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Thanjavur Nayak kingdom

{{Short description|16th-17th century rulers of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu}}

{{use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}

{{use Indian English|date=January 2016}}

{{Infobox country

| native_name =

| conventional_long_name = Thanjavur Nayaka Dynasty

| common_name = Thanjavur Nayak

| year_start = 1532

| year_end = 1673

| p1 = Chola Empire

| p2 = Vijayanagara Empire

| s1 = Thanjavur Marathas

| s2 =

| image_map = Tanjore Nayak Kingdom.jpg

| image_map_caption = Approximate extent of the Thanjavur Nayak Kingdom, c. 1572

| capital = Thanjavur

| common_languages = Telugu, Tamil

| government_type = Monarchy

| title_leader = King

| religion = Hinduism

}}

The Thanjavur Nayak dynasty (or Thanjavur Nayak kingdom) were the rulers of Thanjavur in the 15th and 17th centuries founded by Sevappa Nayaka.{{cite book |last=Vriddhagirisan |first=V. |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=GD_6ka-aYuQC }} |title=The Nayaks of Tanjore |date=1995}} The Nayaks, who were Telugu Balijas,* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak9csfpY2WoC |title=Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia |author2= |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=9780520228214 |editor1-last=Sheldon Pollock |volume= |page=413 |quote=.... in the seventeenth century, when warriors/traders from the Balija caste acquired kingship of the southern kingdoms of Madurai and Tanjavur.}}

  • {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFXVDwAAQBAJ |title=Classical Telugu Poetry |author2= |publisher=University of California Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780520344525 |editor1-last=David Dean Shulman |volume= |page=57 |quote=..... in the Tamil country, where Telugu Balija families had established local Nāyaka states (in Senji, Tanjavur, Madurai, and elsewhere) in the course of the sixteenth century.}}
  • {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0K98afLnhAC |title=Politics and Social Conflict in South India |author2= |publisher=University of California Press |year=1969 |editor1-last=Eugene F. Irschick |volume= |page=8 |quote=The successors of the Vijayanagar empire, the Nayaks of Madura and Tanjore, were Balija Naidus}}
  • {{Cite journal |author2= |year=2007 |editor1-last=Dr. B.Ramachndra Reddy R. Nata Rajan |title=Identity and Crisis of Telugu Migrants of Tamil Region |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nfP89eJuycC |journal=Itihas |publisher=Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institute |volume=33 |page=145 |quote=....It is told that the Nayak Kings of Madurai and Tanjore were Balijas , who had marital relations among themselves and with the Vijaya Nagara rulers, and so were appointed as the rulers of these regions.}}
  • {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWkjsvf6_vsC |title=Caste and Race in India |author2= |publisher=Popular Prakashan |year=1969 |isbn=9788171542055 |editor1-last=G. S. Ghurye |volume= |page=106 |quote=The Nayak kings of Madura and Tanjore were Balijas, traders by caste}}
  • {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbm_Oyo8XFMC |title=Castes, Communities, and Culture in Andhra Desa, 17th & 18th Centuries, A.D |author2= |publisher=Osmania University |year=1996 |editor1-last=A. Satyanarayana, Mukkamala Radhakrishna Sarma |volume= |page=145 |quote=After the fall of the dynasty several Balija Nayudu chieftains rose into prominence. Tanjore and Madura kingdoms were the most important of such new kingdoms}}
  • {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7whuAAAAMAAJ |title=Dominance and State Power in Modern India: Decline of a Social Order |author2= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780195620986 |editor1-last=Francine R. Frankel, M. S. A. Rao |volume= |page=30 |quote=The Nayak kings of Madura and Tanjore were balijas ( traders )}}
  • {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQJuAAAAMAAJ |title=The Mughal State, 1526-1750 |author2= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-19-563905-6 |editor1-last=Muzaffar Alam |volume= |page=35 |quote=As an arrangement, the Golconda practice in the first half of the seventeenth century was quite similar in crucial respects to what obtained further south, in the territories of the Chandragiri ruler, and the Nayaks of Senji, Tanjavur and Madurai. Here too revenue-farming was common, and the ruling families were closely allied to an important semi-commercial, semi-warrior caste group, the Balija Naidus.}}
  • {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znFuAAAAMAAJ |title=Symbols of Substance Court and State in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-19-563021-3 |editor1=Velcheru Narayana Rao |volume= |page=10 |quote=Originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Balija merchant- warriors reveal the rise of hitherto marginal, and only recently politicized.. These mobile, aggressive, land-hungry, Telugu-speaking warriors...helped to build the Nāyaka state-system and to impregnate it with their particular cultural vision; strong surviving traditions; supported by contemporary evidence, assert Balija origins and / or marital connections for the major Nāyaka dynasties in the Tamil country quite apart from the well-known Balija role in restructuring the revenue systems of Nāyaka Tanjavur and Madurai |editor2=David Dean Shulman |editor3=Sanjay Subrahmanyam}}

