By R.G. Singh, Secretary, Ramsons Kala Pratishtana

“My noble Prince, this life is short. The vanities of the world are transient, but they alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive. One such high, noble minded and royal son of India as Your Highness can do much towards rising India on her feet again and thus leave a name to posterity which shall be worshipped. That the Lord may make your noble heart feel intensely for the suffering millions of India sink in ignorance, is the prayer of Vivekananda.”

— Letter to H.H. Chamarajendra Wadiyar X (CRW) dated June 23, 1894, from Swami Vivekananda.

G.R. Josyer, in his book, ‘History of Mysore and the Yadava Dynasty’ quoting the above lines, writes… “The words proved more prophetic than Swamiji realised. Just six months later, on the 28th December 1894 the Maharaja departed this life for the green fields of Elysium.”

In the book ‘Modern Mysore’, author M. Shama Rao writes,”Chamaraja Wodeyar’s last tour was undertaken in December 1894. His Highness left his capital on the 9th of that month with the Maharani and the children and a large retinue, reached Calcutta on 21st and visited the Viceroy Lord Elgin. On the 23rd, His Highness had an attack of fever and on the 26th his illness was regarded as serious. On the 27th, one of the Calcutta doctors (Dr. Mc Donnel) was called in for consultation who along with Col. Benson, the Durbar Surgeon (Personal Physician to CRW), examined the royal patient and discovered that the disease from which HH was suffering was the insidious throat disease diphtheria. The malady was a serious one and all remedies to check its course were of no avail and the Maharaja passed away on the morning of the 28th.”

“It was at first proposed that the Maharaja’s body should be taken to Benaras for cremation, but on the advice of Gurudas Banerjee, Judge of the Calcutta High Court, it was settled that the cremation was to be at Kalighat on the banks of Ganges.”

In the book, ‘Alida Mahaswamiyavaru’, author C.K. Venkataramaiah writes, “Poorna Raghavendra Rao, tutor to the princes, was instructed by the Dewan to be at the Vizianagaram bungalow with the Maharani and her five children as the remaining courtiers left for the funeral. The cortege consisted of a carriage pulled by four horses, the procession wound its way towards Kalighat and later Military Bakshi Basappaji Urs performed the funerary rituals at the crematorium on both the days as Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV was just ten years old.”

On the 30th December, the Maharani and the children with all the retinue left Calcutta. Later a memorial for CRW was constructed which is now known as Mysore Udyanat Keoratala, aKalighat, Kolkata.