Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. A 400-year-old curse has come back to haunt the Wadiyar royals of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore every time a King dies. It all started in 1612, when Raja Wadiyar took over Mysore, then under the Vijayanagara Empire, after dethroning the ailing Tirumalaraja. After the change of guard, Tirumalaraja's wife Alamelamma took all the royal ornaments and escaped to Talakadu, an area in the vicinity. According to historians, Alamelamma was upset about what she considered was her husband's unceremonious ouster from the ruler's chair.