Mysore State Research Articles

A Kautilyan Assessment of Dewan Sir C.V. Rangacharlu of the Princely State of Mysore.

A Kautilyan Assessment of Dewan Sir C.V. Rangacharlu of the Princely State of Mysore.

Women Education in Mysore State by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar

ABSTRICT The mysore state one of the famous state which was developed the education systematically. The women education was well developed by the mysore none in the state till middle of 19th century , the beginnings were made by London Mission which was in 1840 established the first kannada school for girls. Very soon a girl’s school was opened by the Hindu at Bengaluru, for some time girls was obliged to study in boy’s schools, for want of separate institutions. Social prejudices were largely responsible for the slow growth of institutions, swhich numbered only 12 at the close of 1879-80. In the first year of the rendition, the maharani’s girls school at mysore was established, which remained under private management till 1891, when it was taken over by Government. It soon developed into a second grade college and was affiliated to the Madras University.

A Contribution towards a Flora of Biligirirangan Hills, Mysore State

Biligirirangan hills in Mysore State are somewhat isolated from the other hill ranges in the Western ghats, and the Nilgiris. This sketch of the vegetation is based on detailed collections made by the authors as well as the collections made some 28 years ago by Barnes. The enumeration includes 825 species of vascular plants under 484 genera and 133 families.

Studies on the Flora of Bandipur Reserve Forest, Mysore State

Studies and observations made on the flora of Bandipur R. F. during botanical explorations conducted during 1964-65 are recorded in this paper. The forest range lies between 11°20'-11°40' N and 76°20'-76°32' E in Mysore State at an altitude varying from 600 to 1400 m.The vegetation at lower elevations is of scrub type, at higher elevations it is semi-evergreen and between tbese the mixed deciduous type occurs. 448 species distributed under 100 families collected and studied from this area are enumerated with short notes.

Deciduous Forests of Devarayadurga, Mysore State

The present paper gives a preliminary account of the flora of the deciduous forests of Devarayadurga near Tumkur, Mysore State. The general composition of the vegetation which varies considerably from the valleys to the high hill tops has been described. 203 species belonging to 59 families of vascular plants are enumerated, of which families like Fabaceae, Poaceae, Asteraceae and Gommelinaceae are well represented.

Public garden, British station and landscape perception in Bangalore City (1881–1934)

ABSTRACT This paper presents the spatial and ideological connections between colonial perception of landscape, sanitary improvements and landscape change in Bangalore City under indirect colonial rule. Before 1947, Bangalore City in the princely state of Mysore developed alongside a British Civil and Military station. The colonial landscape perception of stinking ‘native’ settlements portrayed the British station as being superior to Bangalore City. In the early twentieth century, Bangalore City administration tried to remove this stigma by improving the city. Under indirect colonialism and the differences in landscape perceptions that it generated, the Mysore State’s public garden in Bangalore City became central to the activities of the newly improved city and presented a curated vision that could replace its unruly landscapes. The odourfree sanitary ‘garden’ extended into the city became the antithesis to its pre-British vernacular produce smallholdings.

Descendants of a Difficult Past: Narratives of the Sindhi Partition Refugees in Bangalore

Severed from the immediate physical realities of the Indian partition, Bangalore, a city in South India, witnessed a large influx of Sindhi refugees during the partition years. However, the lived narratives of these refugees haven’t been examined in the Indian partition historiography. Identifying this discernible research gap, the paper examines the diverse resettlement strategies and practices adopted by the Sindhi refugees in Bangalore. Through an ethnographic lens and analysis of archival records, the paper also illustrates the various relief efforts implemented by the Mysore state to welcome the refugees to its fold. Beyond mere historical documentation, it delves into the dynamics of memory transmission among the refugees and the variations engendered in remembering partition when the community is settled in a South Indian state. Furthermore, the paper investigates how these memories continue to shape the political choices of the Sindhi community.

The making of a model town: planning in a Princely city and the All-India Sanitary Conferences

ABSTRACT The arrival of the third plague pandemic in the Indian Subcontinent in the late nineteenth century is well known to have prompted the state to rethink colonial governance. In this article, I examine how a locality in Bangalore, Fraser Town, was turned into a ‘model town’ at the All-India Sanitary Conferences hosted between 1911-1914, in the aftermath of the plague. I juxtapose archival manuals that recount the planning of Fraser Town with the discussions on town planning in the AISC proceedings to show how a universal ‘plague urbanism’ emerged as the most effective prophylactic against disease across Imperial India. The colonial government’s intent to project Fraser Town as an exemplar of sanitary planning at the AISC, I argue, had a twofold agenda. In Bangalore, they could claim credit for creating a model town although it was the Princely Mysore State’s capital. Across Imperial India, Fraser Town supported the Conferences’ agenda of deconstructing the difference between British, Princely, and variously ruled territories, reconstituting them in a performatively united ‘All-India’ against disease. Putting the making of Fraser Town alongside the imperial AISC, in dialogue with a global pandemic and conferencing; I show how planning processes were integral to territorial aspirations of empire.

