No two persons could have been more different from each other than the bare-headed, bush-shirted Marxist, Indrajit Gupta, and the be-turbaned, bejewelled maharaja, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore. Indrajitbabu was no habitué of concerts of classical music over which the maharaja presided with natural flair. The extraordinary novelist, R.K. Narayan, has this to say of Jayachamarajendra: “The so-called compositions of the Mysore Maharaja were actually composed by Vasudevachar. The Maharaja would call Vasudevachar and say I want these phrases from the Devi Ashtottram and the composer would do his bidding”. What do the synchronizing centenaries of an outstanding Indian Marxist and an exceptional Indian maharaja tell us today?

Source: The Telegraph July 21, 2019 04:52 UTC