NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old economics graduate was crowned on Thursday maharaja of a centuries-old royal family in southern India in an elaborate ceremony involving 40 priests and attended by 1,000 well-heeled guests.

At 15 temples spread throughout opulent palace grounds in the city of Mysore, Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar was inducted as the 27th head of the Wodeyar dynasty which once ruled swathes of southern India in a two day event.

Wodeyar, a recent economics and English graduate from Boston University, succeeded Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar who died in 2013 of a heart attack.

Srikantadatta was childless and did not name an heir but his widow Pramoda Devi adopted the young Wodeyar, a relative, at a ceremony in February.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2015

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