were originally appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagara Emperor in the 15th century, who divided the territory into Nayak kingdoms which were Madurai, Thanjavur and Gingee.

  • {{cite book |last=Mukund |first=Kanakalatha|author-link=Kanakalatha Mukund |title=The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant: Evolution of Merchant Capitalism in the Coromandel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjXdDYChdGsC&pg=PA46 |date=1999 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-1661-8 |page=43|quote=Perhaps in order to extend more centralised control over the major resource regions, between 1500 and 1550, the Tamil country was reorganised into three major principalities, at Tanjavur, Madurai and Gingee (Senji), with Telugu nayakas as viceroys appointed by the emperor.}}
  • {{cite book|editor1-last=George Michell |author2=|title=Architecture and Art of Southern India: Vijayanagara and the Successor States 1350-1750

|volume=|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1995|page=13|isbn=978-0-521-44110-0|quote= It was under the Tuluvas in the first half of the sixteenth century that the first of the warrior chiefs from the Telugu region were posted as Nayakas at the strategic centres of Gingee , Thanjavur and Madurai. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6bphUvvPf4C }}

In the mid-15th century they became an independent kingdom, although they continued their alliance with the Vijayanagara Empire.Harmony of Religions: Vedānta Siddhānta Samarasam of Tāyumānavar, Thomas Manninezhath The Thanjavur Nayaks were notable for their patronage of literature and the arts.[http://www.sarasvatimahallibrary.tn.nic.in/Thanjavur/Thanjavur_Nayaks/thanjavur_nayaks.html Thanjavur Nayak kings] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618091440/http://www.sarasvatimahallibrary.tn.nic.in/Thanjavur/Thanjavur_Nayaks/thanjavur_nayaks.html |date=18 June 2006 }}{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130222081738/http://www.tanjore.net/history.htm Tanjore History]}}

{{TOC limit|3}}

Origins

The Thanjavur Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh. According to the Tiruvanamalai Temple inscription ( A.D. 1556 ) mention, Timmappa Nayaka belonged to the Kavarai community, and his son, Sevappa Nayaka was appointed to the Nayakship of Thanjavur.

|volume= |publisher=Thanjavur Maharaja Serfoji's Saraswathi Mahal Library |year=1999|page=5|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZmQpwAACAAJ }}

  • {{cite book|editor1-last=P. R. Srinivasan |author2=|title=Tiruvannamalai: A Saiva Sacred Complex of South India

|volume= |publisher=French Institute of Pondicherry |year=1989|page=523|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KxvZIgf2icC }}

  • {{cite book|editor1-last=Kalladan |author2=|title=Varalatru vayilgal

|volume= |publisher=Kuzhali publication |year=2003|page=37|isbn=|quote= | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wDBuAAAAMAAJ }}

Kavarai is the Tamil name for Balijas who have settled in Tamil Nadu.

