The Madurai Nayaks were a Telugu dynasty[1] who ruled most of modern-day Tamil Nadu, India, with Madurai as their capital. The Madurai Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh.[2] The Nayak reign which lasted for over two centuries from around 1529 to 1736 was noted for its achievements in arts, cultural and administrative reforms, revitalization of temples previously ransacked by the Delhi Sultans, and the inauguration of a unique architectural style.[3]
The dynasty consisted of 13 rulers, of whom nine were kings, two were queens, and two were joint-kings. The most notable among them were king Tirumala Nayaka and queen Rani Mangammal. Foreign trade was conducted mainly with the Dutch and the Portuguese, as the British and the French had not yet made inroads into the region.
History
Origins
The Dalavay Agraharam Plates of Venkata I, mention that Virappa Nayaka, the grandson of Viswanatha Nayak of the Madurai line mentions him with the title of lord of Ayyavalipura.[4] (lords of the town of Ayyavole). The lords of Ayyavolu were called Vira- Balanjas.[5] The term Vira-balija in Telugu, Vira-Banajiga in Kannada and Vira-Valanjiyar in Tamil, all of them mean valiant merchants.[6] These merchants styled themselves as protectors of Vira Balanja Dharma[7] and their capital was at Ayyavole or Aihole in Bijapur district of Karnataka.[8] Description of the Nayakas of Madurai was compiled by an official of the Dutch East India Company in 1677, it mentions that the founder of the dynasty, Viswanatha Nayak, as belonging to the Wellen Chetti merchant community.[9]
The Nayaka Rulers clan
Originally, the Nayakas were Telugu-speakingBalija Chetti warrior from present-day Andhra Pradesh.[2][1] The Kaifiyat of the Karnata Kotikam Kings mentions the founder of the dynasty, Viswanatha Nayak, as belonging to the Garikepati family of the Balija caste.[10] Dewan Bahadur Ramabadra Naidu, Zamindar of Vadagarai was a descendant of the famous warrior and diplomat Ramabhadra Nayak, who had held the post of Military Chief and Collector of Revenue under his close relative Viswanatha Nayak, the ruler of Madurai country. He belonged to Balija caste.[11] According to Srivamsa Prakashika, an 18th century Telugu writing mentions the last ruler of the dynasty, Vijayaranga Chokkanatha Nayak, as belonging to the Garikepati family of the Balija caste.[12] According to a The Madura Country A Manual written by J. H. Nelson in 1868, it mentions that the descendants of the Madurai Nayaks belonged to the Balija community.[13]
Historical time
They started as kartakkals (agents) of the Vijayanagar empire in southern regions of what would become Tamil Nadu. That region had long been a troubled province due to its distance from Vijayanagara and had been only been fully subjugated in the early 16th century under Veera Narasimha. The first Nayaka, Nangama, was a popular and able general of Krishnadevaraya. Krishnadevaraya sent Nangama Nayaka with a large army to bring Pandya Nadu back under imperial control. Although he was an able administrator he was a hard ruler and rejected any claims of authority from the petty chieftains, which made him unpopular. In addition, experienced officers like Nangama Nayaka were chafing under the strict control Krishnadevaraya imposed on them. Towards the end of Krishnadevaraya's reign, trouble erupted in the south as the Chola Nayakas openly revolted and fled to Travancore, while Nangama began defying central orders while still claiming power of deputy. In response, the emperor sent Nangama's son, Viswanatha, with a large army to recapture Madurai. Viswanatha Nayaka defeated his father and sent him as prisoner to Krishnadevaraya, who in turned pardoned Nangama Nayaka for his valued service. After defeating his father Krishnadevaraya made Viswanatha governor of Madurai and other Tamil provinces in 1529, beginning the Madurai Nayaka dynasty.[14]
Another story goes that the Pandyas were under attack from the Cholas and appealed to Krishnadevaraya for help. He then sent Nangama Nayaka to restore the Pandyas to their rightful throne. Nangama defeated the Cholas, but instead claimed the throne for himself and deposed the Pandyan king. So Krishnadevaraya sent Nangama's son Viswanatha Nayaka to defeat him, which he did. Thus he was made nayaka of the region. However, this story does not have epigraphic evidence to support it.[15]
