>Kambliyil at 13:38, 9 June 2021

2021-06-09T13:38:29Z

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name = Kodagu{{cn|date=February 2021}}
|conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Coorg
|common_name = Coorg
|status = Empire
|status_text = Independent Kingdom (1500s-1780)<br/> Subordinate to [[Kingdom of Mysore]](1780-1788) <br/> [[Princely state]] under the [[suzerainty]] of the [[the Crown|British Crown]] (1790-1834)
|government_type = [[Monarchy]]
|event_start =
|year_start = 16th century C.E.
|date_start =
|event_end =
|year_end = 1834
|date_end =
|event1 = Earliest records
|date_event1 =
|p1 = Vijayanagara Empire
|flag_p1 =
|s1 = Coorg Province
|flag_s1 = British Raj Red Ensign.svg
|s2 =
|flag_s2 =
|image_flag =
|image_coat =
|image_map = India Karnataka Kodagu district.svg
|image_map_caption = Kingdom of Coorg
|capital = [[Madikeri]]
|national_anthem =
|common_languages = [[Kannada language|Kannada]], [[Kodava language|Kodava]]
|religion = [[Hinduism]]
|leader1 =
|leader3 =
|year_leader1 =
|year_leader3 =
|title_leader = [[Maharaja]]
}}
[[File:Watercolor guest house of the Raja of Coorg with fort in the background.jpg|thumb|right|270px|alt=A white mansion and, in the distance, a fortified palace atop a hill. Three men stand near a tent in the foreground. The mansion has a large rust-coloured shingled roof, pillared porches and open-air balconies on its four sides, and large box-like corner sections that extend out from the rest of the architecture.|Watercolour of the guest house of the [[Raja]] of [[Coorg]] with the fort in the background, 1795]]
[[File:Portico of the Coorg Rajah's Palace at Somwaspett (May 1853, X, p.48) - Copy.jpg|thumb|270px|Portico of the Coorg Rajah's Palace at Somwaspett (May 1853, X, p.48)<ref name="Juvenile1853">{{cite journal|title=Portico of the Coorg Rajah's Palace at Somwaspett|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|date=May 1853|volume=X|page=48|url=https://archive.org/details/wesleyanjuvenil19socigoog|access-date=29 February 2016|publisher=Wesleyan Missionary Society}}</ref>]]

The '''Kingdom of Coorg''' (or '''Kodagu''') was an independent kingdom<ref name="rice" /> that existed in [[India]] from the 16th century{{clarify|date=February 2021|reason=16th century or 1600s?}} until 1834.<ref name="Manual">{{Cite book|first=G.|last=Richter|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/980488785|title=Manual of Coorg: a gazetteer of the natural features of the country and the social and political condition of its inhabitants|date=2016|publisher=Forgotten Books|isbn=978-1-333-86309-8|oclc=980488785}}</ref> It was ruled by a branch of the [[Keladi Nayaka|Ikkeri Nayaka]]. From 1780 to 1788, the kingdom was occupied by neighbouring Mysore but the Rajah of Coorg was restored by the British and became a protectorate of British India on 26 October 1790. In 1834, the then Raja of Coorg rebelled against British authority sparking the [[Coorg War]]. The rebellion was brutally quelled by the British who annexed the kingdom and made it a province of British India.

== Early history ==
Although ''Rājendranāme'', a royal genealogy of the rulers of [[Coorg]] written in 1808, makes no mention of the origin of the lineage, its reading by historian [[Lewis Rice]] led him to conclude that the princely line was established by a member of the Ikkeri Nayaka family, who first settled in Halerinard. Having moved south to the town of Haleri in northern Coorg in the disguise of a wandering [[Jangama]] monk (or, by some recounting, a [[Lingayat]] monk<ref name="Manual" />), he soon began to attract followers; with their help, or their acquiescence, he took possession of the town, and in such manner came to rule the entire country.<ref name="subrah-rice-coorg1">{{Harvnb|Subrahmanyam|1989|p=212}}</ref> According to the genealogy,<ref name="Manual" /> the Coorg ''[[raja]]s'' who ruled from the early 17th century to the mid-19th century were:

