Page 61 - Demo

Forging CharacterPusapati Vijayarama Gajapathi Raju was born on 1st May 1924, as the second child in the family, the first one being Princess Urmila Devi. This was cause for celebration as the th House of Pusapati now would have an heir, the 15 in the lineage of the House of Gajapathi. The birth took place in the zenana or the %u2018Round Mahal%u2019 inside the Fort in Vizianagaram. He would have two more siblings, his younger sister Jayashree Devi and a brother, younger by two years, Visweswara Gajapathi Raju to be known as Vishy.Today, this Round Mahal which was built in 1900 houses a teacher training institute and a law college. It reverberates to the sound of students as they walk through its green and cream-painted halls and the opulent spread of the verandahs, punctuated by wooden staircases spiralling up. The British had instituted a courtly show of pomp and glory in the courts of the native princes. In this labyrinthine system, the status of zamindaris, and princely states were intermixed. For instance, Darbhanga or 'Raj Darbhanga' was never officially made a princely state by the British despite stretching over 10,000 square kilometres, making the family the largest landowners in the country. It stayed as a zamindari which was a step below, likewise with the Vizianagaram Samasthanam. The hard currency in this economy of status was the Gun Salute (or to be declared a Salute State). Receiving a 21-gun salute was the highest for the native rulers, while the Viceroy got 31 and the King Emperor was entitled to 101.The first 'Prince' of Vizianagaram in this ranking was Maharaja Vijayarama Gajapathi III, who was officially awarded 51