Mysuru: Scion of the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, Sri Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar has demanded the setting up of a memorial of the Haifa War in Mysuru.
Mr Yaduveer joined over 1,000 proud Mysureans who converged to celebrate the glorious past of the Mysore Lancers of the Mysuru kingdom, at the centenary commemoration of the Battle of Haifa, at Rajendra Kalamandira here on Sunday evening.
The scion said, “a memorial or a museum is needed to commemorate Mysore Lancers, (equipped with only lancers and swords) who played a crucial role along with the Jodhpur Lancers and Hyderabad Lancers in the battle against the Ottoman Turks (armed with modern artillery and machine guns) on 23 September 1918, during World War one, for the liberation of Haifa, the third largest city in Israel.”
Representatives of a few families of the Mysore Lancers who to took part in the Haifa war were honoured on the occasion.
T V Nagaprasanna Raje Urs, grandson of Risalder A Lingaraj Urs (who had taken part in the war), Chinnamamba Desa Raje Urs relative of Col J Desa Raje Urs, Jayanthi H.N. Urs and Manjula Urs, relatives of Col B.P. Krishne Urs, Imtiaz Ahmed, relative of Lt Col Abdul Gaffar, Ms Yashomathi, relative of Sridhar Bahadur Chamaraja Urs were honoured.
Taking Mysureans back to the era of the Mysuru kingdom, the state anthem of then Mysuru State "Kaayo Sri Gowri" was played by the police band at the beginning of the event.
Chamarajnagar Congress MP R Druvanarayan and Kodagu-Mysuru BJP MP Pratap Simha spoke.
Haifa celebration committee head Mr Harish Shenoy, Vishwanath C.A. Vishwaprasad Alva and others participated.
