MAHARAJAH'S VISIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 183, 4 August 1936, Page 9

MAHARAJAH'S VISIT.

TAKES OWN GODDESS.

TEMPLE IN LONDON HOTEL.

HIS MANY INHIBITIONS.

(Special.—By Air Mail.)

LONDON, July *11.

Preparations are being made at a London hotel to receive a visitor who entertains on such a scale that he liar, to maintain a fleet of 80 motor cais. He is the Maharajah of Mysore, one of the largest native States in India. London will, see him next week. The Maharajah is now on his way

to England in the liner Ranpura, accomI panied by a retinue of 30 servants. With him, too, comes the family goddess, a | J small golden image called Ohainundes- ] I wari. Accommodation is being prepared j ! for the principal members of the party | i at the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, j 'Orders have been received at the hotel j j for a large sittingrooin to be stripped of its furniture and made ready for the j goddess —it will be a temple oil a small i The Maharajah, a devout Hindu, be- ! lon<nn°- to the Kshatriva, or the mili- ! tarv caste, will use this room loi : religious rites to be performed by priests ! travelling with him. This wealthy j ruler of 6,500,000 people controller of I annual revenue amounting to £2.500,000 I is forbidden by his religion to eat any I kind of meat. And he shuns eggs, fish i and fowl. He will subsist entirely on ! vegetables during his two and a half months' stay in England. A part of . ! the hotel kitchens will be set aside for i the exclusive use of his two cooks. This i will be his first visit to England. ; An official of the Mysore offices in ' London declared that the Maharajah I seeks escape from the burden of grief 5 placed upon him by the death of his mother and his favourite sister. This : ' official taid, "'How he will find enter-l-iainment I do not -know. has _no

"liking for theatres and cinemas. In fact lie would rather entertain, than be entertained. Banquets will give little pleasure to the Maharajah, for, added to liis scrupulous observance of Hindu food laws he neither smokes nor drinks." Water from the holy Ganges is the oniy beverage he will take at home. In London lie will drink water after it has been blessed by his spiritual priests.