Viswanatha Nayaka was not originally independent, but was treated as just another governor who the emperor had sent to keep control over the provinces. Originally he had control over Chola Nadu as well, which was ruled by a feudatory Chola prince, but this was transferred to the Thanjavur Nayakas. In 1544, Viswanatha Nayaka helped Rama Raya's army subdue Travancore, which had been refusing to pay tribute.[14]
Viswanatha also rebuilt fortifications at Madurai and made travel safer. He cleared the jungle around the banks of the Kaveri near Tiruchirappalli and destroyed hideouts of robbers there. He also expanded the borders of the kingdom so it included most of modern southern and western Tamil Nadu at his death. However, many of the local chieftains were still chafing under his rule, and so to appease them, Viswanatha's chief minister, Ariyanatha Mudaliar, assisted him in using the palayam or poligar system. The system was a quasi-fedual organisation of the country, which was divided into multiple palayams or small provinces; and each palayam was ruled by a palayakkarar or a petty chief. Ariyanatha organized the Pandyan kingdom into 72 palayams and ruled over the 72 dry-zone poligar chiefs.[16] Of these 72, Kurvikulam and Ilayarasanendal, which were ruled by Kamma Nayakas of the Pemmasani, Komatineni and Ravella clans, were considered royal palayams.[17] In the last year of his life he abdicated the throne and was alive for his son's investiture with ruling power in 1564, and died thereafter.[18] Viswanatha's son, Krishnappa, was crowned in 1564.[14] He immediately faced threats from nobles disgruntled with the new palayam system brought in by his father. These nobles, led by Tumbichchi Nayaka instigated a revolt among some of the polygars, which was crushed by Krishnappa. In the same year, he sent a contingent to the Battle of Talikota but it could not arrive in time. The defeat of Rama Raya made the Nayakas virtually independent. When the king of Kandy, a friend of Tumbichchi Nayaka, stopped sending tribute, Krishnappa then led an invasion of Kandy. In this invasion he killed the king of Kandy, sent the late king's wife and children to Anuradhapura and placed his own brother-in-law Vijaya Gopala Naidu as his viceroy there to ensure tribute.[18]
After his death in 1572, power in the kingdom went to his son Virappa Nayaka. Some documents claim the two sons of Krishnappa Nayaka were co-rulers, while other historians claim some member of the royal family was associated with rule, but not actually a ruler, like a yuva raja system in many of the princely states. During this time he crushed another revolt of polygars who were illegitimate descendants of the Pandyas. Virappa reigned over a period of relative stability. His relations with his nominal Vijayanagara overlords varied by their strength, but were generally cordial. After his death in 1595, power passed to his eldest son Krishnappa Nayaka II. During this time he led an occupation of Travancore and recognized Venkatapati Raya as emperor of VIjayanagar. During his reign, Ariyanatha Mudaliar died, and he himself died in 1601.[18]
Height of power
After his death a succession crisis arose and Krishnappa Nayaka II's youngest brother, Kasturi Rangappa, seized the throne but was assassinated a week later. Muttu Krishnappa Nayaka, the son of Krishnappa Nayaka II's second brother, became ruler. His rule was mainly focused on the organization of the southern coast, mainly inhabited by the Paravars. The community was excellent at fishing and pearl diving, which made them a valuable revenue source, but the region had generally been neglected by previous Nayakas. The region gradually became lawless and fell under Portuguese control. However, when the Portuguese asserted the coast was now theirs and began to collect taxes, Muttu Krishnappa started sending officers called Sethupathis to modern Ramanathapuram, where their duties were to protect pilgrims going to Rameswaram and to compel the Portuguese to respect Nayaka authority in the region.[18] Muttu Krishnappa Nayak is credited with the founding of Sethupathi dynasty in Ramnad.
