Contents
All chapters
I · Land and Origins
Chapter 1 · Deep time – present
Geography and Setting
The Deccan plateau, the Kaveri basin and Chamundi Hill shaped every settlement, dynasty and irrigation economy that followed in the Mysore region.
Chapter 2 · c. 3000 BCE – 300 CE
Early Settlements and Prehistory
Neolithic ash mounds, megalithic burials, Ashokan edicts and early Tamil-Kannada contact form the earliest documented human record of the Mysore country.
II · Ancient and Medieval Dynasties
Chapter 3 · c. 350 – 1000 CE
The Western Gangas
From Kolar and Talakadu the Western Gangas ruled southern Karnataka for six centuries, patronised Jainism and raised the colossus of Shravanabelagola.
Chapter 4 · c. 543 – 1116 CE
Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas and Cholas
Imperial powers of the Deccan repeatedly contested southern Karnataka, leaving temple architecture, Kannada literature and a durable administrative template.
Chapter 5 · c. 1026 – 1343 CE
The Hoysalas
From Belur, Halebidu and later Srirangapatna's hinterland, the Hoysalas created the most ornate temple architecture in southern India.
Chapter 6 · 1336 – 1646
The Vijayanagara Empire
Under Vijayanagara's nayaka system the small chiefdom of Mysore first appears in the record — and inherits sovereignty when the empire collapses.
III · The Kingdom and Its Contests
Chapter 7 · 1399 – 1950
The Wadiyar Dynasty
Twenty-five rulers across five and a half centuries — from a village chiefdom, through eclipse and restoration, to a modern constitutional monarchy.
Chapter 8 · 1721 – 1782
Hyder Ali
A cavalry officer who became de facto ruler of Mysore, built a European-drilled army and fought the English East India Company to a standstill.
Chapter 9 · 1750 – 1799
Tipu Sultan
The 'Tiger of Mysore': innovator in rocketry and revenue, diplomat to France and the Ottomans, and the last ruler to fight the Company on equal terms.
Chapter 11 · 1399 – 1947
The Kingdom of Mysore
An institutional portrait of the kingdom: revenue, army, court, coinage, dewans and the machinery that outlasted every dynasty change.
IV · Colonial and Modern Era
Chapter 10 · 1799 – 1947
The British Period
Subsidiary alliance, the Commission of 1831–1881, the Rendition, and a princely state that became a byword for progressive administration.
Chapter 12 · 1881 – 1950
The Princely State and Accession
Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV's reformist reign, the freedom movement inside the state, and the accession of Mysore to the Indian Union.
Chapter 13 · 1905 – 1973
The Unification of Karnataka
The Ekikarana movement gathered Kannada-speaking districts scattered across four administrations into one state — renamed Karnataka in 1973.
Chapter 14 · 1956 – present
Modern Mysuru
A heritage city that became a university town, an IT and tourism hub, and a repeated winner of India's cleanest-city rankings.
V · Culture and Society
Chapter 15 · 16th century – present
Culture and the Arts
Mysore's court sustained a distinct school of painting, a lineage of Carnatic composers, and traditions of scholarship still identified with the city.
Chapter 16 · 1610 – present
Festivals and Dasara
Nada Habba — the state festival — descends directly from Vijayanagara's Mahanavami and remains the defining public ritual of the city.
Chapter 17 · 5th century – present
Language and Literature
Kannada, a classical Dravidian language with a 1,500-year literary record, and the Mysore dialect that became its modern standard.
Chapter 18 · 17th century – present
Cuisine
Palace kitchens, Brahmin vegetarian traditions and the invention of Mysore pak and the Mysore masala dosa.
VI · Built Heritage
Chapter 19 · 9th century – 20th century
Architecture
Dravida temple form, Hoysala ornament, Indo-Saracenic public buildings and the planned civic architecture of the princely capital.
Chapter 20 · 14th century – 1945
Palaces of Mysore
Amba Vilas and six other royal residences make Mysuru the 'City of Palaces'; each records a different phase of Wadiyar rule.
Chapter 21 · 9th century – present
Temples and Sacred Sites
Chamundeshwari, Somanathapura, Talakadu's buried shrines, Srirangapatna's Ranganathaswamy and the Jain centre of Shravanabelagola.
VII · Economy and Institutions
Chapter 22 · 1799 – present
Economy and Industry
Sandalwood, silk, gold, hydroelectricity and steel: the princely state's industrial policy created much of Karnataka's modern economic base.
Chapter 23 · 1833 – present
Education and Research
From the Maharaja's College to CFTRI and the Oriental Research Institute, Mysuru has been a research city for more than a century.
Chapter 24 · 20th century – present
Tourism and Heritage Management
Palaces, parks, wildlife reserves and World Heritage sites — and the conservation pressures that come with several million annual visitors.
Chapter 25 · 17th century – present
Famous Personalities
Rulers, engineers, scholars, musicians and writers whose work is inseparable from the history of Mysore.