The benevolent ruler of Mysore and Sir M.Visweswaraya, Engineer-Statesman and the then Dewan of Mysore, were the pioneers in establishing this University. The University came into existence on 27th July, 1916, as the sixth in the country and the very first in the erstwhile Princely State of Mysore.

Maharaja’s College, which was the nucleus of the University in the beginning, is now a Constituent College offering Undergraduate Courses in Arts, Commerce and Business Management and Post graduate course in Criminology and Forensic Science. Majority of the departments offer Ph.D programmes too. Maharaja’s College celebrated its centenary in the year 1951.

In the field of education, Maharaja’s College has been shining with a brilliance and grandeur of its own. It is one of the oldest, biggest and greatest educational institutions of India, blessed by the liberal patronage of the benevolent Wodeyar Monarchs of Mysore. Mysore, the erstwhile beautiful capital of Mysore State, also described as ‘the Oxford of South India’, has been the home of this excellent Alma Mater. Mysore, which is situated at the north-western base of the much revered and renowned Chamundi Hills, is built in a valley formed by three ridges running north and south. The College building is located on the second ridge. From this wonderful location with its magnificent prospect of an undulating county which appears to extend as far as the horizon, it creates the impressive scene of the gigantic waves of the ocean petrified into stillness."... ... the College is the most beautiful object for contemplation during the evenings, when it is bathed with soft yellow glow of the rays of the setting sun”, as rightly said by Prof. M.V. Krishna Rao, the renowned author of the Gangas of Talkad.