Nayaks of Gingee
Encyclopedia
The Nayaks of Gingee were the rulers of Gingee
principality of Tamil Nadu
between the 16th to the 18th century CE. They were subordinates of the imperial Vijayanagara
emperors, and were appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagar Emperor who divided the Tamil country into three Nayakships viz., Madurai
, Tanjore and Gingee
. Later, after the fall of the Vijayanagara’s Tuluva dynasty, the Gingee rulers declared independence. While they ruled independently, they were sometimes at war with the Tanjore neighbors and the Vijayanagara
overlords later based in Vellore
and Chandragiri
.
Some of the Nayakas who ruled were:
, Pondicherry and vast areas of Nellore
, Chittoor
, Vellore
and Chandragiri
. Its Southern boundary extended up to Kollidam River which marked the boundary between the Tanjavur and Madurai kingdoms. Later during mid 16th centuries the Gingee Nayaks lost control of the Vellore Fort
and its Northern provinces when their erstwhile Vijayanagara overlords under Aravidu Dynasty
took possession of these places and re-established their later Kingdom.
consolidated this area under one of his company, Tubakki Krishnappa Nayakar.
Sanjay Subrahmanya and Brennig's note that Krishnappa was the son of Koneri who in turn was the son of an unnamed brother of Achyutappa Chetti. However, Burton Stein notes that Tubaki Krishnappa was the son of Vaiyappa Nayak, the General of Krishnadeva Raya . We can therefore surmise that either Koneri and Vaiyappa are the same person or that Vaiyappa was in some form related to the unnamed brother of Achyutappa Chetty. Krishnappa Nayaka established a heredity line of Nayak rulers who ruled Gingee from 1509 to 1648 AD. Krishnappa Nayaka reign lasted from 1507 to 1521 .
which he got fortified using his ties with the Nayakas and local militia leaders. Initially no more than a broker and an interpreter, by 1620s Achyutappa's power as an independent merchant came to be on the rise, as was his standing in the elite politics of southern and central coromandel. He was aided by his brothers Chinanna, Kesava and an other unnamed brother. Achyutappa manoeuvered his quasi-diplomatic position by mediating in the internicine warfare of the 1620s between the poligar factions of Senji (Gingee) and Chingleput regions.
Achyutappa's quasi-diplomatic rise in status also emerged from his relations with the King of Arakan and Nayak of Madurai
and even the Cochin ruler who used Achyutappa as an intermediary while attempting a rapprochement with the Duth in the early 1630s. Acyutappa's main trade was shipping. He dominated the coromandel coast. Until 1634, the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) was almost completely dependent on Achyutappa and his relatives for the supply of rice to provision Company factories. Together with Chinnana, Koneri, Kesava and Laksmana, Tubaki Krishnappa Nayak owned the Coromadel Shipping, with Royal Shipping as a Partner. The Royal Shipping was owned by the rulers of Ayutthaya, Arakan and Kedah of Southeast Asia .
However, Acyutappa's activities were diversified. By 1620s, along with his brother Chinnana, Achyutappa had become increasingly involved in farming revenue in the territories of the Nayakas and the Chandragiri ruler . When Acyutappa died in Mar 1634, the mantle of VOC's chief broker of Coromandel fell on his brother Chinanna.
Chinnanna lived an exhorbitant lifestyle with 40 wives and innumerable children. Chinanna was politically more ambitious than his brother, Achyutappa, with a penchant for diplomacy and even direct participation as a field General in internecine warfare of the 1630s. However, his abrasiveness led him to fall out with his own brother Kesava and his nephews Seshadra and Laksmana. By early 1638, the family feud led Kesava and Lakshmana to persuade Tubaki Krisnappa to take Koneri as a prisoner. Koneri fled and sought refuge under Chinanna. However, when faced with the superior force of Tubaki Krishnappa, Chinanna surrendered .
[2] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Penumbral visions: making polities in early modern South India, page 198.
[3] BS Baliga. Tamil Nadu district gazetteers, page 427.
[4] Delhi School of Economics. The Indian economic and social history review, page 411 mentions:
"... this time run by Balija and other Naidu families, and involving such personages in the 1630s and 1640s as Tubaki Krishnappa Nayaka of the Senji family, ...".
Gingee
Gingee is a panchayat town in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The nearest town with a railway station is Tindivanam, 28 km away....
principality of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
between the 16th to the 18th century CE. They were subordinates of the imperial Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
emperors, and were appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagar Emperor who divided the Tamil country into three Nayakships viz., Madurai
Madurai
Madurai is the third largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It served as the capital city of the Pandyan Kingdom. It is the administrative headquarters of Madurai District and is famous for its temples built by Pandyan and...
