeeding as heir to his father in 1974.

Pramoda Devi is a distant cousin of Wodeyar and as the couple have no children, she will now have to adopt Yaduveer to nominate him as the successor.

Pramoda Devi said Yaduveer is currently doing his BA in Economics and English at Boston University in America.

She said "like me Yaduveer belongs to Bettada Kote family," adding that the relationship between Wodeyar family of Mysuru and Bettada Kote family dates back to 200 years.

After his adoption on February 23, Yaduveer will be renamed as Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar.

Interestingly the last rite of the late scion was performed by Chaduranga Kantaraj Urs, the other nephew of the late Wodeyar, fueling speculations that he may be named as the successor. Recently Chaduranga Kantaraj Urs had gone to the media on succession issue.

The Wodeyar dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Mysore from 1399 to 1947, the last king being Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, who ruled from 1940 until Indian independence in 1947 when he acceded his Kingdom to the dominion of India, but continued as the Maharaja until India became a Republic in 1950.



From the News Article:

Salman Khan's Sentence. Good article.

http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/salman-khan-let-down-most-by-his-lawyers-760911

Time To Move The Needle From Salman Khan  by "Suhel Seth"

So the much-awaited verdict was delivered with a hysterical media to boot: it's almost as if nothing else of much import is happening in India today. Sound bites of celebrities seeking a lessening of Salman Khan's sentence and the cacophony of television anchor experts has made this an even more miserable day.

So let's weigh in on Salman Khan first: I am pretty sure this time, he knew he wouldn't get away and it was an unlikely situation to get away from. He wasn't helped by the fact that there was a clearly planted witness and intense media gaze: the same media that gushes over him before every release of his. But will that dent his image? I don't believe so. Salman's brand value will not diminish to my mind only because the average Indian is fickle. We will forget and forgive. We will also be sympathetic. There will be a very few who will actually bereave the family of the man who lost his life or be willing to help those four who were severely injured in the 2002 case where the actor's SUV ran over homeless people sleeping on a pavement. That is who we are.

The reality is somewhat different and it is time we realised this. We have a miserably tardy justice system and this whole drivel of "the wheels of justice grind slowly but surely" are exactly that: drivel. Why should these wheels grind slowly? And what kind of justice do they eventually deliver? While everyone in India today is glued to their television sets, I have a few points to make which says a lot about Salman Khan's predicament as also a lot about what kind of society we have become.

We are social vultures. We need a steady stream of prey, and to only blame the television channels is a tad unfair. We love to see our heroes fail. And yet there are many of us who will pardon every folly of theirs but never forgive or empathise with lesser mortals.
Today it is Salman Khan. Yesterday it was Shashi Tharoor qua Sunanda's sad and untimely death. Tomorrow it could be anyone else. 

The tragedy is that we love feeding off other people's misery and state of grief. We are a nation as if obsessed with the obituary page. But then let us reflect on a couple of things. While most people were quick to congratulate the magistrate who pronounced Salman guilty, did they for a moment think if it was indeed his celebrity status which may have worked against him? It is fine for people to castigate the police and the judiciary and say that celebrities are treated with kid gloves, but to my mind, it often works against them in the sense of getting a fair trial. 

Then, of course, there is the mockery that is often associated with such trials. Did Salman Khan's lawyers actually serve him well? By resurrecting a witness after 11 years  who claimed he was driving the car, did they really believe the judge or the people at large would buy this?

Today while Salman Khan the individual has been pronounced guilty, equally guilty is our justice system and that includes all the parts that make up the whole. From a shoddy police force which at most times botches up investigations to the slow pace of court dates and trials per se. I mean in which other country can you imagine a hit-and-run trial going on for 12 years?

We as a country continue to pat ourselves on the back on the robustness of our justice system, but it is this system that needs the most change. We need to create a criminal justice eco system which allows for fair and quick trials. Where the laws of perjury are made more stringent, and where it is not just the rich that can obtain dates in quick succession for their trials. A case in point is the Jayalalithaa case: so while 87% of the inmates of Tihar Jail in Delhi are under trials some for over three to four years for petty crimes like stealing, here is a former Chief Minister who is alleged to have embezzled public money getting court date after court date to ensure her case moves along.

I believe this day will be a fine day to actually shift the contours of the debate: move the needle from Salman Khan, many others drink and drive (though they know they shouldn't). What happened is unpardonable but there is also a backstory to this for which we as a people are responsible. We treat our film stars as Gods. We believe they cannot fail us. But they are human, for God's sake. As human as you and I, and fail they will. So while we exult over their achievements we needn't  prey on their shortcomings but today was exactly that. Some silly panellist on a television channel expressed resentment over the support that Salman was getting from the film industry post the verdict. Of course he will. And he should. Why would a Hema Malini not pray for a lesser sentence? And yes it is the same media that has been showing us visuals of Salman and his family and not those of the family of the man who died or the people who were injured. So if the media is bitten by celebrity metaphors, why do you blame the others?

In the coming days, many pundits will tell us about the intricacies of the law; there will be others who will pontificate on the robustness of our judicial system, while  few will spare a thought for the victims. We will then return to life as we know it. 

Today is a verdict on us. And not just on Salman Khan.

(Suhel Seth is Managing Partner of Counselage: India's only strategic brand advisory.)