He was succeeded by his son Muttu Virappa Nayaka in 1609, who desired greater independence from his Vijayanagara overlords and thus stopped paying tribute regularly. After the death of Venkatapati Raya in 1614, a nobleman Gobburi Jagga Raya murdered his successor Sriranga II and his family. This fomented a succession crisis in the Vijayanagara empire developed and civil war broke out between him and Rama Deva Raya, Sriranga II's son, who had escaped. Madurai, Gingee and the Portuguese supported the side of Jagga Raya while Raghunatha Nayaka of Thanjavur and Yachama Nayaka of Kalahasti were among those supporting Rama Deva Raya. In the Battle of Toppur in 1616, the generalship of Raghunatha and Yachama led to a crushing defeat for Jagga Raya's forces, and he was killed. Muttu Virappa was forced to pay a huge tribute to the Centre. He then shifted his capital to Tiruchirappalli later that year so that he could more easily launch an invasion of Thanjavur if he wanted to, but this failed. However, his appeasement of his Pandyan vassals meant they were loyal when Mysore invaded Dindigul in 1620 and was repelled. He died in 1623.[18]
Muttu Virappa was succeeded by his brother Tirumala Nayaka, either as de facto or de jure ruler, in 1623. One of his first acts was to shift the capital back to Madurai, both as a better protection against invasion and its religious significance. The change took 10 years and was finally done in 1635. He also increased the army size to 30,000 to better work against. The kingdom was invaded again by Mysore in 1625, but Tirumala and his generals Ramappayya and Ranganna Nayaka crushed the invasion and launched a counterattack in which they laid siege to Mysore. Later in 1635, Travancore stopped paying tribute to Madurai so Tirumala Nayaka sent armies to attack him, which forced Travancore to resume tribute payments. In 1635, Tirumala Nayaka sent Ramappayya against the Sethupathi of Ramnad, who had rejected his decision on a succession matter. In this campaign, the Portuguese supported Tirumala Nayaka, and in return he allowed them to build a fortress and station a small garrison wherever they might want.[18]
During this time, the Vijayanagara empire was falling fast and so Tirumala Nayaka cancelled tribute payment altogether. However, when Sriranga III took power, he viewed this as an act of rebellion and assembled a large army to subdue his vassal. Tirumala allied with Thanjavur and Gingee, but Thanjavur defected to the emperor. Madurai then made a new alliance with the Golconda Sultanate, who laid siege to Vellore and defeated Sriranga III. When he then appealed to his Nayakas for an alliance, all rejected him and Vijayanagara fell altogether. Goldonda, which conquered Vellore around 1646, laid siege to Gingee along with the Bijapur Sultanate. Tirumala Nayaka's armies arrived too late to save the fortress.[18]
In 1655, Mysore launched another invasion of Madurai when Tirumala was on his sickbed, and so he entrusted his defense to the Sethupathi of Ramnad, who had just emerged from a period of chaos. Ragunatha Thevar managed to drive back Mysore and in return all tribute was cancelled from him.[18]
Tirumala was succeeded by his son in 1659, who ruled for only four months, and then was succeeded by Chokkanatha Nayaka. In the first part of his reign, his army commander and chief minister revolted, supported by Thanjavur. He crushed the insurgents and invaded Thanjavur in retaliation, briefly placing his brother Muddu Alagiri as ruler there. But Madurai soon lost control of the region as Alagiri declared his independence and the Marathas under Venkoji conquered the province in 1675. Chokkanatha then waged war with Mysore and lost more territory, but his successor Muttu Virappa III recaptured it. After his death in 1689, Muttu Virappa III was succeeded by his infant son with Rani Mangammal, Virappa's mother, as regent. With the Mughal juggernaut approaching southern India, Rani Mangammal recognised it would be better to pay tribute to the Mughals than have them invade. She supporter their capture of Jinji from Rajaram, who would otherwise have attacked Madurai and Thanjavur, and ruled the fort as a Mughal vassal.
