“An artist is not one who makes, but one who finds,” S V Raman quoted from Goethe at the launch of Vikram Sampath’s Splendours of Mysore. And by these criteria, Sampath is artiste supreme, for there is a veritable wealth of historical discovery in his new saga.

The Wodeyar dynasty is the subject of the book, which covers the socio-political history, art and culture, and daily goings-on of the family who ruled the princely state from 1399-1947. His condensation of 600 years into 700 pages certainly impressed Raman, who praised the author’s “tremendous efforts at studying and archiving”.

Sampath’s initial interest in Mysore stemmed from “the city’s unique role in the history of India - for example, Mysore is the first state which gave a spirited resilience to British colonialism.” Unhappy about the lack of “any book covering such a long and exciting phase of our history”, the writer took his opportunity.

An excerpt read by Punam Singh gave us a taste of the book’s dramatic content. Full of battle cries, courageous fighting, and age-old questions of valour, the reading concluded with a lesson to a young warrior, ‘it is better to live like a lion for a day than a jackal for 100 years’. Much of the action however, is off the battlefield, and inside the state’s palaces, political councils, and bedchambers; Sampath has left no aspect of the Wodeyars’ life unwritten.

It was fitting, then, for Prof. Bharati Ray to commend him for ‘giving enough space to women, both in public and private. You have made history what it should be. Women - like men - like power,’ she continued, joking that there was enough in ‘Splendours of Mysore’ to please even her most feminist friends.

Filmmaker Goutam Ghose sees much potential in the book for cinematic adaptation. “Sampath’s book is a sincere and comprehensive work which shows the conflict, contradiction and splendour of the royals of Mysore, and I found valuable material for cinema here,” the filmmaker stated. He then took the liberty of comparing the price of the book (Rs 1500) to the cost of whiskey, advising “avoid a few bottles of Scotch - you’ll get a much better kick out of this!”