  • {{cite book |last=Mukund |first=Kanakalatha|author-link=Kanakalatha Mukund |title=The Trading World of the Tamil Merchant: Evolution of Merchant Capitalism in the Coromandel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjXdDYChdGsC&pg=PA46 |date=1999 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-1661-8 |page=46|quote=Kavarai (the Tamil word for Balija merchants)}}
  • {{cite book|editor1-last=Niels Brimnes |author2=|title=Constructing the Colonial Encounter: Right and Left Hand Castes in Early Colonial South India

|volume= |publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136819209 |year=2019|page=189|quote=The deserters, who defined themselves as maga nadu tesattar, consisted of right hand castes and were headed by Vellalas and Tamilized Balijas, known as Kavarais. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIsECwAAQBAJ }}

  • {{cite book|editor1-last=R. Nagaswamy |author2=|title=Studies in South Indian History and Culture

|volume= |publisher=V.R. Ramachandra Dikshitar Centenary Committee |year=1997|page=321|quote=Turning now to another Telugu group, the Balijas, also called Kavarai, it appears that although this was a trading caste, members could also take to textile manufacture.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_kRuAAAAMAAJ }}

  • {{cite book|editor1-last=Jawaharlal Nehru University. Centre for Historical Studies |author2=|title=Studies in History

|volume=11, 6 |publisher=Sage|isbn= |year=1995|page=8|quote=English trade in Madras, the much sought after, and obviously lucrative, exclusive contracts for trading with the English Company (both for supplying textiles and other goods and buying the European goods) had been cornered by the Right side merchants, especially the Balijas (often referred to as the Kavarai in Tamil).| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LG0MAQAAMAAJ }}

  • {{cite book|editor1-last=Ananda Ranga Pillai, John Frederick Price |author2=|title=The Private Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, Dubash to Joseph François Dupleix, Governor of Pondicherry: A Record of Matters, Political, Historical, Social, and Personal, from 1736-1761

|volume=2 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |year=1984|page=67|isbn=|quote=The Kavarais, known also as Balijas, are the trading caste of the Telugus, and belong to the right hand.| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7yRuAAAAMAAJ }}

  • {{cite book|editor1-last=R. Roque, K. Wagner |author2=|title=Engaging Colonial Knowledge: Reading European Archives in World History

|volume= |publisher=Springer |year=2011|page=170|isbn=9780230360075 |quote=Within the right hand division the leading individuals were from the communities of Vellalas and Kavarais. The former constituted, as in other parts of Tamil Nadu, the established agricultural elite, while the latter were Telugu-speaking Balija Chetties, who had settled in Tamil country. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2OADAAAQBAJ }}

|volume= |publisher=Springer |year=1976|page=223|isbn=978-1-349-02746-0|quote=Kavarai was merely the Tamil equivalent of the Telugu word Balija| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHCwCwAAQBAJ }}

The Mannaru (Vishnu) of the Mannargudi temple was their kula deivam (family deity).Nayaks of Tanjore, by V. Vriddhagirisan, p.26

{{TNhistory}}

Literature

{{Expand section|date=December 2019}}

Telugu and Tamil literature flourished during the reign of Nayakas in Tanjavur which was referred to as the Southern School of Tamil and Telugu Literature.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOlNv8MAXIEC&q=literature+tajavur+nayaks+telugu&pg=PA269|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1998|isbn=9780824049461|language=en}} Many Telugu and Tamil musicians and pandits were part of their court.

History

=Historical time=

With the end of the Chola Empire in 1279, Thanjavur was ruled by a branch of Chola dynasty, until the Vijayanagara Empire conquered all of southern India by the late 14th century. In 1532 CE, Achyuta Deva Raya, the brother and successor of Krishna Deva Raya of Vijayanagara Empire, granted Sevappa Nayak, the governor of Thanjavur{{Citation needed|reason=Evidence for Sevappa already being governor of Thanjavur|date=December 2023}}, the permission to establish a feudatory kingdom.