Muttu Virappa III's son Vijayaranga Chokkanatha reached maturity in 1704. However, he was more interested in scholarship and learning than ruling, and so real power fell to his chief counselor and commander of the army, who were known to abuse their power prodigiously. After his death in 1732, his wife, Queen Meenakshi, decided to adopt the son of Bangaru Tirumalai Nayaka, a member of the royal house. However there was severe strife between Bangaru Tirumalai and Meenakshi, and he led an uprising against her. In 1734, the Nawab of Arcot sent an expedition south to demand tribute and fealty from the kingdoms there, and in desperation, Meenakshi gave tribute to the Nawab's son-in-law, Chanda Sahib, to form an alliance. Bangaru Tirumalai retreated to the far south, in Madurai, and organized a large force of disgruntled polygars in 1736. Although they took Dindigul, Meenakshi and Chanda Sahib organized an army to attack Tirumalai. At the battle of Ammayanayakkanur near Dindigul, Bangaru Tirumalai's forces were defeated and he fled to Sivaganga. Once he was admitted into the Tiruchirappalli fort, however, Chanda Sahib declared himself king and imprisoned Meenakshi in her palace, ending the Madurai Nayakas for good. Tradition states she poisoned herself in 1739.[18]
Some of the family members of Bangaru Thirumalai established the Nayak dynasty in Sri Lanka known as the Kandy Nayaks. They ruled till 1815 with Kandy as their capital and were also the last ruling dynasty of Sri Lanka. The Kings of Kandy had from an early time sought marriages with Madurai and many of the queens were from Madurai. The Kandy Nayaks received military support from the Nayaks of Madurai in fighting off the Portuguese. And in the 17th and 18th centuries, marital alliances between the Kandyan kings and Nayak princesses had become a matter of policy.[19]
The Madurai Nayakas followed a decentralized governance style. The king was supreme ruler, but his main advisor was the dalavai, who controlled both civil and military matters. The three most effective dalavais were Ariyanatha Mudaliar, Ramappayya and Narasappayya. The next most important figure was the pradhani or finance minister, and then the rayasam, chief of the bureaucracy. The kingdom was divided into provinces and local areas, each with its own governor and bureaucracy. The most basic unit was the village. Revenue would be earned through taxes on land.[18]
The Nayakas also had a parallel system of administration. They divided their territory into 72 palayams, each of which was ruled by a palaiyakkarar, better known as polygar. These warrior-chiefs had a significant amount of autonomy from the centre and held powers of law enforcement and judicial administration. In return, they would give one-third of the palaiyam's revenue to the Nayaka and another third for the upkeep of an army. Often, however, the polygars were completely outside central control and would raid and pillage nearby territory.[18]
Culture
Language
Tamukkam Palace built in 1670
The main languages of Nayaka rule were Telugu and Tamil. Tamil was mainly used by the common people, although there were some Telugu cultivators in the region. The Madurai Nayakas, on the other hand, had Telugu as mother tongue but could also speak Tamil.[18]
Literature
The Nayakas were great patrons of literature in Telugu, Tamil and Sanskrit. Although most kings patronized mainly poetry (considered "divine"), under Nayaka patronage Telugu prose flourished.[18]
The earliest Muslim work in Tamil that survives complete is a translation by Vaṇṇapparimaḷappulavar of the Persian Book of One Thousand Questions that was presented at the Madurai court in 1572.[20]
The Nayakas were some of the most prolific architects in South India. Much of their work was expansions and additions to existing Vijayanagara or pre-Vijayanagara structures. By far their greatest work was the Meenakshi-Sundaraswarar complex in Madurai, which is known for its four towering gopurams up to 50 metres in height. The original structure that stood there during Pandyan times was neglected during the Madurai Sultanate and fell into ruin, and the Vijayanagara rulers had begun to rebuild it. However the Nayakas made the most extensive contributions to the temple complex. Each of the additions to the temple was done by different rulers in different stages, and almost all rulers of the dynasty, or their wives and ministers, made generous donations to the temple and its construction so that it grew to a size of 254 by 238 metres. The Nayakas mainly followed the Dravidian style of architecture, with much emphasis on towering structures and elaborate carving. Much of the work centered around the addition of various mandapas, or columnated halls, filled with a variety of carved pillars such as the pudu mandapa directly adjoining the complex. Other important works included the Azhagar kovil and Tiruparankundram Murugan Kovil in the outskirts of Madurai, as well as the expansion of the Ranganathaswamy temple complex in Srirangam. In the case of the Ranganathaswamy temple, the Nayakas expanded the original shrine to be seven concentric enclosures, each topped with towering gopurams. However this project was incomplete when the Nayak dynasty fell and has since been continued into the modern-day.[21]
Although temple architecture was the main pursuit of the Nayakas, they constructed other buildings as well. Thirumala Nayaka is famous for his huge Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal, which George Mitchell speculated must have been the largest of all royal residences in the 17th century, develops earlier palace architecture from the Vijayanagara period. This architecture includes both completely indigenous elements such as square and rectangular bases with u-shaped ascending floors with numerous courts and verandahs, as well as double-curved eaves, gopuram-like towers and plastered sculptures as well as elements borrowed from the Bahmanis such as significant presence of arches, cusps, and geometric designs. This style was blended with indigenous Tamil architecture, for instance, the use of cylindrical columns like Tamil wooden architecture, to create new architectural styles for grand buildings such as the Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal. Only two sections of this palace still stand, the dance hall and audience hall.[22]
The Nayakas also did many public works projects such as irrigation canals and fortresses.
