The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript (1821 CE)
By Jyotsna Kamat

Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar had the longest reign among rulers of Mysore (1799 - 1868). He had varied interests in life -- music, painting, literature -- each of which he loved and tried his hand in. He spent liberally on promotion of learning and patronized a number of scholars. He is credited with the authorship of 109 works in Kannada and Sanskrit! It was a common custom in royal courts for littérateurs to write and dedicate their works to their patrons, or to seek permission to lend his name to their writings. But, among the works attributed to Mummadi, scholars are united in identifying some Devata-Stutis (hymns in praise of Gods), a work on games and Sougandhika Parinaya (wedding of Sugandhika), a prose romance, as Mummadi's own creation.

Sougandhika Parinaya (Parinaya = wedding) was a new experiment in prose-writing. Neither borrowed nor adopted, it has a mythological theme written in puranic style. The same work was later rendered into poetry (6,000 verses) and a play was also written, showing its popularity.

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