, Tanjore and Gingee
Gingee
Gingee is a panchayat town in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The nearest town with a railway station is Tindivanam, 28 km away....
. Later, after the fall of the Vijayanagara’s Tuluva dynasty, the Gingee rulers declared independence. While they ruled independently, they were sometimes at war with the Tanjore neighbors and the Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city "which was regarded as the second Rome" that surrounds modern-day Hampi, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India....
overlords later based in Vellore
Vellore
Vellore It is considered one of the oldest cities in South India and lies on the banks of the Palar river on the site of Vellore Fort. The city lies between Chennai and Bangalore and the Temple towns of Thiruvannamalai and Tirupati...
and Chandragiri
Chandragiri
Chandragiri , is a suburb of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, India. Recently it is included under Municipal Corporation limits of Tirupati...
.
The Nayaka Rulers clan
The Gingee Nayak line was established by Tubaki (aka Tupakula) Krishnappa Nayaka, the son of Koneri Nayaka and grandnephew of Achyutappa Nayaka. Sanjay Subrahmanyam and Brennig provide the following details of Achyutappa Nayak :Some of the Nayakas who ruled were:
- Tupakula Krishnappa Nayaka (1509–1521)
- Tupakula Chennappa Nayaka
- Tupakula Gangama Nayaka
- Tupakula Venkata Krishnappa Nayaka
- Tupakula Venkata Rama Bhupaala Nayaka
- Tupakula Thriyambamka Krishnappa Nayaka
- Tupakula Varadappa Nayaka
- Tupakula Ramalinga Nayani vaaru
- Tupakula Venkata Perumal Naidu
- Tupakula Periya Ramabhadra Naidu
- Tupakula Ramakrishnappa Naidu (- 1649)
Territory
The Gingee Nayak kingdom when established covered most of Northern Tamil Nadu including the present day ChennaiChennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, Pondicherry and vast areas of Nellore
Nellore
Nellore , is a city and headquarters of Potti Sri Ramulu Nellore District, formerly Nellore district.And in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Ancient name of Nellore was "Vikrama Simhapuri"....
, Chittoor
Chittoor
Chittoor also known as Chittur, is a City and municipal corporation located in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is conveniently located on major highways linking the cities of Bangalore and Chennai....
, Vellore
Vellore
Vellore It is considered one of the oldest cities in South India and lies on the banks of the Palar river on the site of Vellore Fort. The city lies between Chennai and Bangalore and the Temple towns of Thiruvannamalai and Tirupati...
and Chandragiri
Chandragiri
Chandragiri , is a suburb of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, India. Recently it is included under Municipal Corporation limits of Tirupati...
. Its Southern boundary extended up to Kollidam River which marked the boundary between the Tanjavur and Madurai kingdoms. Later during mid 16th centuries the Gingee Nayaks lost control of the Vellore Fort
Vellore Fort
Vellore Fort is a large 16th-century fort situated in Vellore city near Chennai, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The Fort was at one point of time the headquarters of the Vijayanagara Empire...
and its Northern provinces when their erstwhile Vijayanagara overlords under Aravidu Dynasty
Aravidu dynasty
The Aravidu Dynasty was the fourth and last Hindu dynasty which ruled Vijayanagara Empire in South India. Its founder was Tirumala, whose brother Rama Raya had been the masterful regent of the last ruler of the previous dynasty...
took possession of these places and re-established their later Kingdom.
Origins
In 1509, under the orders of Krishnadeva Raya, Vaiyappa Nayak led the Vijayanagar forces against the local chieftains of the Gingee area. Thereafter, KrishnadevarayaKrishnadevaraya
Śrī Kriṣhṇa Devarāya , , , and also known as Krishna Devarayulu in some inscriptions was the famed Emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire who reigned from 1509–1529 CE.He is the third ruler of the Tuluva Dynasty. Presiding over the empire at its zenith, he is regarded as an icon by many Indians...
consolidated this area under one of his company, Tubakki Krishnappa Nayakar.
Sanjay Subrahmanya and Brennig's note that Krishnappa was the son of Koneri who in turn was the son of an unnamed brother of Achyutappa Chetti. However, Burton Stein notes that Tubaki Krishnappa was the son of Vaiyappa Nayak, the General of Krishnadeva Raya . We can therefore surmise that either Koneri and Vaiyappa are the same person or that Vaiyappa was in some form related to the unnamed brother of Achyutappa Chetty. Krishnappa Nayaka established a heredity line of Nayak rulers who ruled Gingee from 1509 to 1648 AD. Krishnappa Nayaka reign lasted from 1507 to 1521 .
