Descendents of Haifa War heroes elated

Jayanthi H N Urs, the granddaughter of Haifa war hero Col B P Krishne Urs, said she and her family members were elated to be honoured during the centenary commemoration of the ‘Battle of Haifa’, in Mysuru, recently.

The commemoration was held by the Haifa Centenary Celebration Committee, in the city, recently and Jayanthi Urs took part in it, along with her sister Manjula C Urs. Jayanthi Urs also had her husband Harin Nanjundaraj Urs, son Sanjay Urs, brother-in-law Prabhu Chennaraj Urs, nieces Sharada Urs and Lakshmi Urs and grand-nephew Sujan Urs, among the audience, while receiving the honours.

She said, it was a moment of pride for her and her family members to recall the courage and valour of their ancestor. “All members of the families of the war heroes were happy that their ancestors were remembered. My grandfather Krishne Urs had three daughters Indira Mallaraja Urs, Tripurasundarammanni Veera Raja Urs and Chandramathi Nanjundaraje Urs. While myself and Manjula Urs are the daughters of Indira Urs, my youngest aunt has three children.

They are Sripal N Urs, Gayathri Urs and Lakshmikantha Raja Urs,” she elaborates on her family members.

“Col B P Krishne Urs or Col Balagaly Puttayji Urs Krishne Urs is closely related to the Wadiyar kings. His wife Krishnajammanni was the elder sister of Yuvarani Kempu Cheluvajamanni. The Yuvarani, the wife of Yuvaraja Kanteerava Narasimharaja Wadiyar, is the mother of the 25th king of the Yadu dynasty Jayachamaraja Wadiyar,” she said.

“Even though we grew up listening to the tales that our grandfather had taken part in the World War I, not much was known about the actual history. We possess a lot of memorabilia of our grandfather since he was in the service of the then Maharaja Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. After his stint with the Mysuru Lancers, he was ADC to Wadiyar. I started reading about the war and the valour of my grandfather a couple of years back when my daughter Raksha Urs, who is in the USA, sent me some materials,” she said.

“Even though the history of our ancestors is widely read in Israel, as it is incorporated in the textbooks there, our own people know little about it. Despite having the memorials in both the national capital and state capitals — in New Delhi and Bengaluru — tales of the Haifa war were re-visited only when our then President Pranab Mukherjee visited Israel and paid his tributes at the memorial at Haifa,” Jayanthi Urs said.

She thanked the members and office-bearers of the Arasu associations and organisations, who took pains to trace the members of the families of the war heroes. It is a matter of pride for all Mysureans, as our heroes fought and won the wars on foreign lands despite many shortcomings, she added.