Home grown modernity: gardens and urban development of Bangalore under the princely state of Mysore, 1881-1947

ABSTRACT This paper illustrates how the princely state of Mysore used gardens and horticulture for shaping the urban development of Bangalore between the late-19th and mid-20th century. Despite being constrained by the British colonial regime's policies of indirect rule; the Mysore State drew on an approach to modernisation and urban development which their pre-British predecessors had initiated during the eighteenth century. Between 1881 and 1947, it pursued this home-grown modern approach in Bangalore City by using gardens and horticulture to expand urban industry and shape the urban landscape, establishing Bangalore as one of the most progressive cities in British India.

Lingayats and the Yearning for the ‘Language of the Gods’ in the 1910s–1940s

Lingayats hold a distinct position in the history of Karnataka beginning with the cultural legacy from the twelfth century and continuing into the twentieth century for the prominent role in the non-Brahmin movement by deploying education as a means to achieve social mobility and to attain solidarity among the various sections of the diverse community. The possible loss of social status in the caste hierarchy in the late nineteenth century prompted Lingayat caste entities to embark on the legacy of Sanskrit scholarship that was eventually deployed to lay an unprecedented claim in Sanskrit education across the region of Kannada speaking territory. This study explores how the usage of Sanskrit for mass education by the Lingayat mathas enabled caste consolidation, by re-appropriating a Brahmanical language in Mysore state and to certain extent in the region of Bombay Karnataka. Through this exploration, it pushes us to re-consider the Brahmin-non-Brahmin binary, within which the history of education in the Mysore princely state is narrated from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.

A Study on Growth and Distribution of Medium Scale Enterprises in Karnataka

Micro, Small,and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been accepted as the engine of economic growth and encouraging equitable development. MSMEs constitute over 90% of total enterprises in most economies and have been credited with creating the highest rates of employment and account for a large share of industrial production and exports. In India, too, the MSMEs have been the backbone of the Indian economy.Karnataka isone of the Top Five Industrialized States in the country. It has achieved substantially in promoting hi-tech industries insectors like Electronics, Telecommunication, Information Technology, Precision Engineering, Automobiles, Readymade garments, and Food Processing. It has a history of pioneering industrial growth initiatives since the Princely State of Mysore and subsequently in the post-independence era. The paper is based on secondary data and aims at studying the growth and distribution of Medium Scale Enterprises in the state of Karnataka.

A Geographical Analysis of Challakere Amrit Mahal Kaval Grasslands. Using Remote Sensing and GIS Technologies

The Amrit Mahal Kaval grassland is a protected area dedicated to conservation of Amrit Mahal, an endangered breed of cattle that originated from the erstwhile state of Mysore in Karnataka. Nearly 14519 acres of grassland is reserved which is enriched with biodiversity and grassland ecosystem as well and with over 450 years of history. Thus, such kind of research on grasslands is important and also inevitable. Another important point to be noticed is that, this area was portrayed as barren land and in the year 2007, a report was prepared and submitted to the state government permitting Defense and other departments to use these 11400 acres of Amrit Mahal Kaval Grasslands which led to several impact on the biodiversity in this area. Remote sensing and GIS technologies were used to study the impact on grasslands in terms of Social, Cultural, Economic and Environmental changes between 2009 to 2019. By looking at the statistics of the Challakere Amrit Mahal Kaval grasslands it is evident that the developmental work carried out here has led to the loss of 4.59% of the vegetation area, 0.29% of the water sources and 24.6% of the pasture land. The Study focuses not only on the impact of biodiversity in that area but also on the social life of people. In today’s condition both development and ecological balance are important but at the same time it is really hazardous to suppress ecology in the name of development. Compromising ecology for development is proven inimical. It is the need of the hour to protect Amrit Mahal Kaval grasslands as it provides an important habitat for many endangered species like the Great Indian Bustard and Amrit Mahal cattle breed.

A new species of Cycas L. (Cycadaceae) from India

A new species of Cycas viz. Cycas bglswamyii Praveen et al., endemic to Bellur locality in Hassan District of the erstwhile Mysore State (now Karnataka State), is reported through this communication. The species seems to be restricted to Bellur area of Hasan district in Karnataka State of India which was under Mysore state of British India.