=Sevappa Nayak=

{{HistoryOfSouthAsia}}

Sevappa Nayak (1532–1580) was the first Thanjavur Nayak king. He was the son of Timmappa Nayak, a Vijayanagara viceroy in the Arcot region through his wife Bayyambika. The work Raghunathabhyudayam written by Vijayaraghava Nayaka gives some genealogical details of Timmappa. Timmappa or Timmabhupati was the ruler of North Arcot with his capital at Nedungunram.Nayaks of Tanjore, by V. Vriddhagirisan, p.27 The epigraphs of all of the Tanjore Nayaks show that they belonged to Nedungunram. One of Krishnadevaraya's epigraphs mentions that Timmappa also had the high privilege of serving him as a door keeper (vasal) and was the emperor's dalavay (commander) who took part in the Raichur campaign.[{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=GD_6ka-aYuQC |page=26 }} Nayaks of Tanjore, by V. Vriddhagirisan, p.27] According to historian V. Vriddhagirisan, Timmappa Nayak was the brother of Nagama Nayak.Nayaks of Tanjore by V. Vriddhagirisn, p.151 Nagama Nayak was the father of Visvanatha Nayak (founder of the Madurai Nayak dynastic line). Hence Viswanatha Nayak and Sevappa Nayak were the cousins.

Before assuming power of the Tanjore kingdom, Sevappa had distinguished himself under Krishnadavaraya as an administrator and a builder. Sevappa's wife Murtimamba was the sister-in-law of Achyuta Deva Raya and the sister of the Vijayanagara Queen, Thirumalamba. Some sources suggest that Sevappa acquired the Thanjavur Kingdom as Stridhana from Achyutadeva Raya. Sevappa was also a ceremonial betel bearer to Achyuta Deva Raya, the brother of Krishnadevaraya.

According to the M. Anant Narayan Rao, the "position of a ceremonial betel bearer or adaiappan (thambul karandivan) was a post given to a very trusted subordinate and Sevappa being a powerful and influential man of the locality was appointed the first Nayak of Thanjavur".{{Cite book |last=Rao |first=M. Anant Narayan |title=Arunachala: A short history of hill and temple in Tiruvannamalai |date=1947 |pages=54–55}} The position of a betel bearer was usually not given to an outsider, as this position would make the man privy to all of the king's personal details. Therefore, the position was usually given to a trusted member within the family.

His contributions include building the prakaras at the temples of Vridhachalam and Kanchipuram, gilding the Vimanas of Srisailam and Thirumala (Tirupati) temples with gold, construction of the tallest temple tower (gopuram) at Tiruvannamalai, and repairing the Sivaganga Fort and the tank at Tanjore.Madras (India : State). Record Office. (1957). Tanjore District Handbook, p. 51. Superintendent Government Press.Irāmaccantiran̲ Nākacāmi, R. Nagaswamy. (2003). Facets of South Indian art and architecture, Volume 1, p.192. Aryan Books International. {{ISBN|8173052468}}

=Achuthappa Nayak=

Sevappa's son, Achuthappa Nayak (1560–1614), was named in memory of Achyuta Deva Raya. He led a peaceful reign of 54 years. Up until 1580 Achuthappa Nayak co-ruled with his father under the Yuvaraja title while immediately after that he was joined by his heir, son Raghunatha Nayak. He was said to be deeply religious and was well considered a master in the art of warfare. His minister was Govinda Dikshitar, a great scholar and a shrewd administrator. His long reign was of comparative peace apart from the internal struggles enabling him to contribute much to spiritual and public utility development.