Nayaka coins
Some early Madurai Nayaka coins portray the figure of the king. The bull also is seen frequently on the Madurai Nayak coins. Chokkanatha Nayak, one of the last rulers of the dynasty, issued coins displaying various animals, such as the bear, elephant and lion. He also issued coins featuring Hanuman and Garuda. The inscriptions on the Nayak coins are in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Nagari scripts. Unlike the coins of many of the earlier dynasties, the Nayak coins are easily available for coin-collectors.[23]
Tirumala Nayaka was the ruler of Madurai Nayak Dynasty in the 17th century. He ruled Madurai between A.D 1623 and 1659. His contributions are found in the many splendid buildings and temples of Madurai. He belongs to Balija caste. His kingdom was under constant threat from the armies of Bijapur Sultanate and the other neighbouring Muslim kingdoms, which he managed to repulse successfully. His territories comprised much of the old Pandya territories which included Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Madurai districts, Aragalur in southern Tamil Nadu and some territories of the Travancore kingdom.
Tuluva is the name of the third dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire. The dynasty traces its patrilineal ancestry to Tuluva Narasa Nayaka, a powerful warlord from the westerly Tulu speaking region. His son Narasimha Nayaka arranged for the assassination of the weak Narasimha Raya II bringing an end to the rule of the Saluva dynasty. Narasimha Nayaka later assumed the Vijayangara throne as Viranarasimha Raya bringing the Tuluva dynasty to prominence. The dynasty was at its zenith during the rule of Krishnadevaraya, the second son of Tuluva Narasa Nayaka.
The Thanjavur Nayakdynasty were the rulers of Thanjavur in the 15th and 17th centuries. The Nayaks, who belonged to the Telugu-speaking Balija social group were originally appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagara Emperor in the 15th century, who divided the territory into Nayak kingdoms which were Madurai, Tanjore, Gingee and Kalahasthi. In the mid-15th century they became an independent kingdom, although they continued their alliance with the Vijayanagara Empire. The Thanjavur Nayaks were notable for their patronage of literature and the arts.
The Nayaka dynasties refers to a group of Hindu dynasties who emerged during the Kakatiya dynasty and the Vijayanagara Empire period in South India. Many of these dynasties, such as the Madurai Nayaks and the Thanjavur Nayaks, were originally military governors under the Vijayanagara Empire, who, after the Battle of Talikota, declared themselves independent and established their own polities. Many of them were Telugu-speaking Balijas.
The Balija are a Telugu-speaking mercantile community primarily living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and in smaller numbers in Telangana and Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, they are known as Kavarais.
Pemmasani Kamma Nayaks were a ruling clan in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. They came into prominence during Vijayanagara Empire. After the Battle of Talikota in 1565 AD, the collapse of Vijayanagara Empire led to the emergence of Pemmasani Nayakas in the Rayalaseema region. They belonged to the Kamma social group.
