Indian Antiquary Vol 54

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 49

MART. 1925;
THE CITY OF JINJI AT THE END OF THE 18TH CENTURY
THE CITY OF JINJI AT THE END OF THE 16TH CENTURY.
By Rev. H. HERAS, S.J., M.A. It is well known that in the days of its glory the old fortress of Jinji, in the South Arcot District, was one of the strongest and most impregnable in the whole of Hindustan. It rightly deserved to be called The Troy of the East,' a name given it by European travellers.
To one of these travellers, Fr. Nicholas Pimenta, S.J., we are indebted for an account of the whole city, which will repay careful study. This Portuguese Jesuit was appointed Visitor of the Missions of the Society of Jesus in India by the Most Rev. Fr. Claudius Aquaviva, Superior General of the Society. In the course of his travels he spent a few days at Jinji, in the year 1597. There were no Jesuits then at the Court of the Jinji Nayak, but he wanted to pay his respects to Krisnappa Nayaka (1580-1620), the then ruling chief, and to thank him for his hospitality to several of the Jesuit Missionaries who had visited his Court on business.1
The above mentioned account sent by Fr. Pimenta to his Fr. General, and published in Purchas His Pilgrims, vol. x, chapter VI, pp. 205-222, reads as follows: "Wee went thence to Gingi ; the greatest Citie we have seen in India, and bigger then any in Portugall, Lisbon excepted." While visiting the place last April, it struck the author of the present article that the fortress could not possibly contain within its walls a city bigger then any in Portugall, Lisbon excepted.' My conclusion was that the city must have been outside the walls, the fortress being the citadel of the old Nayak capital. And on closer examination of Pimenta's narrative my supposition was confirmed by the following description : "In the midst thereof is a Castle like a Citie, high walled with great hewen stone and encompassed with a ditch full of water in the middle of it is a Rocke framed into Bulwarkes and Turrets, and made impregnable."4 No doubt the actual remains of Jinji mark only the site of what must once have been the heart of the old city, viz., the fort and the royal palace. The position of the rest of the town, or rather of what is left of it, was my objective.
I had a full day in which to effect my purpose, and at length I succeeded. Seated on the steps that lead up to the summit of Rajagiri I consulted Orme's Plan of Jinji referred to in his Military Transactions. There it was ; the map gave an outline of the old Fort. It was triangular in shape; the points where the bounding lines intersected were three hills; whilst the bounding lines themselves consisted of a continuous long black wall, which crowned the top of each hill, and ran across the valleys that separated the three hills, one from the other. It likewise showed the course of a small pettah running on the east side of the fortress outside the walls, at the very foot of the Chandrayan-drug, the southern hill ; while the present village is situated below the Kistnagiri, or northern hill. The pettah that existed in Orme's time and was surrounded by thin walls, of which no traces have remained, can only have been an insignificant quarter of the town. On the map there was also (what was more suggestive) & small path marked immediately in front of the Vellore Gate, on the north side of the fortregs. It led westwards and curved a little to the south after passing in front of the Rajagiri; by the side of this path as marked on the map, the following inscription may be seen : "Road to old Ginji." Where was the old Jinji, of Orme's days? That was the main question.
Thereupon with map in hand I tried to identify the places. I found the path after a diligent search ; it led us to a small village three miles north-west of the fort, named Mêlachêri. I opened the Gazetteer of the South Arcot District to get some information about this settlement, and came across the following description : "Mêlachêri.... It was known in days
1 Cf. for instance my paper The Jesuit Influence in the Court of Vijayanagar, published in The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society of Bangalore, January 1924, pp. 138-9.
I P. 217. I keep to the spelling of the old translation.
3 I have much pleasure in publicly acknowledging my gratitude to the Rev. T. Gavin Dutty, Diocesan Visitor of the Catholic Schools, Tindivanam, South Arcot, for his kindness in taking me to the place and showing me tho interesting historical remains so familiar to him,
• P. 217,