The third day rituals connected with the death of scion of Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar was performed with piety at Manuvana (Madhuvana) the royal cemetery on Mysore-Nanjangud road in the city on Thursday.
‘Haalu Thuppa’ ritual was performed by Wadiyar’s nephew Chaduranga Kantharaj Urs at 11.40 am under the supervision of a team of Palace priests led by Chandrashekar Shastry, who was accompanied by priest Bhanuprakash Sharma and Sunil Das from Modala Mada Sneham Ashram, Palakkad in Kerala.
Kantharaja Urs had also lit the funeral pyre of Wadiyar on Wednesday, as the scion and his wife Pramoda Devi Wadiyar had no children.
Kantharaja Urs was made to perform ‘brahma danda’, ‘panchagavya prayaschita’, ‘punyaaha’, ‘krijracharane’ among others, during the two hour long ceremony.
Later, a black sacred thread was tied around his left thumb. He was subsequently made to collect the ashes of Wadiyar in five earthen pots, as part of ‘vedaradhane’ ritual. The remaining ash was filled into a sack.
Sand was spread on the cremation site and a puja was performed by installing the idols of ‘Rudra’ and ‘Yama’.
Favourite dishes
Wadiyar’s favourite dishes like dosa, idli, ‘chakkuli’, ‘kodubale’, ‘nippattu’, sweet items like ‘rave unde’, ‘obbattu’, ‘jamoon’, ‘shaavige paysa’, and ‘peda’, fruits like oranges, mangoes, apples, bananas, dry fruits among others were also kept at the site as part of ‘naivedya’. Finally, milk and ghee was offered to complete the ritual.
Chandrashekar Shastri told the media that the ashes would be immersed within 10 days. While there will be no ritual on the fourth day, there will be death related rituals the following days, up to the tenth day. On the twelfth day ‘Sampindikarana’ ritual will be conducted and on thirteenth day ‘Shubha Vaikunda Vidhi’ will be performed.
At Palace
To enable women among the royal family to offer their tributes to Wadiyar (as women and men with parents who are still alive are not allowed to participate in the rituals at the cemetery), a portrait of the scion was kept at ‘Kalyana Mantapa’ where the mortal remains had been kept for public viewing.