The Nayaks of Kandy were the rulers of the Kingdom of Kandy between 1739 and 1815, and the last dynasty to rule on the island. The term Nayak is derived from the Sanskrit word Nāyaka. Their rise to power came about as a result of the death of Vira Narendrasinha, who left no legitimate heir- the throne passed to his brother-in-law, who was crowned as Sri Vijaya Rajasinha in 1739. They were of Nayakkar origin, spoke Sinhala and Tamil, and used both Sinhala and Tamil as their court languages and also they used Telugu with their family members and with their familiars They are also credited for building various Vishnu temples in Sri Lanka dedicated to their clan deity Vishnu, known as Upulvan in Sinhala. A prominent one of them was the Kandy Vishnu Temple established at their capital Kandy. A cadet branch of the Madurai Nayak dynasty, the Kandyan Nayaks were related to the Thanjavur Nayaks as well. Both Madurai and Thanjavur nayaks belonged to Nayakkar caste.
Venkata III was the grandson of Aliya Rama Raya. Venkata III belonged to a Telugu family. and became the King of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1632 to 1642. His son-in-law Pedda Koneti Nayak was ruler of Penukonda. His brothers-in-law were Damarla Venkatappa Nayaka and Damarla Ayyappa Nayaka, both sons of Damarla Chennapa Nayakadu.
Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, Palegara in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the holders of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, palayam was given for valuable military services rendered by any individual. The word pālayam means domain, a military camp, or a small kingdom. This type of Palayakkarars system was in practice during the rule of Pratapa Rudhra of Warangal in the Kakatiya kingdom. The system was put in place in Tamil Nadu by Viswanatha Nayak, when he became the Nayak ruler of Madurai in 1529, with the support of his minister Ariyanathar. Traditionally there were supposed to be 72 Palayakkarars. The majority of those Palaiyakkarar, who during the late 17th- and 18th-centuries controlled much of the Telugu region as well as the Tamil area, had themselves come from the Kallar, Maravar and Vatuka communities. Most palayakkars in western Tirunelveli and in Ramanathapuram were Maravar, those of Madurai, Tiruchi and Thanjavur Kallar, and those of eastern Tirunelveli, Dindigal and Coimbatore Nayak.
The Thanjavur Maratha kingdom ruled by the Bhonsle dynasty was a principality of Tamil Nadu between the 17th and 19th centuries. Their native language was Thanjavur Marathi. Vyankoji Bhosale was the founder of the dynasty.
Ariyanatha Mudaliar was the Delavoy (General) and the Chief Minister of the greatest of the Nayaka domains established by the Vijayanagar viceroy and later ruler of Madurai, Viswanatha Nayak (1529–64). He assisted in running a quasi-feudal organisation of regions called the poligar or the palayakkarar system where the regions are divided into palayams and are independently governed by poligars or palayakkarars.
Viswanatha Nayak was the Vijayanagara viceroy to Madurai in south India during the 16th century. He later became the ruler of Madurai after the fall of the Vijayanagara empire. He is the founder of the Nayak dynasty of Madurai. He hailed from the Garikepati family of Balija caste.
The Kingdom of Ramnad or Ramnad estate was a permanently settled kingdom and later zamindari estate that existed in the Ramnad subdivision of the Madurai district and later Ramnad district of the erstwhile Madras Presidency in British India from 1601. It was ruled by the rajas also had the title of Sethupathi. Madurai Nayaks ruled the Ramnad area with the appointed chieftains between 14th to 16th century CE, and in 17th century CE the appointed governors expanded their power to establish "Ramnad Kingdom" which was also called as "Maravar Kingdom" by the British. In 1795 CE, after an heir dispute, they were reduced to the status of zamidari by the East India Company. After the independence of India in 1947 the estates were merged in the Union of India and in 1949 all rulers lost the ruling rights, privy purse was also finally abolished in 1971.
The Nayaks of Gingee (Senji) were Telugu rulers of the Gingee principality of Tamil Nadu between 16th to 18th century CE. The Gingee Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh. 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. Gingee ruler Surappa nayaka had a brother called Era Krishnappa Nayak whose son established himself in Karnataka and his family came to be known afterwards as the Belur Nayakas.
Sevappa Nayak was a Nayaka (governor) of Thanjavur under the Vijayanagara Empire from 1532 to 1560.
Kumara Krishnappa Nayak was a ruler of the Madurai Nayak dynasty. He was the successor of King Vishwanatha Nayak. He started ruling the country after his father's death in 1564. He made Tiruchirapalli as his capital.