{| cellspacing="4"
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable"
! bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="4" | Rulers of [[Coorg]] from early 17th century to mid-18th century<ref name="rice">{{cite book |last1=Rice |first1=Benjamin Lewis |title=Mysore and Coorg, a gazetteer |date=1878 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZwIAAAAQAAJ |access-date=28 June 2018}}</ref>
|-
! Ruler!! Period of rule
|-
| align="center" | Vira Rāja || align="center" | Not known
|-
| align="center" | Appaji Rāja || align="center" | Not known
|-
| align="center" | Muddu Rāja I|| align="center" | 1633–1687
|-
| align="center" | Dodda Virappa|| align="center" | 1687–1736
|-
| align="center" | Chikka Virappa|| align="center" | 1736–1766
|-
| align="center" | Muddu Rāja II || align="center" | 1766–1770
|-
| align="center" | Devappa Rāja || align="center" | 1770–1774
|-
| align="center" | Linga Rāja|| align="center" | 1774–1780
|-
| align="center" | Dodda Vira Rajendra|| align="center" | 1780–1809
|-
| align="center" | Linga Rāja|| align="center" | 1809–1820
|-
| align="center" | Vira Rāja|| align="center" | 1820–1834 (deposed)

|}
|}

Muddu Raja, the Coorg ruler from 1633 to 1687, initially ruled from the town of Haleri, but later moved his capital to [[Mercara]], which he fortified and where he built a palace in 1681.<ref name="subrah212rice106">{{Harvnb|Subrahmanyam|1989|p=99}}</ref> Early during the rule of his successor, Dodda Virappa (1687–1736), the army of the neighbouring kingdom of Mysore, under the orders of ''Wodeyar'' [[Chikka Devaraja]], attacked and seized [[Piriyapatna]], a territory which abutted Coorg (see [[:File:Coorg1.jpg|Map 11]]), and which was then being ruled by a kinsman of Dodda Virappa.<ref name="subrah212rice106"/> Buoyed by the victory, the Mysore army soon attacked Coorg itself; however, it had advanced only a short distance, when, while camping overnight on the plain of Palupare, it was surprised by a Coorg ambush. In the ensuing massacre, the Mysore army lost 15,000 men, and the survivors had to beat a hasty retreat. For most of the next two decades, the western reaches of Mysore remained vulnerable to attacks by the Coorg army. In the border district of Yelusavira, the Coorg and Mysore forces fought to a stalemate and, in the end, had to work out a tax sharing arrangement.<ref name=subrah212rice106/>

In 1724, major hostilities resumed between Coorg and Mysore.Changing his [[modus operandi]] from [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla skirmishes]] in the hilly Coorg jungle to open field warfare, Dodda Virappa, attacked the Mysore army in the plains. Catching it off guard, he took in rapid succession six fortresses from [[Piriyapatna]] to [[Arkalgud]]. The resulting loss of revenue, some 600,000 gold [[Pagoda (coin)|pagodas]], was felt in Mysore, and several months later, in August or September 1724, a large army was sent from [[Seringapatam]], the Mysore capital, to Coorg.<ref name="subrah-1989-pp217-218">{{Harvnb|Subrahmanyam|1989|pp=217–218}}</ref> Upon the Mysore army's arrival in the western region, however, the Coorg forces, returning to guerrilla warfare, retreated into the woods. Emboldened by the lack of resistance, the Mysore forces next mounted an attack on the Coorg hills. There too, they met no resistance.<ref name="subrah-1989-pp218-219">{{Harvnb|Subrahmanyam|1989|pp=218–219}}</ref> However, a few days into this invasion, the Mysore forces, recalling their ignominious ambush in the 1890s,{{clarify|date=November 2016}} panicked and retreated during the night.<ref name="subrah-1989-pp218-219"/> Soon, the Coorg army was attacking the Mysore outposts again. This pattern of back and forth was to continue until the Mysore army was recalled, a few months later, to Seringapatam, leaving the region again vulnerable to the periodic raids of the Coorg army.<ref name="subrah-1989-pp218-219"/> According to historian [[Sanjay Subrahmanyam]], <blockquote> The entire episode yields a rare insight into one aspect of war in the 18th century: the ([[Coorg]]) forces, lacking cavalry, with a minimum of firearms, lost every major battle, but won the war by dint of two factors. First, the terrain, and the possibility of retreating periodically into the wooded hillside, favoured them, in contrast to their relatively clumsy opponents. Second, the Mysore army could never maintain a permanent presence in the region, given the fact that the Wodeyar kingdom had several open frontiers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Subrahmanyam|1989|p=220}}</ref></blockquote>

