MYSORE: True to the royal traditions the agamiks and palace priests performed the rituals and chanted vedic hymns to facilitate the cremation of the last king of the 700 year old Mysore dynasty Srikanata Datta Narashimaraaja Wadiyar who breathed last at Bangalore on Tuesday. His nephew Kantaraj Urs , the son of his elder sister Gayatri Devi and Sardar Ramachandra Raje Urs lit the funeral pyre of sandal wood .
Exactly at 5.27 pm Kantaraj Urs lit the pyre to the completion of more than 2 hour chanting of hymns and the other obsequies performed by palace priests . Bhanu Prakash Sharma hailing from Srirangapattan and known for performing such duties and rituals in the country and who to his credit has performed the obsequies of various personalities led the priests in performing the last rites . Palace priest Chandrashekar assisted Bhanu Prakash Sharama.
Wadiyar’s mortal remains were brought to the Madhuvana, the cemetery of Maharajas at 3.20 pm to place on a podium erected for the occasion. As the body was placed on the podium and after performing the initial poojas to Wadiyar , the place was thrown open to the police to accord a guard of honour with the chief minister Siddaramaiah receiving formal salute and giving a formal permission to the contingent of an armed reserve police from Mysore city . As soon as the cream of politicians and other dignitaries including a couple of foreigners placed the wreaths as a mark of respect to the departed soul , the 24-men police contingent paid the last respects by firing three rounds into the air before the Mysore police band team played the national anthem .
After this police exercise of 20 minutes, the crowd including many political leaders stood in silence for two minutes leaving the field free to priests to perform the rituals. Fore more than 1 hour 45 minutes all leaders sat below a shamiana specially erected for them to silently watch the rituals and they dispersed from the spot only when the pyre was lit by Wadiyar’s nephew.
