Maharaja Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV: King Who Sold His Jewels So Bangalore Could Have Electricity
At a time when images of India's 20th-century royalty evoke opulence – palaces echoing with grandeur, fleets of Rolls-Royces gleaming in the sun, and jewels worth empires – one king stood apart from the glittering illusion. Born on June 4, 1884, into the royal family of Mysore, Maharaja Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV wasn't just another ruler draped in silk and gemstones. He was a reformer, a visionary, and a philosopher-king whose reign earned him the title Rajarshi from none other than Mahatma Gandhi.
At the tender age of 11, the young prince ascended the throne after the death of his father. Until he came of age, his mother, Maharani Vani Vilas Sannidhana, served as regent. But once power rested in his hands, it became clear that he was no ordinary king.
Fluent in English, Kannada, and Sanskrit, Krishna Raja Wadiyar was deeply educated in both Western and Indian traditions. An accomplished violinist, veena player, and saxophonist, he balanced a passion for the arts with an unyielding commitment to public welfare, something rarely seen in the royal circles of his time.
Long before social justice became a national discourse, Wadiyar was already scripting a new India from his palace in Mysore. In an era steeped in orthodoxy and caste rigidity, he boldly implemented 25% reservation in government jobs for non-Brahmins, a radical move in 1918 that faced stiff opposition. He even commissioned British officer Sir Leslie Miller to study the condition of backward communities to guide further policy.
Determined to educate his people, he made primary education free and compulsory in 1915, allocating generous funds from the state exchequer. By 1927, the education budget had multiplied nearly sevenfold. Over 8,000 schools educated more than half a million children, turning Mysore into one of India's earliest knowledge hubs.
He also banned child marriage, provided scholarships for widowed women, and donated from his personal wealth to support differently-abled children, an annual sum that reportedly touched Rs 80 lakh, a staggering amount for the time.
Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV's impact wasn't confined to policy. His vision changed the trajectory of Indian science and education. He donated 10 acres of land to Nobel Laureate Sir CV Raman to establish a research institute and granted 400 acres to Jamshedji Tata, a gift that led to the birth of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), one of the country's most prestigious scientific institutions.
He established Mysore University, India's first state-sponsored university, and served as the first Vice Chancellor of both BHU and Mysore University, positions no king before or after has held with such earnestness.
But perhaps nothing defines Wadiyar's reign better than his greatest engineering marvel, i.e. the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam on the river Cauvery. Conceptualised by his legendary Diwan and engineer Sir M Visvesvaraya, the dam was a bold and expensive dream (Rs 81 lakh at the time), and criticised as a vanity project.
Construction began in 1911 and completed in 1931, transforming barren lands into a fertile belt stretching all the way to Chennai. Today, the KRS dam still irrigates thousands of acres and supplies drinking water, a century after it was built. The Brindavan Gardens, developed alongside the dam, became a global tourism icon.
The First Hydroelectric Power Producer
In 1902, Wadiyar launched Asia's first major hydroelectric project at Shivanasamudra Falls. Electricity generated here powered Bangalore, making it the first city in Asia to have electric streetlights, which first lit up on August 5, 1905. But the project nearly stalled due to financial hurdles.
Rather than letting it fail, Wadiyar did the unthinkable; he sold his personal jewellery to fund the project. Thanks to his sacrifice, homes, factories, and streets in Bangalore were lit up long before many foreign cities.
He personally flipped the switch from Jagan Mohan Palace, ushering India into the electric age. It was a monumental achievement that made India a pioneer in hydroelectric energy in the world.
Patron of Culture, Yoga, and Music
Far from being just an administrator, Maharaja Wadiyar was a patron of Indian classical arts. He supported legends like Gauhar Jaan and Abdul Karim Khan, and was instrumental in popularising yoga globally by backing T Krishnamacharya, the teacher who influenced modern yoga's global footprint.
When Maharaja Krishna Raja Wadiyar IV passed away in 1940, his personal wealth was estimated at over Rs 57,000 crore in today's value. But he was not a hoarder of riches; he was a dispenser of dreams, using his fortune to build, to educate, to electrify, and to uplift.
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New Delhi, India, India
First Published:
July 08, 2025, 14:24 IST
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