== Conflicts and wars ==

=== Wars with Madurai ===

During the reign of Achuthappa, the Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by the Deccan sultanates armies at the battle of Talikota. Later when the Vijaynagara rulers re-established their capital in Chandragiri and Vellore under Sriranga Rayas, Achuthappa Nayak continued his loyalty while Gingee and Madurai Nayaks intended to break free by refusing to pay tribute. This would also lead to bitter animosity between the Madurai Nayaks and the Tanjore Nayaks ultimately leading to the Battle at Vallamprakara where the Tanjore army with the Rayas fought against Veerappa Nayak of Madurai by defeating the latter. This happened at the same time as when the Rayas of Chandragiri were waging wars with the Deccan Sultanates in southern Andhra Pradesh, Achuthappa Nayak provided support.

=== Wars with Portugal ===

Portugal controlled the Nagapattinam territory as well as the Colombo province in Ceylon and the entire West Coast of India. The King of Jaffna kingdom went into a war against Portugal against the methods adopted by the missionary conversions in Jaffna. Later King of Jaffna sought help from the Tanjore Nayaks in repelling Portuguese advances through many battles['Nayek of Tanjore sends an army of Vadugas with King Varuna Gulata (Varnakula Aditya/Nilayitta) of the Karieas to assist'; The temporal and spiritual conquest of Ceylon, Fernão de Queyroz, p. 468]

=== Public contributions ===

Achuthappa Nayak was deeply religious from his young days and the fertile nature of his country helped him make large contributions in gifts and infrastructure to major Temples and also important irrigation systems. The main benefactor was the Srirangam Temple. His assistant and advisor was his minister Govinda Dikshita.

=== Srirangam Temple ===

File:Srirangam 1909 stonecarving.jpg

The Srirangam Temple towers (Gopurams) of the North and West and the eighth Prakara (temple Wall Street) and several Halls (Mandapam) inside the Temple complex were built by him. The Golden Vimana of the inner most shrines (Temple Flag) and the image of God studded with Crown jewels was presented by Achuthappa Nayak.

===Other Temples===

His other major contributions include the Pushyamantapas (Halls) with steps leading to river Cauvery in Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvidaimarudur, Tiruvadi and Kumbakonam and Golden Kalasas of Tiruvannamalai Temple Gopurams (Towers) some of the Gopurams in Rameswaram. Several temples in Arcot and Tanjore regions namely Temples in Tiruvidaimarudur and Chidambaram received villages as grants.

===Irrigation===

His one remarkable contribution is the construction of a dam across Cauvery near Tiruvadi leading to efficient irrigation in its vicinity.

===Housing===

Numerous Agraharas (housing for Brahmins) in Tanjore country were built in his period.

==Final years==

During his last days the Rayas now ruling from Chandragiri and Vellore had rival claimants within the family to the title and were heading for a war with the other Nayak kings taking sides with some suited to their vested interests.

=Raghunatha Nayak=

Raghunatha Nayak (1600–1634) is the most powerful king of Nayaks of Tanjore. He is famous for his patronage of literature other scholarly research. One of his wives, Ramabhadramba was highly educated and a gifted poet. During his time he granted military assistance to the Chandragiri ruler Venkata II to recover most of his lost areas from the Golconda forces. In 1620 Raghunatha Nayak permitted a Danish settlement at Tarangambadi. This encouraged the English to seek trade with the Thanjavur Nayaks. The Tanjore cannon or Raghunatha cannon, supposed to be the largest cannon in the world was installed during Raghunatha Nayak, built with Danish metallurgy know how.{{cite web|title= Living History: A cannon in monumental neglect - The Hindu

|url= http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/living-history-a-cannon-in-monumental-neglect/article2848696.ece|work=The Hindu|date=2012-01-02}}

File:Thanjavur cannon.jpg installed during

reign]]

Raghunatha was a gifted scholar in Sanskrit, Kannada and Telugu languages, as well as a talented musician. His court was distinguished for its assembly of poets and scholars. Ragunatha is credited with writing several books on music and literature.{{cite web

|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2005102500551700.htm&date=2005/10/25/&prd=br&

