Mysore state

Mysore state is a former state of India, now Karnataka.

Mysore state has its origins as a small kingdom, based in the city of Mysore, which was established around 1400 as a tributary kingdom of the Vijayanagara empire. The empire collapsed after a severe military defeat in 1565, and shortly thereafter the Wodeyar family took control of the Mysore. From the seventeenth to the eighteenth centuries, Mysore was the chief city, but nearby Srirangapatna (Seringapatam) served as the royal seat. The Mysore Kingdom grew to include most of the southern part of modern-day Karnataka. By the end of the eighteenth century, the Mysore Kingdom found itself in conflict with the British East India Company, which was trying to expand its control in India. The British went to war with Mysore, and after the defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1799, the British annexed part of the state and installed the five-year-old Wodeyar heir on the throne, and Mysore became a princely state in British India. The capital was moved to Bangalore after 1830.

After Indian independence, Mysore acceded to India. In 1950, Mysore became an Indian state, and the former Maharaja became its rajpramukh, or governor. Mysore state was enlarged in 1956 to include Coorg and the Kannada-speaking portions of neighboring Madras, Hyderabad, and Bombay states, with an elected governor and state assembly. In 1973 the name of the state was changed to Karnataka. After accession to India, the Woyedar family was given a pension by the Indian state until 1975, and members of the family still reside in part of their ancestral palace in Mysore.