Modernity and ‘publicness’: The career of the Mysore matha, 1880–1940

Fin de siècle Mysore witnessed the gathering force of interminable rivalries of prestige between mathas (monastic institutions). Contests over the types and number of honours enjoyed by travelling gurus in Mysore became frequent, reaching a crescendo in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By this time, the contests were also being adjudicated in courts, as the Mysore administration began to exert greater bureaucratic control over these institutions. The widening sphere of engagements of the modernising matha reveals that a new notion of publicness was taking shape, co-constituted by a triangulation of forces: on one side was the rapidly bureaucratising Mysore state which brought a different visibility and public accountability to the matha; a second side comprised the matha itself developing a new, socially purposive public life. Finally, the matha’s redefinition was aided and shaped by the adherents of the matha, emerging as a ‘public’ which both drew on and remained at a remove from its caste identity. This period of reform had enduring consequences, as the Mysore matha took on a supplementary state form after Indian Independence in 1947.

The Kingdom in a kingdom: English Methodist Mission in Mysore State, 1813–1913, Its Success and Failure, written by A.J. Anandan

The Kingdom in a kingdom: English Methodist Mission in Mysore State, 1813–1913, Its Success and Failure, written by A.J. Anandan

Mapping and analysis of topography of Bangalore metropolitan region

Bangalore was built by Magadi Kempegowda at 1537. Bangalore ruled by various kingdom in 1758- Hyder Ali, in 1799- British overthrew Tippu sultan, in 1881- Mysore wodeyar, After the independence, Bangalore was designed as the capital of Mysore state in 1956, Bangalore Metropolitan Region comprises Bangalore urban district, Bangalore rural district & Ramanagara district. The Bangalore Metropolitan Region lies towards the south-east in the south Indian state of Karnataka. The Bangalore Metropolitan Region situated between 12◦ 14’ 16” to 13◦ 30’ 26” north latitude & 77◦ 2’ 51” to 77◦ 57’ 45” east longitude. The total geographical area of Bangalore Metropolitan Region is 8005 sq. Km. The main aim of the paper are To Know Topography of Bangalore Metropolitan Region. To Mapping Topography of Bangalore Metropolitan Region. To reach set goals first literature collected from various works and to prepare maps for topography of Bangalore metropolitan region remote sensing data and GIS techniques are used. Bangalore is fast growing metropolitan city hence to know and mapping of the topography is required. Keywords: Topography; Lithology; soil; remote sensing

Regulationist Measures: Prostitution and Politics in the State of Mysore

The paper explores official policies towards Prostitution and the spread of Venereal Diseases in the Cantonment and Mysore Provinces. A medico-military discourse emerged in the Cantonment with the spread of Sexually Transmitted Diseases among white troopers. Transgressive sex was tolerated despite prostitutes being considered a receptacle of diseases. In not recognizing the dynamics of disease transmission, regulatory measures and race, sex, and class-bias blatantly vilified prostitutes. Though civilian spaces in the State of Karnataka were not as complex, regulations were enforced in tandem with the Cantonment during the colonial rule. Consequently, after the independence, the State’s measures were coincidental with the social purity movement’s censure of Devadasis.

