VoDeya xatriyIkaraNam

Source: “Mysore Modern: Rethinking the Region Under Princely Rule” by Janaki Nair

Actual conversion took much longer. The 1675 inscription referred to earlier was composed by none other than Tirumalarya, the promi- nent poet of Chikkadevaraja’s reign, who encouraged this conversion. The Srimanmaharajara Vamshavali reports that under the influence of “Brahmin Pradhan Tirumala Iyengar” (Tirumalarya), the Ursu clan exc sively adopted the Vaishnava faith and attempted to repudiate all links when Saivism, which was associated with Sudras." Thirteen upper-caste Ursu families took a pledge of allegiance to Vishnu and adopted the five acha- ras (types of conduct or behaviors) and related practices of Kshatriyas: “[Although we had] taken birth among the loftiest of kshatriyas, devotees of the Lotus Feet of the Lord, without understanding this faith, and out of ignorance abandoning our caste traditions, and in violation of the four varnashrama acharas [observance of caste customs], [we] became adher- ents of the religion of the Sudras, Saivism, [and] gave and took women in violation of caste norms.“12 Before long, the thirteen families pleaded that they be allowed to resume, alongside their new sectarian allegiance, the worship of their kula devatas (clan or family deities), whose neglect after their conversion had caused new hardships.13

Whatever may in fact be the position as regards the Kshatriya descent claimed by the ruling house of Mysore, Lord Birkenhead feels that since a claim to such descent has consistently been made, and the present Maharaja has married a Kathiawari Rajput lady, the suggestion that his Highness is, or might be, a Sudra, is likely to give offence… the GOI [Government of India] may think it well to take steps to secure that the Mysore House shall not be described as “Sudra” in official correspondence.65