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DECEMBER, 1916)
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
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chastising Kanthirava for his help to Chandragiri, and of collecting tribute from him. It is difficult to follow their movements from this time. It is not certain, for example, whether the Bijapur troops alone desired to invade Mysore or the Golconda troops also. Golconda had no motive for an offensive operation except the motive of revenge, and it is fairly questionablo whether for the gratification of a feeling alone, the Kutb Shah would have once again plunged into a war. On the other hand, Bijapur had everything to gain by the Mysore conquest. It is therefore doubtful whether both the states acted together in this affair, and if they did, we may be almost eure that Golconda must bave taken an auxiliary part. However it was, the invasion did not begin in an encouraging manner. The frontiers of Mysore in the east were so well guarded that the Muhammadans could make no impression on them. At this stage, Tirumal Naik came to their rescue. It seems that while Tirumal was engaged in the north, the king of Mysore had in 1641," descended the Kûvêrapuram pass and taken the estate of Ghetti Mudaliar in Kongu country, as far as Gambally (Somapatti); and Tirumal now took revenge by throwing open the passes in his country, leading to Mysore, and giving the right of passage through his kingdom. A more imbecile or cowardly act cannot be imagined, and after all even this un natural and imbecile slavery did not save him. For, when the Muhammadan army returned victorious after humbling Mysore and sealing for ever all hopes of Vijayanagar revival, they showed their esteem and their gratitude to their humble ally by extorting extravagant spoils from him. The spoils of peace were, to them, not less lucrative than the spoils of war, and friendship and allegianco were, in the experience of Tirumal Naik, hardly less costly than enmity and independence.
The end of the Chandragiri dynasty. Thus ended the attempt of Tirumal Naik and his confederates to declare themselves independant of their nominal suzerain. From an imaginary Soylla they fell into a veritable Charybdis. Tirumal epecially, had endeavoured to disdain the ostensible authority of his Hindu master, and brought about Musalman dominion not only over Madura, but the whole of South India. He had plunged into war for the sake of a word for the reality he had already possessed and in the end he did not only himself become a slave, both in fact and in theory, but made the other Hindu kings of the south slaves of the despised Mlechchha. What Kafur had failed to do and what the Bahmini Sultans and their successors at Bijapur and Golconda had failed to do for centuries, was now done by the treason of Tirumal Naik. As regards the fate of the unfortunatefi Sri Ranga, we are unable to say how it ended. Col. Wilks, whoso history in this period is very meagre and unsatisfactory, ignores entirely the part that the king of Mysore played in the recent wars. He contents himself with the statement that "In consequence of a succession of revolutions
40 Wilke, I. p. 33; Salem Manual, I, 48. Buchanan, I, 422 (whore the great travellor gives an account ef Kávéripuram and its Polygar). Buchanan's historical knowledge is naturally very meagre, RB is clear from his remarks in p. 420, where he rofers to "Dalavai Rama Peya" and of "Gullimodal" (i. e., Ghetti Mudaliar) his contemporary. See also, p. 465 where “Sati-mangalam " is referred to And p. 464 where some account of Coimbatore is given.
41 Vol. I, p. 36. Buchanan gives a good deal of legend and information about the Tkceri dynasty, all of which have been utilized by Rice. See also the Canara Manual. Here it may be noticed that Venkatappa Ndik changed his capital from Ikeri to Bednore in 1646, and that he wo succeeded by Sivappa Naik in 1647. It was the latter prince that took S Ranga's side. It is very curious, however, that in a number of grants which Sivappa Naik gave to Sringeri between 1662 and 1682 he does not recognize Sri Ranga. See Ep. Carna, VI, Sg 9, Sg 11, Sg 13, etc.
