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Kanthirava Narasaraja Wodeyar I (1615 – 31 July 1659) was the twelfth
maharaja Maharaja (also spelled Maharajah or Maharaj; ; feminine: Maharani) is a royal title in Indian subcontinent, Indian subcontinent of Sanskrit origin. In modern India and Medieval India, medieval northern India, the title was equivalent to a pri ...
of the
Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a geopolitical realm in southern India founded in around 1399 in the vicinity of the modern-day city of Mysore and prevailed until 1950. The territorial boundaries and the form of government transmuted substantially ...
from 1638 to 1659.


Accession

The previous ruler, Raja Wodeyar II, Kanthirava Narasaraja Wodeyar's cousin, was poisoned on the orders of his ''dalvoy'' (commander-in-chief), Vikramaraya, within a year of becoming the maharaja. The 23-year-old Kanthirava Narasaraja I, who had earlier been adopted by the widow of Raja Wodeyar I, became, in 1638, the new ''maharaja'' of Mysore. Before becoming the king of Mysore, he lived in Terakanambi near Gundalpet, Chamarajanagar District.


Rule

Soon after his accession, he was called on to defend
Srirangapatna Srirangapatna or Srirangapattana is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated around 984 CE. Later, under the Britis ...
against the invasions of the
Adil Shahi The Sultanate of Bijapur was an early modern kingdom in the western Deccan and South India, ruled by the Muslim Adil Shahi (or Adilshahi) dynasty. Bijapur had been a '' taraf'' (province) of the Bahmani Kingdom prior to its independence in 14 ...
s of Bijapur, a defence which he mounted with great loss for the enemy. In the fashion of the two ''wodeyars'' before him, he continued to expand the Mysore dominions. This included taking Satyamangalam from the
Nayaks of Madurai The Madurai Nayakas were a Telugu dynasty * * * * * who ruled most of modern-day Tamil Nadu, India, with Madurai as their capital. The Madurai Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh. * * * * * * ...
in the south, unseating the Chingalvas from their base in Piriyapatna in the west, gaining possession of
Hosur Hosur is an industrial city located in the Tamil Nadu state of India. Hosur is one of the 21 municipal corporations in Tamil Nadu. It is located on the bank of the river River Ponnaiyar, southeast of Bengaluru and west of Chennai, the state ...
(near Salem) to the north, and delivering a major blow to the remnant rule of Kempe Gowda of
Magadi Magadi is a town and taluk located in Bengaluru South District , Karnataka, India. History As per a legend, Magadi was founded in 1139 by a Chola king, who, in the course of an expedition, heard that in early times it had been the residence ...
's henchmen at
Yelahanka Yelahanka is a premium locality in North Bangalore and also a Taluk of Bangalore Urban district in the Indian state of Karnataka. One of the zones of BBMP. It is the oldest part of present Municipal Bengaluru (Bangalore) city and the northe ...
, from whom a large tribute was exacted. Kanthirava Narasaraja I was also the first ''wodeyar'' of Mysore to create the symbols associated with royalty, such as the royal coats of arms, establishing mints, and issuing coins named Kanthiraya (corrupted to "Canteroy") after him. These were to remain part of Mysore's 'current national money' for well over a century.


Dissolution of the Vijayanagara Empire

Although the Vijayanagara Empire had succumbed to rampages and forages of the Bahamani and Deccan Sultanates, Kanthirava Narasaraja Wodeyar, continued to recognise the Vijayanagara Empire and its namesake emperor Sriranga III. But by then, Sriranga III had completely lost power and control over the empire. Kanthirava Narasaraja I had ten wives. He died on 31 July 1659, at the age of 44.


Early Christianity in Mysore

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...
, which had arrived in the coastal areas of
southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...
—the
Malabar coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...
, the Kanara coast, and the
Coromandel coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...
—starting early in the sixteenth century, did not begin work in land-locked Mysore until halfway through the seventeenth century. The Mysore mission was established in
Srirangapatna Srirangapatna or Srirangapattana is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated around 984 CE. Later, under the Britis ...
in 1649 by Leonardo Cinnami, an Italian
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
from
Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
. Although a few years later Cinnami was expelled from Mysore on account of opposition in Kanthirava's court, towards the end of Kanthirava's rule, Cinnami returned to establish missions in half a dozen locations. During his second stay, Cinnami obtained permission to convert Kanthirava's subjects to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
; however, he was successful mostly in the eastern regions of Kanthirava's dominions, regions that later became part of the
Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...
of
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
. notes, "...Of a reported 1700 converts in the Mysore mission in the mid-1660s, a mere quarter were ''Kannadigas'' (
Kannada language Kannada () is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, an ...
speakers), the rest being Tamil speakers from the western districts of modern-day
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
...".


In popular culture

His life story was adapted into the 1960 Kannada movie '' Ranadheera Kanteerava''.


See also

* History of Mysore and Coorg, 1565–1760


Notes


References

* * *


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanthirava Narasaraja, I People from the Kingdom of Mysore Wadiyar dynasty 1610s births 1659 deaths 17th-century Indian monarchs