Nayakas of Belur, also known as Nayakas of Balam and Manjarabad Nayakas, were an Indiandynasty 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.[1] The Belur Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh.[2] Their capital was Aigoor in Hassan district.[3]
Singappa Nayak was the Vijayanagara viceroy to Belur in south Karnataka during the 14th century. He was the son of Manchayya Nayaka. Singappa Nayak was then succeeded by his son Chikka Singappa Nayak.[4] after Singappa Nayaka, up to the 16th century nothing definite is known about the chiefs of this principality.
Era Krishappa Nayak ( 1524-1566 A.D. ) was a loyal vassal of the Vijayanagara Emperors and assisted them in their campaigns. He was the son of Pottappa Nayaka and his brother named Surappa Nayaka, ruled gingee region.[5] He served as the Tambula Karandavahin (lit.'betel-bearer') to Krishna Deva Raya. [6] Era Krishappa Nayak was then succeeded by his son Venkatadri Nayaka.[7] It remained in the hands of this family till the fall of Seringapatam in 1799. venkatadri nayaka, the last chief of the line rebelled against the British and was seized and hanged in 1802.[8]
Territory
The Belur Nayak kingdom when established covered most of South Karnataka including the present day Hassan and Kodagu.[9]
Decline
In 1645 the Belur kingdom was overrun by the Keladi chief Shivappa Nayaka and bestowed by him on Sriranga III, the defeated king of Vijayanagar who had fled to him for refuge.[10]
List of Nayaks
The list of nayaks is unclear. Some of the Nayaks are:
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
Journal of Indian History. Vol.33–36. University of Kerala. Department of History, University of Allahabad. Department of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore, University of Kerala. 1958. p.366.
M.M.Kalburgi, ed. (1994). Karnatakada Kaifiyattugalu (in Kannada). Kannada University , Hampi. p.118. According to the Vasudhare grama Kaifiyat mentions the Belur chiefs were originally Telugu banajigas
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.
L. Krishna Anantha Krishna Iyer, ed. (1935). The Mysore Tribes and Castes. Vol.1. Mittal Publications. p.104. The Belur ( Balam ) chiefs in the south with their capital at Aigur ( Manjarabad ).
↑ Bangalore Suryanarain Row, ed. (1993). A History of Vijayanagar: The Never to be Forgotten Empire. Asian Educational Services. p.312. After a period Ramappa abdicated, and the province of Balam, yeilding [sic] a revenue of three lacs of pagodas, was in A.D. 1397, made over by the rulers of Vijayanagar to Singappa Naick, one of their generals, and son of an old Poligar, named Mancha Ayyappa Naick. Belur was therefore a grand city in the 12th and 13th centuries, and must have been equally so during the middle of the 15th century.
↑ Ramanujapuram Narasimhachar, ed. (1919). The Kesava Temple at Belur. Mysore government Press. p.2. Some time after the destruction by the Muhummadans of Dorasamudra or Halebid, the celebrated Hoysala capital situated about 10 miles to the east of Belur, the latter continued as the capital of the Belur kingdom which was conferred by the Vijayanagar king Krishna Deva Raya ( 1509-1529 ) on Era Krishnappa Nayaka, the bearer of his hadapa or betel-bag, whose successors ruled over the principality for nearly two centuries
M. P. Cariappa, Ponnamma Cariappa, ed. (1981). The Coorgs and Their Origins. Geetha Book House. p.44. Kodagu under the Belur Nayakas: For about a hundred years during the seventeenth century the Nayakas of Belur ruled the western part of present Hassan district and the northern part of Kodagu
Satinder Kumar, ed. (2000). Encyclopaedia of South-Asian Tribes: The Kinnaura - The Korwa. Anmol Publications. p.1456. The Belur Nayakas who ruled over the southern part of Hassan district and part of North Kodagu were under the overlordship of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar
Constance E. Parsons, ed. (1931). A Tour of the Mysore State (Melkote to Gersoppa). H. Milford, Oxford University Press. p.106. Era Krishnappa Nayaka , the Hadapa or Bearer of the Betel Bag to the King of Vijayanagar , ruled the country round Belur from early in the fifteenth century for 200 years. In 1645 the town and its dependencies were overrun by Sivappa Nayaka, king of Bednur (Nagar), who bestowed them on Sri Ranga Rayal, the defeated king of Vijayanagar, a fugitive at his court.
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