Tripura Sundari Ammani

Biography

Tripura Sundari Ammani was born the daughter of Bala Nanjaraja Urs, an officer in the service of the government of Mysore state. Her family belonged to the nobility of that state

Marriage and issue

Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar, the last ruling Maharaja of Mysore, was married to a Rajput princess from Charkhari in north India in 1938. That marriage had proven to be childless, and the Maharaja decided to marry again, and was intent upon marrying someone from a local aristocratic family, who already knew and followed the customs and traditions of the Kannada people. The matter became known among the noble Urs families of the state, and several proposals were pressed upon the Maharaja. After careful scrutiny of genealogy and horoscopes in the traditional Indian manner, the choice fell upon Tripura Sundari Ammani, daughter of Bala Nanjaraja Urs, an officer in the Mysore government.

The wedding was held in traditional style on 30 April 1944, and several hundred dignitaries graced the occasion. The venue was the kalyana mantapa of the Amba Vilas Palace in Mysore, decked up and illuminated for the occasion. The bride was very young indeed, only a teenager, as was typical of Indian brides in those days. Later, the senior Maharani (Satya Prema Kumari of Charkhari) received her new co-wife into the palace and then retired, spending long periods of time in north India. Tripura Sundari Ammani was entrusted at a very young age with performing the numerous rituals and ceremonies required of a Maharani of Mysore, and she discharged her duties diligently, with understated, modest grace. She also shared a cordial, mutually respectful relationship with her co-wife, the senior Maharani, and with other members of her new family.

The marriage was harmonious and happy, and was blessed with six children. Two daughters were followed in 1953 by the long-awaited son and heir, and then by three daughters further. The children were:

1. Gayathri Devi (1946–1974), married to the Arasu of Kallahalli in Mysore. Their grandson Yaduveer would eventually succeed to the throne of Mysore by adoption.
2. Meenakshi Devi (b.1951) married to M.R.L. Urs, a lawyer and nobleman of Mysore
3. Maharaja Sri Srikantha Datta Narasimharaja Wodeyar (1953-2013), who succeeded his father as titular Maharaja of Mysore
4. Kamakshi Devi (b.1954), married Atmanayadev Singh Jhala, younger son of the Maharaja of Wadhwan in Gujarat
5. Indrakshi Devi (b.1956), married to Rajachandra Urs, a nobleman of Mysore
6. Vishalakshi Devi (b.1962), married to Thakur Gajendra Singh of Auwa, a nobleman of Jodhpur State in Rajasthan

Later life

The Maharani died on 22 Nov 1982 at Mysore Palace.