Images of the historic temples in the town of Talakad covered by sand dunes, a phenomenon attributed to the "The Curse of Wodeyars".
Talakad is a historic site on the banks of river Kaveri. It has a continuous history of human habitation since 10,000 BC and emerged as a flourishing city during the Hoysala period (12th-13th century). This thriving city went into decline after the 16th century, which is attributed to the curse uttered in 1610 AD. However, historical records show that Talakad town went into decline only at the end of the 16th century. If it was cursed, why did it take almost 60-70 years to take into effect? A combination of historians, geologists and archaeologists claim to find an answer to this. During 1336, Madhava Manthri, a minister from the Vijayanagara regime, is said to have built an ‘anecut’ or dam across river Cauvery just above the Talakad area near Hemmige. Such a construction is likely to have dried up the river path, exposing the sand banks accumulated there for millions of years. Talakad receives strong winds from northwest and southwest, which while blowing on the river base, could move the sand particles towards Talakad. Studies have observed that these particles could move at a rate of about 7–10 ft/yr.
A diagram which explains the geological process of deposition of sand in Talakad (Source: CURRENT SCIENCE JOURNAL, Dec 2007
Thus, the sand which we see covering the town of Talakad is a consequence of movement of particles from the river path which was amplified by the sharp turn of the river. Gradually, over a period of a century, the town was slowly abandoned by its residents due to accumulation of sand and not as a result of some curse.
2. Malangi Maduvaagali “May a cruel whirlpool be a scourge of Malangi”
About the second part of the curse, Geologists have actively demonstrated that there is an active but a minor fault running along the path of the Cauvery River. Accordingly, owing to a major geological shift, the river Kaveri shifted its course as all rivers do. Plus, river Kaveri takes a sharp turn at several places including one at Talakad and Malangi. On one bank of the turn is Talakad and on other bank is Malangi. The bank of river which faces Malangi faces the rapidly flowing face of the river which cuts into it. This is the reason why Malangi is being eaten up by river Kaveri. Not as a result of any curse.
3. Mysuru Dhoregalige Makkalagade hogali! “And the kings of Mysore suffer the pangs of Childlessness!”
About the third and the most important part of the curse, the lack of heirs in the Mysore royal family. Most people including myself, believed in the curse only because of this third effect. I would ask “ Yes, the first two may be geological reasons, but how do you explain the every alternate generation of Wodeyars not having heirs.?” To me, this confirmed the existence of curse. That is, till now. Apparently, Rani Alamelamma cursed that Wodeyars shall not have any heirs, but did not say anything about skipping a generation! Did she have powers to change the curse in retrospect?
The answer is no. This part can be explained as part genetics and part coincidence. The funny part is that the very man who was cursed, Raja Wodeyar had several sons! While it is true that many Wodeyar rulers have had lack of heirs, they did have sons from their concubines. So what explains this?
A genealogy of the Mysore royal family (Source: CURRENT SCIENCE JOURNAL, Dec 2007)
In those days, genetic defects due to close intermarriages were not well known. Like most Indian rulers, Wodeyars married within their own “Urs” community. There were only around a dozen “well bred” inter married Urs families from which all the spouses of the Wodeyar family came from. This may have caused what is called “inbreeding depression”. Point to note is that out of the 19 rulers, only 10 rulers had lack of heirs. All adopted rulers had heirs but their second generation did not, caused by “enhanced inbreeding depression”. Thus, as well see, there is a strong medical reason which explains the lack of heirs of the Mysore family.
So what is this curse all about?
As analyzed above, the curse did not take effect immediately. The three syndromes of the curse were already visible during that time and historians believe that the curse was intelligently moulded by someone with a vested interest. But what could this vested interest be? It is interesting to see the timing of the first mention of this curse and similar other curses. While it was a part of local folklore, it makes appearance only in early 1830s and 1840s. What surprised me most was that very similar such curses of childlessness have emerged around the same time from other royal durbars. Suddenly every royal family like Gwalior, Jaipur, Porbander etc appears to be cursed! Why?
Lord Dalhousie, whose infamous “Doctrine of Lapse” forced royal families to concoct stories of curses.
A little investigation throws some light on this. In 1830s and