Vikram draws his inspiration from Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison quote - If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it and he just did that right at the front end of his career.

One of the most definitive accounts of the Wodeyar Dynasty, Vikrams’s book ‘Splendours of Royal Mysore The Untold Story of the Wodeyars’ sketches the long and fascinating regime of the Maharajas of Mysore replete with wars, palace intrigues, romance, valour and deceit.

The book revisits the ups and downs of the dynasty over 600 years starting from the genesis in AD 1399 to the age of glory under Raja Wodeyar, Ranadhira Kanthirava Narasaraja Wodeyar and Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar down to the times of spineless monarchs who let the reigns of the kingdom slip into the hands of powerful ministers.

The book brings out the details of how Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan emerged as a veritable nightmare for the British East India Company and then moves on with the Wodeyars rule till the time of India’s independence. The highlights of the book include the growth of Mysore as a cultural capital of Southern India along with Tanjore (present day Thanjavur in Tamilnadu) in areas of classical music, dance, folk traditions, painting and literature during the six centuries period.

In a colourful function organized by Humanistic Studies Group and BITS Alumni Association (BITSAA) on 26 April 2008 in the Lecture Theatre Complex of BITS Pilani, Vikram Sampath’s book was launched by Prof L K Maheshwari Vice Chancellor of the Institute.

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