Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 43

BRUARY. 1917)
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
43
of the besiegers, and vanamián realised that he could not easily capture the city. He therefore resolved to change his strategy, to attack the people and lay waste the kingdom, in short to strike at the king through his people. He therefore abandoned the siege of Trichinopoly, and diverted his forces into the heart of the kingdom. The strength of the Muhammadan soldiers and of Muhammadan fanaticism was let loose on a mild and innocent populace, and there began, in consequence, a period of horrible massacre, rare even in Musalman warfare. The soldiers of Bijapur looked with satisfaction on the burning flames of villages and farmhouses. They seized men and forcibly circumcised them, tossed children on sword points and violated all rules of civilized war, Desperation goaded even cowardice to acts of heroism, and the people of many a village set fire to their homes and preferred death in the general conflagration to capture and torture by the Muhammadan soldiery.
The atrocities of the Muhammadan army, however, had one good effect. They induced the king to endeavour for a conclusion of peace. At first he led a life of indolent security within the fort of his capital, too weak or too indifferent to remove the calamities of his subjects, but the widespread horror of suffering compelled the abandonment of his inaction and the resort to an understanding with the adversaries. He promptly agreed to pay a considerable sum as indemnity for the present and tribute for the future; and the Muhammadans turned their back on the ruined kingdom, encumbered with spoils and enriched with booty of priceless value.
His punitive expeditions against Tanjore and Ramnad. In the tumultuous condition of South India in the 17th century, the slightest provocation was enough to inflame an internecine war. Chokkanatha's indignation was roused by the assistance which Tanjore had rendered to the invaders and by the indifference with which Tirumalai Setupati63 had regarded his recent humiliation. He therefore meditated, immediately after the departure of the Muhammadans, an invasion of Tanjore and the chastisement of Râmnâd. Himself taking the field in person, he promptly marched to the fortress of Vallam and took it by surprise. Here his conquests stopped. It seems that Chokkanatha's object was not territorial conquest, but the simple punishment of his brother chief. His expedition was more a punitive demonstration than a serious war. He therefore abandoned the contest after the seizure of Vallam, and marched into Râmnâd. He first occupied the Marava forts of Tirupattûr, Pudukkotta, Mâna Madurai and Kalayâr Köil, and desired to subdue the Setupati by a single but effective victory. But it was not the plan of the cautious Marava to come to a definite engagement. He adopted guerilla tactics, retreated into the inaccessible woods of his Jaghir, and harassed his Suzerain's forces by daring sallies and surprire attacks. Chokkanatha was, in consequence, tired of the war. He had moreover to perform certain religious ceremonies in his capital. He therefore left the conduct of the war to his lieutenants, and went to Trichinopoly. The officers were incompetent, and the Setupati was able to boldly emerge from the forest, resume the offensive, and inflict severe reverses on the royal foroes, Chokkanatha had consequently to withdraw his troops, except those which garrisoned the places taken already.
Tirumalai was the chief of the Maravas till 1670. Inscriptions 394 and 398 of 1906, which record gifts for his merit at the Satyagirinatha temple at Tirumayyam, are dated 1669 and are therefore practically his last. He seems to have performed the Hiranyagarbha sacrifice and therefore had the title of Hiranyagarbhayaji. See Mad. Ep. Rep. 1911, p. 89.
64 See Madura Manual. Raja Ram Rao's Ramnad Manual does not mention this war.