Chikka Virarajendra

He spent some years in Benares before going to England along with his favourite daughter Gouramma to plead in court for the return of his kingdom.

One of his daughters, Muddama Mussamat (Ganga Maharani), became the third wife of Jung Bahadur Rana marrying at Benares in December 1850.

Some time later an East India Company messenger passing from Malabar to Mysore was detained by Chikka Rajendra.

He then went on to set the record right:[5] "To make the already overflowing cup of bitterness more galling, I am described in "Thornton's History of British India" as tyrannical, haughty, and everything that a prince or ruler ought not to be; in fact, that my whole life was one of vice and infamy;... not knowing or thinking that the party on whom he had lavished so many disgraceful epithets would ever be in this country to confront him, and not only to deny the truth of the statement, but to be willing, ready, and able to prove that there is no foundation for that which he has written"His health declined and he died on 24 September 1859 at his residence 20, Clifton Villas, Warwick Road, Maida Hill West.

[7] The famous Kannada litterateur and Jnanpith Award recipient, Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, wrote a critically acclaimed book, Chikavira Rajendra, based on the life and times of that ruler.

This book is widely noted for its balanced handling of the subject; it neither comprises a litany of the supposed misdeeds of the protagonist, nor emerges as a tract against the British.

With support for his rule rapidly diminishing, Chikka Virarajendra is on course for an all-out conflict with the British Raj and takes refuge in Nalknad Palace.