The ruler was succeeded by his grandson, Chikka Virappa, whose unremarkable rule lasted until 1768, when Coorg was conquered by [[Haidar Ali]], the new [[sultan]] of Mysore.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

== Later history ==
In 1780, Coorg was invaded by Hyder Ali of Mysore and the state was annexed. For eight years, Coorg was a part of Mysore. In 1788, through British intervention, the Raja of Coorg regained his kingdom. He signed a treaty bringing Coorg under the protection of the British.

From 1790 to 1834, Coorg remained a protectorate of British India. In 1834, the then Raja of Coorg tried to shake off his allegiance to the British which resulted in the [[Coorg War]]. The state was eventually annexed and became the Coorg Province.

==Legacy==
The present day [[Madikeri]] was formerly known as ''Muddu raja keri'' (meaning Mudduraja's town) and was named after the prominent king, Mudduraja who ruled Coorg from 1633-1687. The present day [[Virajpet]] derived from ''Virarajendrapete'' was the town established by Haleri king Dodda Veerarajendra, after whose name the city derives its name.<ref name="DH1">{{cite news |last1=Mookonda |first1=Kushalappa |title=The set-up of Kodagu's royal cemetery |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/590655/set-up-kodagus-royal-cemetery.html |access-date=28 June 2018 |agency=Deccan Herarld |date=10 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="DH2">{{cite news |title=On the Haleri trail|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/content/20079/on-haleri-trail.html |access-date=28 June 2018 |agency=Deccan Herald |issue=17 August 2009}}</ref>

[[Chikka Virarajendra]] was the last ruler of Coorg. [[Kannada]] litterateur and [[Jnanpith Award]] recipient, [[Masti Venkatesha Iyengar]], wrote a critically acclaimed book, ''Chikavira Rajendra'', based on the life and times of that ruler. King Dodda Veerarajendra built the [[Nalknad Palace]].<ref name="DH1" />

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center" caption="" widths="150px" heights="150px">
Image:Edward Nash - Portrait of Mooda Maji of Coorg.jpg|A daughter of Dodda Vira Rajendra
Image:The temple tank of Omkareshwara Temple of Madikeri.jpg|Omkareshwara Temple built by King Linga Raja in Madikeri
File:Nalaknad_(6).jpg|[[Nalknad Palace]] at [[Madikeri]]
File:Portrait of Chikka Veera Rajah, the last King of Coorg.jpg|Chikka Vira Rajendra, The last King of Coorg (circa 1805)
File:Princess Gouramma.jpg|Princess [[Victoria Gouramma|Gouramma]], who would later become Victoria Gouramma, the daughter of [[Chikka Virarajendra]], the last king of Coorg, was adopted to be taken care by [[Queen Victoria]].</gallery>

== References ==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist|2}}
'''Bibliography'''
* {{Citation|last=Rice|first=Lewis|author-link=Lewis Rice|chapter=History of Coorg|title=Mysore and Coorg, A Gazetteer compiled for the Government, Volume 3, Coorg|publisher=Bangalore: Mysore Government Press. p. 427|year=1878|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZwIAAAAQAAJ}}
==Further reading==
* {{Citation
| author = Government of Coorg | year=1953
| title= Handbook of Coorg Census-1951 | publisher=Assistant Commissioner and District Census Officer, Coorg
| url= http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/6036/1/42086_1951_COO.pdf
}}

{{Karnataka topics}}

[[Category:History of Mysore]]
[[Category:History of Kodagu district]]
[[Category:History of Karnataka]]
[[Category:Coorg]]

Kingdom of Coorg - Revision history

>Kambliyil at 13:38, 9 June 2021