Nayakas of Belur, also known as Nayakas of Balam and Manjarabad Nayakas, were an Indian dynasty based in Belur in present-day Hassan district of Karnataka, India. Originally vassals of the Vijayanagara Empire, they became an independent and important ruling dynasty in their own right with the decline of Vijayanagara. The Belur Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh. Their capital was Aigoor in Hassan district.
Era Krishnappa Nayak was the king of Belur. He reigned from 1524 to 1566. He ruled Hassan and Kodagu region.
The Mysore-Madurai Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Kingdom of Mysore and the Madurai Nayakas, primarily in the 17th and early 18th centuries, as both sought to expand their territories in Southern India. The wars were driven by the strategic interests of both kingdoms, with the Madurai Nayaks aiming to maintain their dominance over the Tamil-speaking regions, while the Kingdom of Mysore, under its ambitious rulers, sought to extend its influence and control.
Dr. B.Ramachndra Reddy R. Nata Rajan, ed. (2007). "Identity and Crisis of Telugu Migrants of Tamil Region". Itihas. 33. Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institute: 145. ....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.
Muzaffar Alam, ed. (1998). The Mughal State, 1526-1750. Oxford University Press. p.35. ISBN978-0-19-563905-6. 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.
A. Satyanarayana, Mukkamala Radhakrishna Sarma, ed. (1996). Castes, Communities, and Culture in Andhra Desa, 17th & 18th Centuries, A.D. Osmania University. p.145. 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
Velcheru Narayana Rao, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, ed. (1992). Symbols of Substance Court and State in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu. Oxford University Press. p.10. ISBN978-0-19-563021-3. 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
Lennart Bes (2022). The Heirs of Vijayanagara: Court Politics in Early Modern South India. Leiden University Press. p.79. The dynasty's first ruler was Vishvanatha Nayaka, son of the imperial courtier and military officer Nagama Nayaka. He belonged to one of the Balija castes, which originated in the Telugu region and whose members undertook both military and mercantile activities. Vishvanatha was possibly installed at Madurai around 1530 and reigned until c. 1563
Noboru Karashima, ed. (1999). Kingship in Indian History. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p.192. ISBN9788173043260. To understand the historical process of the reducing of the Nayakas as an open status group into a mere shell of what they had formerly been and the growth of respective caste identities, the Telugu Balija caste and its history may give an important clue. Many Nayakas, including the three major Nayakas in the Tamil area and the Nayakas of Cannapattana, Beluru, and Rayadurga in the Kannada area, are said to have been Telugu Balijas.
Biplab Auddya, ed. (2017). Research in Multidisciplinary Subjects. Vol.6. The Hill Publication. p.18. ISBN9788196477660. Many later rulers were also of different castes, such as the Madurai Nayaks, Balijas (traders) who ruled from 1559 to 1739
Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer, ed. (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. Houghton Mifflin. p.368. ISBN9780395652374. The Vijayanagara Empire developed, in its second half, into what is known as the nayaka state-system, in which administrative and political relations differed significantly from what had gone before. While the Vijayanagara rulers continued to hold ultimate power over a broad belt of territory, they shared authority locally with a number of military chiefs, or nayakas. Originally part of the great Telugu migrations southward into the Tamil country in the 15th and 16th centuries, Balija merchant-warriors who claimed these nayaka positions rose to political and cultural power and supported an ethos that emphasized nonascriptive, heroic criteria in legitimizing political power.
Daniel D'Attilio, ed. (1995). The Last Vijayanagara Kings. University of Wisconsin--Madison. p.81. ......many of the Telugu migrant groups who settled in Tamil Nadu from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries were led by Balija warriors . These Balijas and their descendants became local rulers under the auspices of Vijayanagara.
