The Untold Past

Starting from the time of arrival of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498 at Kappad, the port city of Kochi in the princely state of Cochin became one of the most important trade centers in the world. It was the land of spices such as cardamom, cinnamon and clove especially Black Gold which gained prominence due to its high demand in Europe, Africa and all over the world. All these spices were exported from Kochi in huge ships for the purpose of trade. Subsequently trade became the primary activity in Kochi along with agriculture through which the spices and other exporting goods were produced. Vasco da Gama was a trading visionary for the Portuguese, but for other states he was a brutal savage who took efforts to ruin the Arabian and Chinese trade relations with Kochi that was already existing by the time he had reached; to establish a Portuguese trade hegemony in Kochi. A golden crown with 69 emeralds and other precious stones such as ruby and diamonds embedded around was gi...

The princely state of Mysore was ruled by the Wadiyars of the Yadava dynasty whose origin is traced back to Dwaraka in Gujarat. The term Wadiyar is derived from Odeyer that means master or lord in Kannada. The Wadiyar dynasty was founded by Yaduraya Wodeyar in 1399. He was not a native of Mysore as he was the prince of Dwaraka. The oral traditions state that the journey of Yaduraya from his kingdom in Dwarka to Mysore was inspired by a divine thought which he saw in his dream, there are also claims that it was due to hallucination. The Early History of the Wadiyars are recorded in literary works such as the Mysuru Nagarada and Purvottara. Before the Wadiyars the region of Mysore and Karnataka was ruled by other dynasties of South India: the Pallavas(AD 200-430), the Gangas of Talakad(AD 350-1050), the Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra(AD 1022-1342) and the Vijayanagara emperors. In the later phase Karnataka was also ruled by the Bahmani Sultanate and Sultanat-e-Khudabad Mysore the kingdom of...