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071106031237/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2005102500551700.htm&date=2005/10/25/&prd=br&

|url-status=usurped

|archive-date=6 November 2007

|title= Cultural heritage of Andhra region |work=The Hindu |access-date=2008-06-14}} Maduravani and Ramabhadramba were two famous poets in his court, while Sudhindra and Raghavendra were two famous Madhva gurus patronised by him. Govinda Dikshita's son Yajnanarayana has written an account on Raghunatha's rule in his work Sahitya Ratnakara. Raghunatha was a gifted scholar and an expert in the art of swordplay, a fine marksman and a skilled master in horse riding. In the field of music, Raghunatha created new ragas, talas, and melas like Jayanta sena (Ragam), Ramananda (Talam), Sargita vidya and Raghunatha (Mela). His Sanskrit treatise on music, Sangita Sudha opened the secrets of music to all. Raghunatha also composed kavyas and dance-dramas like Prabandkas, Parijatapaharana, Valmika Charitra Kavya, Achyutendrabhyudayam, Gajendramoksham, Nala Caritiam and Rukmini Krishna Vivaha Yakshagana.{{cite web|url=http://www.tamilartsacademy.com/journals/volume18/articles/article7.htm |title=Introduction To Sangitasudha |publisher=Tamilartsacademy.com |access-date=2013-09-25}}{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=GD_6ka-aYuQC |page=108 }} |title=Nayaks of Tanjore - V. Vriddhagirisan - Google Books |access-date=2013-09-25}}

It was during Raghunatha's reign that a palace library was established. Sarasvati Bhandar is where the manuscripts of Raghunatha's prolific court scholars were collected and preserved. This library was developed and enriched later by Rajah Serfoji II into the currently famous Saraswati Mahal Library.{{cite news

|title= The colourful world of the Nayaks |work=The Hindu |date=2005-08-05}}

==Civil war in Vellore==

During Raghunatha's rule, a civil war involving succession to the throne was taking place in the Vijayanagara Kingdom, now based in Vellore and Chandragiri. Gobburi Jagga Raya, brother of the previous ruler Venkata II's favourite Queen Obayamma claimed her putative son as the King and murdered Sriranga II along with his family in the Vellore Prison. Jagga Raya was strongly challenged by Yachamanedu, the chief of Kalahasti who claimed the throne for Rama Deva, the rightful heir whom he had smuggled out from the Vellore Prison. Jagga Raya sought help from the Gingee Nayak and Muttu Virappa of Madurai to attack Yachamanedu and Rama Deva. Yachamanedu and Ramadeva sought support from Raghunatha, who still treated the Vijaynagar as his authority.

== The Battle of Toppur ==

{{main|Battle of Toppur}}

Jagga Raya assembled a large army near Tiruchirappalli, the capital of Muttu Virappa comprising the armies of Gingee, Chera, Madurai, and some Portuguese from the coast. Yachama led the forces of Vijayanagara and Kalahasti from Vellore and was joined midway by Tanjore forces headed by Raghunatha.Yachama's army was further strengthened by nobles from Karnataka and (according to some accounts) Dutch and Jaffna armies.

Both the Armies met at the Toppur, at an open field on the northern banks of River Cauvery, between Tiruchirappalli and Grand Anicut in late months of 1616. The huge assembly of forces on either side is estimated to be as many as a million soldiers (according to Dr. Barradas in Sewell's Book) and considered to be one of the biggest battles in southern India.

== Result ==

In the Battle Jagga Raya's troops could not withstand the aggression generated by the imperial forces. Yachama and Raghunatha, the generals of the imperial camp led their forces with great discipline. Jagga Raya was slain by Yachama, and his army broke the ranks and took flight. Yethiraja, the brother of Jagga Raya, had to run for his life. Muttu Virappa tried to escape, he was pursued by Yachama's general Rao Dama Nayani who captured him near Tiruchirapalli. The Nayak of Gingee in the war lost all his forts except Gingee Fort and the putative son of Venkata II, cause of all trouble was captured. The Victory was celebrated by the imperial armies headed by Raghunatha and Yachamanedu, who planted pillars of Victory and crowned Rama Deva as Rama Deva Raya, in early months of 1617. Rama Deva Raya was barely 15 years old when he ascended the throne.