Caste Politics and State Integration: a Case Study of Mysore State

Abstract The subject of unification is as vibrant as national movement even after 58 years of a fractured verdict. More than to achieve a physical conjugation it was an attempt for cultural fusion. The aspiration for linguistic unification was a part of the national discourse. The movement, which began with mystic originations, later on turned out to become communal. Political changes during 1799 A.D. and 1857 A.D. changed the fortunes of Mysore state and ultimately led to its disintegration and became the reason for this movement. The concept of unification is akin to the spirit of nationalism, against the background of colonial regime assigning parts of land to different administrative units without taking into consideration the historical or cultural aspects of that place. Kannadigas marooned in multi lingual states experient an orphaned situation got aroused with the turn of nineteenth century. The problem precipitated by the company was diluted by British when they introduced English education. Though the positive aspect like emergence of middle class is pragmatic, rise of communalism on the other hand is not idealistic. This research paper is designed to examine the polarization of castes during unification movement of Mysore State (Presently called as State of Karnataka, since 1973, which was termed Mysore when integrated) which came into being in 1956 A.D. Most of the previous studies concentrate on two aspects viz ideological discourse and organizational strategies adopted to gain Unification. The course of the unifi cation movement and role of Congress party dominates such studies while some of them concentrate on the leaders of the movement. Other studies are ethnographical in nature. ‘Community Dominance and Political Modernisation: The Lingayats’ written by Shankaragouda Hanamantagouda Patil is a classic example. Mention may be made here of an recent attempt by Harish Ramaswamy in his ‘Karnataka Government and Politics’ which has covered almost all aspects of emergence of Karnataka as a state but communal politics during unification movement has found no place. ‘Rethinking State Politics in India: Regions within Regions’ is an edited book by Ashutosh Kumar which has articles on ‘Castes and Politics of Marginality’ where a reference is made to caste associations and identity politics of Lingayats, but the area of study is neighboring Maharashtra and not Karnataka. Though it contains two articles on Karnataka its subject matter doesn’t pertain to this topic. One more important effort is by ‘Imagining Unimaginable Communities: Political and Social Discourse in Modern Karnataka’ where the author Raghavendra Rao thinks Karnataka and India as two unimaginable communities and discuss primarily the founding moments of negotiation between the discourses of Indian nationalism and Kannada linguistic nationalism. It is more an intellectual history and throws light on nationalism in a colonial context. Mostly studies concentrate on either the course or the leaders of the movement. Invariably congress as an organization finds place in all studies. But the blemish of such studies is a lesser concentration on activities of major socio cultural groups. The role of socio cultural groups assumes importance because of the milieu at the beginning of 20th century which annunciated a wave of social changes in the state. It is a known fact that the movement for linguistic state was successful in bringing a political integration of five separate sub regions but failed to unite people culturally. This concept of unification which is akin to the spirit of nationalism got expressed at the regional level in the sense of respect for once own culture, language and people. In case of Karnataka this expression had political overtones too which is expressed by some who fought for it (Srinivas & Narayan, 1946 ). Most of the early leaders of unification movement (and for that matter even movement for independence too can be cited here) belonged to one particular caste, and with passing of time has led to the notion of domination of that caste over the movement. This paper tries to give justice in a limited way by giving legitimate and adequate recognition for those castes which deserves it and do away with misconceptions. Two concepts political modernization and social mobility are used. The later derives its existence from the former in this case. The data used here is primarily gained from news papers and secondary sources like books and interviews given by participants. No hypothesis is tested nor any theory is developed in this attempt but historical materials are examined in the light of modernity. The key problem discussed here is emergence of communal politics and the role of social groups in unification. Biases of regionalism, caste and class have been overcome by rational thinking.

Messy Modernisms: Otto Koenigsberger’s Early Work in Princely Mysore, 1939–41

Otto H. Koenigsberger (1908–99) was a German émigré architect who arrived in India in 1939 and worked there until 1951. Histories of South Asian modernism document Koenigsberger’s architecture as a coherent set of buildings that seamlessly synthesize the ideals of modernism with Indian traditions. This paper argues that Koenigsberger’s work in Mysore was neither coherent nor graspable as a simple synthesis of modernism with Indian local traditions. Koenigsberger’s early buildings in Mysore State belong to a genre that this paper terms ‘messy modernisms’, in which the categories of global and local are destabilized. This paper defines messy modernist architecture as a cultural artifact that can no longer be understood as a fusion of global and local architectures, because the complex global trajectory of the development of Indian local architectures illuminates how they were enmeshed within global architectural practices. In the 1940s, the local Mysorean assimilationist attributes of Koenigsberger’s architecture were not place-bound in their regional specificity. This paper situates Koenigsberger’s architecture within the global networks and the colonial architectural cultures in princely Mysore from 1939 to 1941. The Indian local influences on Koenigsberger’s work – colonial Neoclassical architecture, Indo-Saracenic architecture, Mysore Public Works Department (PWD) standardized plans known as type-designs, and the Bombay Art Deco movement – have a complex history of indigenization and circulation along the colonial intra-networks within South Asia, the colonial networks of the British Empire, and global flows that render the category of local extremely complex.

Compromised: making institutions and indigenous medicine in Mysore State, circa 1908-1940.

This is a study of the emergence of new institutional arenas for ayurveda and yunani medicine, collectivized at the time as 'indigenous medicine,' in a semi-autonomous State (Mysore) in late colonial India. The study argues that the characteristic dimensions of this process were compromise and misalignment between ideals of governance and modes of pedagogy and practice. Running counter to a narrative that the Princely States such as Mysore were instrumental for the 'preservation' of ayurveda, this study analyzes the process of negotiation and struggle between a variety of actors engaged with shaping the direction of institutionalized 'indigenous medicine'. In examining the entanglements over the priorities of the state administration and the conflicting desires and ideals of protagonists, the study problematizes the idea of studying the encounter between the 'state' and 'indigenous medicine,' in order rather to highlight their co-production and the tensions which were generated in the process. While institution-making for ayurveda and yunani in Mysore State assumed distinctive translocal forms, themes of divergence that were unresolved during the time of this study, over the role of the state, the politics of validation, appropriate curricula and pedagogy, and their relation to practice and employment, continue to inform the trajectories of state-directed health provision through 'indigenous medicine' on larger scales [India, health-care, ayurveda, yunani, education].