Foundation to keep alive Wadiyar’s passion for art, culture

Mysuru: Spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and co-founder of Infosys, N.R. Narayana Murthy on Sunday launched the Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Foundation, set up by  the erstwhile royal family of Mysuru to conserve heritage, art, culture and traditions of the land, at Jaganmohan Palace here on Sunday.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Narayana Murthy said the true worth of a nation is measured by how it takes care of its less fortunate ones. He recalled the contributions of the Mysuru  maharajas and said their prime objective was to make life better for the people. The new foundation is yet another  example of the generosity of the royal family, he said and called on people to participate in philanthropic activity as it creates a sense of unity and happiness.

An emotional Rajamata Pramodadevi Wadiyar recalled her 43-year-long association with late scion Srikantadatta Wadiyar and said the foundation is intended to keep alive his passion to conserve culture and tradition through various activities. She said they are coming up with a heritage centre which will have a team of technical experts and will take up work for conservation of heritage structures.

The Rajmata also spoke of the activities already taken up including the restoration of the art gallery of the 158-year-old Jaganmohan Palace including the French calendar clock, restoration of the former canon station of the palace, Karikal thotti at Mysuru Palace, restoration of portions of Bengaluru palace including the billiards room, staircase room and Hanuman temple besides Fernhill palace, a historic retreat in Ooty.  

The Sadhguru recalled the contribution of the late maharajas to the heritage city and noted that Mysuru is one of the few cities where the core part is planned and conserved in the same manner. Though Mysuru has the largest area of water bodies per square km, unfortunately many have dried, he said.

During his discourse, Sadhguru emphasised on the importance of taking care of oneself and on the need to be joyful so that the experience of life is pleasant. He also spoke of how technology which is a blessing, is being misused with 70 percent of the data on the internet  pornography and 1.5 million children addicted to it.