Background
Jayalalithaa, was born on 24 February 1948, at Melukote, in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Mysore State (now Karnataka). Her grandfather was in the service of the then Mysore kingdom as a surgeon, and the prefix Jaya (the victorious) was added to the names of various of her family members to reflect their association with Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar of Mysore.[1] Her mother called her Komalavalli. Jayalalithaa's father died when she was two years old. Her mother then moved to Bangalore, where her parents lived, with Jayalalithaa.