Epigraphia Indica. Vol.12. Department of Archaeology. 1982. p.187. (Vv . 67-79 .) Virabhupa , a devout worshipper of Vishnu , was born in the family of Viśvanatha Nayaka . He was living gloriously . He constructed a mandapa of rare sculptures in front of the shrine of Sundaranayaka and presented the goddess Minakshi with a golden kavacha ( mailcoat studded with gems ) . The munificence of this prince is praised . He held the birudas , Samayadrōhara - ganda , and Dakshina - samudrādhipati , and was the lord of Ayyavalipura , He was the grandson of Viśvanatha Nayaka , and son of the king Krishņa by Lakshmama . At the request of this prince Virabhupa , the village was granted by Vira- Venkatapatidevaraya and it consisted of 142 shares
The Indian Antiquary. Vol.56. Popular Prakashan. 1927. p.197. This occurs in inscriptions in various localities where flourished mercantile guilds or communities called Valanjiyar in Tamil , Banajigas in Kanarese , Balija in Telugu , corresponding exactly to the North Indian term Baniya
A. Satyanarayana, Mukkamala Radhakrishna Sarma, ed. (1996). Castes, Communities, and Culture in Andhra Desa, 17th & 18th Centuries, A.D. Osmania University. p.105. The andhra sources state that the Balija's migrated to Dekhan from North or West . The statement that they hailed from Ahicchatra in North India may be an attempt to explain their Aryan origin . But a large number of inscriptions refer to them as ' Ayyavole Swamis ' and many scholars believe that the Balijas came from Ayyavole , Aihole in Bijapur District of Karnataka. They are frequently referred to as Ayyavole Swamis and Ayyavole Puravaradishwaralu in medieval inscriptions.
T. Chandrasekharan, ed. (1951). A Descriptive Catalogue of the Telugu Manuscripts(PDF). Vol.13. The Government Oriental Manuscripts Library, Madras. p.2863. No.2607 KOTIKAMVARI KAIFIYATU - A Kaifiyat relating to Garikipati Viswanathanayaka of Balijakula who was given Pandya kingdom by Atchutadevaraya.
K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (1946). Further Sources of Vijayanagara History. University of Madras. p.179. Moreover, Acyutadeva Maharaya formally crowned Viswanatha Nayadu of the Garikepati family of the Balija caste as the king of Pandya country yielding a revenue of 2 and 1/2 crores of varahas; and he presented him the golden idols of Durga, Laksmi and Lakshmi-Narayana and sent him with ministers, councillors and troops to the south. Visvanatha Nayudu reached the city of Madhura, from which he began to govern the country entrusted to his care. – Kaifiyat of Karnata-Kotikam Kings: L.R.8, pp. 319–22.
Konduri Sarojini Devi (1990). Religion in Vijayanagara Empire. Sterling Publishers. p.100. ISBN978-81-207-1167-9. According to the Kaifiyat of the Karnata Kotikam Kings, "Acyutadeva Maharaya formally crowned Visvanatha Nayadu of the Garikepati family of the Balija caste as the King of Pandya country yielding a revenue of 2 and 1/2 crores of varahas; and he presented him with golden idols of Durga, Lakshmi and Lakshminarayana and sent him with ministers, councillors and troops to the South."
A. Vadivelu, ed. (1915). The Ruling Chiefs, Nobles and Zamindars of India. Vol.1. G.C. Loganadham. p.679. The Honourable Diwan Bahadur V. Rama Bhadra Naick Garu is one of the most prominent noblemen of South India . As a representative of the zamindari interests of the Southern Group , he has , since 1910 , been in the reformed Legislative Council of Madras. He represents the ancient house of Vadagarai , and is the lineal descendant of the famous Rama Bhadra Naick . To trace the ancestry of the founder of this well - known ancient family we have to go back to the events that had occurred three centuries ago , that is , to the period when the power of the once famous kingdom of Vijianagar was at its height , Rama Bhadra Naick I is said to have been a follower as well as a close relation of the well - known Kottiya Nagama Naick , the Revenue Collector and Commander of the Vijianagar army in the South.
The Feudatory and zemindari India. Vol.9. the University of California. 1938. p.250. He was a lineal descendant of the famous warrior and diplomat Rama- bhadra Nayak who had held the post of Fouzdar or Military Chief and Collector of Revenue under his relative Viswanatha Nayak of the House of Vijianagar , King of the Pandyan country
↑ Bayly, Susan (2004). Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700–1900 (Reprinteded.). Cambridge University Press. p.48. ISBN978-0-52189-103-5.
↑ Ronit Ricci, Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia (University of Chicago Press, 2011), p. 40.
"Vanishing wall paintings". The Hindu. India. Archived from the original on 16 September 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
