Nayaka dynasties

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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. [1] [2] [3] Many of them were Telugu-speaking Balijas. [4] [5] [3]

Contents

Major Nayaka kingdoms

The Nayaka kingdoms included the following:

Notes

  1. The last name of the rulers is also found written as Nayak, Nayakudu, Nayudu, or Nayakkar, depending on the language and orientation of the writers. The first name (which is a family name) is also written as Damal, a simplified form.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tirumala Nayaka</span> 17th century ruler of Madurai Nayak Dynasty of India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanjavur Nayak kingdom</span> 16th-17th century rulers of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nayaks of Kandy</span> Rulers in Sri Lanka, 1739 to 1815

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 Kamma 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 Kamma caste.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peda Venkata Raya</span> Vijayanagara Emperor

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.

The Madurai Nayaks were a Telugu dynasty who ruled most of modern-day Tamil Nadu, India, with Madurai as their capital. The Madurai Nayaks had their origins in Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh. 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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thanjavur Maratha kingdom</span> Principality in Southern India

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiruchirappalli Rock Fort</span> Fort and temple in Tiruchirappalli, India

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viswanatha Nayak</span> Founder of the Madurai Nayak dynasty

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nayaks of Gingee</span> Rulers of Gingee, India from 16th to 18th century CE

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.

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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. Their capital was Aigoor in Hassan district.

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.

The Battle of Erode fought in 1667, was a conflict between the Confederacy Army of the Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayakas, Bijapur Sultanate, Nayaks of Kalahasti led by Chokkanatha Nayak The king of Madurai and the Mysorean forces, commanded by Chikkadevaraja. The battle occurred to restore the lands of Sriranga III and curb the power of expanding Mysore Kingdom, under the leadership of the Dodda Kempadevaraja Wodeyar the allied forces besieged Erode. Mysore army defeated the confederate army in the battle and secured it's control over Erode, Dharapuram, Vamulur.

References

  1. Talbot, Cynthia (20 September 2001). Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-803123-9.
  2. Kamath, Suryanath U. (2001). A concise history of Karnataka: from pre-historic times to the present. Bangalore: Jupiter Books. pp. 220, 226, 234.
  3. 1 2 Eugene F. Irschick, ed. (1969). Politics and Social Conflict in South India. University of California Press. p. 8. The successors of the Vijayanagar empire, the Nayaks of Madura and Tanjore, were Balija Naidus
  4. Sheldon Pollock, ed. (2003). Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia. University of California Press. p. 413. ISBN   9780520228214. ....in the seventeenth century, when warriors/traders from the Balija caste acquired kingship of the southern kingdoms of Madurai and Tanjavur.
  5. David Dean Shulman, ed. (2020). Classical Telugu Poetry. University of California Press. p. 57. ISBN   9780520344525. .....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.
  6. Ramaswamy, Vijaya (2014), "Mapping migrations of South Indian weavers before, during and after the Vijayanagara Period: Thirteenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Lucassen, Jan; Lucassen, Leo (eds.), Globalising Migration History: The Eurasian Experience (16th-21st Centuries), BRILL, p. 99, ISBN   978-90-04-27136-4
  7. Rao, Velcheru Narayana; Shulman, David; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1998). Symbols of substance : court and state in Nayaka period Tamil Nadu. Oxford University Press. p. 10. 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
  8. Irschick, Eugene F. Politics and Social Conflict in South India, p. 8: "The successors of the Vijayanagar empire, the Nayaks of Madura and Tanjore, were Balija Naidus."
  9. Irschick, Eugene F. Politics and Social Conflict in South India, p. 8: "The successors of the Vijayanagar empire, the Nayaks of Madura and Tanjore, were Balija Naidus."
  10. Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Penumbral visions: making polities in early modern South India, page 198. BS Baliga. Tamil Nadu district gazetteers, page 427.
  11. K. D. Swaminathan, ed. (1957). The Nayakas of Ikkeri. P. Varadachary. p. 56. The Nayaks of Belur became prominent during the period of the third and fourth dynasties of Vijayanagar
  12. Noboru Karashima (ed). Kingship in Indian history, Issue 2 of Japanese studies on South Asia. Page 192.
  13. Howes, Jennifer (1 January 1998). The Courts of Pre-colonial South India: Material Culture and Kingship. Psychology Press. p. 28. ISBN   07-0071-585-1.
  14. Srinivasachari 1943 , p. 94
  15. The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 7. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1908. p. 175.