Krishnappa's rule
Krishnappa Naick is said to be the founder of Gingee city . The earlier name of Gingee was Krishnapura. Krishnappa Nayak built the Singavaram Venkataramana and Venugopalaswami temples and other structures inside the Gingee Fort. Krishnappa was said be a native of Conjivaram (Kanchipuram) and kept a flower-garden dedicated to the God, Varadaraj Perumal . The granaries of the Gingee Fort, the Kalyana Mahal and the thick walls enclosing the three hills of Gingee are attributed to Krishnappa Nayaka . Although Gingee had been a fortified centre as early as 1240 CE, it was during the rule of Krishnappa that the present layout of the Garh Mahal (fort) was established . Krishnappa is said to be the first Nayaka who converted a fort into an outstanding example of military architecture . Krishnappa Nayaka's rule was fraught with wars against the Muslims. Raghunatha Nayaka of Tanjore is said to have secured the release of Krishnappa Nayaka from the Muhammedans with the sanction of the Vijayanagar emperor. A grateful Krishnappa reportedly gave away his daughter in marriage to the Tanjore king.Krishnappa's family
Krishnappa Nayaka came from a family of merchants. He was the grandnephew of Achyutappa Chetti who was a trader, broker and a shipping merchant. Achyutappa's home-base was Devanampattinam of CuddaloreCuddalore
Cuddalore is a fast growing industrial city and headquarter of Cuddalore district in the Tamil Nadu state of southern India. Located south of Pondicherry on the coast of Bay of Bengal, Cuddalore has a large number of industries which employ a great deal of the city's population.Cuddalore is known...
which he got fortified using his ties with the Nayakas and local militia leaders. Initially no more than a broker and an interpreter, by 1620s Achyutappa's power as an independent merchant came to be on the rise, as was his standing in the elite politics of southern and central coromandel. He was aided by his brothers Chinanna, Kesava and an other unnamed brother. Achyutappa manoeuvered his quasi-diplomatic position by mediating in the internicine warfare of the 1620s between the poligar factions of Senji (Gingee) and Chingleput regions.
Achyutappa's quasi-diplomatic rise in status also emerged from his relations with the King of Arakan and Nayak of Madurai
Madurai Nayak Dynasty
The Madurai Nayaks or Nayak Dynasty of Madurai were rulers of a region comprising most of modern-day Tamil Nadu, India, with Madurai as their capital...
and even the Cochin ruler who used Achyutappa as an intermediary while attempting a rapprochement with the Duth in the early 1630s. Acyutappa's main trade was shipping. He dominated the coromandel coast. Until 1634, the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) was almost completely dependent on Achyutappa and his relatives for the supply of rice to provision Company factories. Together with Chinnana, Koneri, Kesava and Laksmana, Tubaki Krishnappa Nayak owned the Coromadel Shipping, with Royal Shipping as a Partner. The Royal Shipping was owned by the rulers of Ayutthaya, Arakan and Kedah of Southeast Asia .
However, Acyutappa's activities were diversified. By 1620s, along with his brother Chinnana, Achyutappa had become increasingly involved in farming revenue in the territories of the Nayakas and the Chandragiri ruler . When Acyutappa died in Mar 1634, the mantle of VOC's chief broker of Coromandel fell on his brother Chinanna.
Chinnanna lived an exhorbitant lifestyle with 40 wives and innumerable children. Chinanna was politically more ambitious than his brother, Achyutappa, with a penchant for diplomacy and even direct participation as a field General in internecine warfare of the 1630s. However, his abrasiveness led him to fall out with his own brother Kesava and his nephews Seshadra and Laksmana. By early 1638, the family feud led Kesava and Lakshmana to persuade Tubaki Krisnappa to take Koneri as a prisoner. Koneri fled and sought refuge under Chinanna. However, when faced with the superior force of Tubaki Krishnappa, Chinanna surrendered .
External links
- Questioning Ramayanas - by Paula Richman
- The Literary Cultures in History - by Sheldon I Pollock
- Further Sources of Vijayanagara History By K A Nilakanta Sastry
- Penumbral Visions - by Sanjay Subrahmanyam
Further reading
[1] Velcheru Narayana Rao, David Shulman. Classical Telugu poetry: an anthology, Page 63.[2] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Penumbral visions: making polities in early modern South India, page 198.
[3] BS Baliga. Tamil Nadu district gazetteers, page 427.
[4] Delhi School of Economics. The Indian economic and social history review, page 411 mentions:
"... this time run by Balija and other Naidu families, and involving such personages in the 1630s and 1640s as Tubaki Krishnappa Nayaka of the Senji family, ...".