Maharaja’s College, Mysore is one of the oldest and most influential centres of higher education in southern India, closely tied to the making of the University of Mysore and to the Wadiyar dynasty’s education policy. It was initially meant to provide elementary education (English literature, mathematics, Kannada, Hindustani, Marathi) at state expense to a small elite in Mysore. By the late 19th century the school had been upgraded to a high school and then to a second‑grade college, affiliated to the University of Madras; BA classes were added and withdrawn a few times as numbers fluctuated. In 1894 it became a “first‑grade” college, formally recognised as Maharaja’s College, Mysore, with full BA programmes, making it one of the earliest degree colleges in southern India outside the Madras Presidency’s direct control.
The present Indo‑Saracenic main building was begun in the late 1880s and completed in the early 1890s, on what was then Gordon Park in Mysore. The structure is noted for its long arcaded verandahs, central tower or mansard‑like roof, and decorative classical details such as pilasters and moulded capitals, and it became a visual model for the later Yuvaraja’s College building nearby.