=Vijaya Raghava Nayak=

Vijaya Raghava Nayak (1634–1673), was the last of the Nayak Kings of Thanjavur. He was also called Mannaru Dasa; and like the rest of his family, he built prakaras, gopurams, mandapams and tanks in the Mannargudi Rajagopalaswamy temple.{{cite news| url=http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/05/23/stories/2004052300310400.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041118011437/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/05/23/stories/2004052300310400.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=2004-11-18 | location=Chennai, India | work=The Hindu | title=Shrine in the forest | date=2004-05-23}} Vijayaraghava's long reign witnessed a large amount of literary output both in music and Telugu literature. Vijayaraghava's court had a number of poets and literary scholars. Vijayaraghava Nayak wrote more than thirty books in Telugu. His long reign was sadly brought to an abrupt end by Chokkanatha Nayak of Madurai.

End of Nayak rule

{{See also|Chokkanatha Nayak}}

The end of the Thanjavur Nayak dynasty was brought on by Chokkanatha Nayak, the Nayak of Madurai. The dispute was due to the refusal of Vijaya Ragava Nayak to give his daughter in marriage to Chokkanatha Nayak. Chokkantha determined to fetch the maiden by force back into their capital, successfully stormed the Thanjavur palace in 1673 after flattening much of the fort walls by cannons. But Chokkanatha Nayak was thwarted in his attempts by Vijaya Ragava Nayak, when he, in a gruesome act of defiance, blew up his daughter and all the other ladies of the palace. He then charged at the attacking army with his son and his body-guard. He was captured after a brief fight, and was beheaded by the Madurai General Samukham Venkata Krishnappa Nayak.

Maratha conquest

{{Main|Ekoji's conquest of Tanjore}}

Chokkanatha placed his younger brother Alagiri Nayak on the throne of Thanjavur, but within a year the latter threw off his allegiance, and Chokkanatha was forced to recognise the independence of Thanjavur. Chengamala Das, the son of Vijaya Raghava induced the Bijapur Sultan to help him get back the Thanjavur throne.Vink, Marcus (2015). Encounters on the Opposite Coast: The Dutch East India Company and the Nayaka State of Madurai in the Seventeenth Century, pp.424-425. BRILL, 2015. {{ISBN|9004272623}}. In 1675, the Sultan of Bijapur sent a force commanded by the Maratha general Venkoji (alias Ekoji) to drive away the Madurai usurper. Venkaji defeated Alagiri with ease, and occupied Thanjavur. He did not, however, place his protege on the throne, but seized the kingdom and made himself king due to the disintegration of the Bijapur state. Thus ended the reign of Nayaks and the start of Maratha power in Thanjavur.

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Bibliography

  • Nagaswamy, R Tamil Coins- a study, (1970), State Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu
  • Vriddhagirisan V, Nayaks of Tanjore, {{ISBN|8120609964}}, Reprint Annamalainagar 1942 edn., 1995
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  • [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=4Ju6z8PbTuAC }} Penumbral Visions - by Sanjay Subrahmanyam]
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  • "Thanjavur - A Cultural History", Pradeep chakravarthy, Niyogi books

External links

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  • {{cite web

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|title=A Marvel of Medieval Indian Metallurgy: Thanjavur's Forge-Welded Iron Cannon by Balasubramaniam, R, Saxena, A, Anantharaman, Tanjore R, Reguer, S, Dillmann}}

{{Thanjavur district}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thanjavur Nayak Kingdom}}

Category:States and territories established in 1572

Category:Nayak dynasties

Category:Tamil Nadu under the Vijayanagara Empire

Category:Telugu people

Category:Hindu monarchs

Category:Telugu monarchs

Category:History of Thanjavur

Category:1532 in India