Origins The Dalavay Agraharam Plates of
Venkata I, mention that Virappa Nayaka, the grandson of
Viswanatha Nayak, a ruler of the
Madurai line mentions him with the title of lord of Ayyavalipura ('Lords of the town of Ayyavole'). Tamilized Balijas are known as
Gavaras. The lords of Ayyavolu were called Vira- Balanjas. The term Vira-
balija in
Telugu, Vira-
Banajiga in
Kannada and Vira-
Valanjiyar in
Tamil, all of them mean valiant merchants. These merchants styled themselves as protectors of Vira Balanja Dharma and their capital was at
Ayyavole or
Aihole in
Bijapur district of
Karnataka. Description of the Nayakas of Madurai was compiled by an official of the
Dutch East India Company in 1677, it mentions that the founder of the dynasty,
Viswanatha Nayak, as belonging to the Wellen Chetti merchant community. One of the Mackenzie manuscripts mentions that Wellen chetti would mean
bangle seller. and his ancestors were involved in the
bangle trade. Dewan Bahadur
Ramabadra Naidu, Zamindar of Vadagarai was a
descendant of the famous warrior and diplomat Ramabhadra Nayak, who had held the post of
Military Chief and
Collector of Revenue under his close relative
Viswanatha Nayak, the ruler of
Madurai country. He belonged to
Balija caste. According to
Srivamsa Prakashika, an
18th century
Telugu writing mentions the last ruler of the dynasty, Vijayaranga Chokkanatha Nayak, as belonging to the Garikepati family of the
Balija caste.
Origin They started as
kartakkals (agents) of the
Vijayanagara empire in southern regions of what would become
Tamil Nadu. That region had long been a troubled province due to its distance from Vijayanagara and had been only been fully subjugated in the early 16th century under Veera Narasimha. The first Nayaka, Nangama, was a popular and able general of
Krishnadevaraya. Krishnadevaraya sent Nangama Nayaka with a large army to bring
Pandya Nadu back under imperial control. Although he was an able administrator he was a hard ruler and rejected any claims of authority from the petty chieftains, which made him unpopular. In addition, experienced officers like Nangama Nayaka were chafing under the strict control Krishnadevaraya imposed on them. Towards the end of Krishnadevaraya's reign, trouble erupted in the south as the Chola Nayakas openly revolted and fled to
Travancore, while Nangama began defying central orders while still claiming power of deputy. In response, the emperor sent Nangama's son, Viswanatha, with a large army to recapture
Madurai.
Viswanatha Nayaka defeated his father and sent him as prisoner to
Krishnadevaraya, who in turned pardoned Nangama Nayaka for his valued service. After defeating his father
Krishnadevaraya made Viswanatha governor of Madurai and other Tamil provinces in 1529, beginning the Madurai Nayaka dynasty. Another story goes that the
Pandyas were under attack from the
Cholas and appealed to Krishnadevaraya for help. He then sent Nangama Nayaka to restore the
Pandyas to their rightful throne. Nangama defeated the
Cholas, but instead claimed the throne for himself and deposed the Pandyan king. So Krishnadevaraya sent Nangama's son Viswanatha Nayaka to defeat him, which he did. Thus he was made
nayaka of the region. However, this story does not have epigraphic evidence to support it.
Rise to power Viswanatha Nayaka was not originally independent, but was treated as just another governor who the emperor had sent to keep control over the provinces. Originally he had control over
Chola Nadu as well, which was ruled by a feudatory Chola prince, but this was transferred to the
Thanjavur Nayakas. In 1544, Viswanatha Nayaka helped
Rama Raya's army subdue Travancore, which had been refusing to pay tribute. Of these 72,
Kurvikulam and Ilayarasanendal, which were ruled by
Kamma Nayakas of the
Pemmasani, Komatineni and
Ravella clans, were considered royal
palayams. In the last year of his life he abdicated the throne and was alive for his son's investiture with ruling power in 1564, and died thereafter. Viswanatha's son, Krishnappa, was crowned in 1564. He immediately faced threats from nobles disgruntled with the new
palayam system brought in by his father. These nobles, led by Tumbichchi Nayaka instigated a revolt among some of the polygars, which was crushed by Krishnappa. In the same year, he sent a contingent to the
Battle of Talikota but it could not arrive in time. The defeat of Rama Raya made the Nayakas virtually independent. When the king of Kandy, a friend of Tumbichchi Nayaka, stopped sending tribute, Krishnappa then led an invasion of Kandy. In this invasion he killed the king of Kandy, sent the late king's wife and children to
Anuradhapura and placed his own brother-in-law Vijaya Gopala Naidu as his viceroy there to ensure tribute. After his death in 1572, power in the kingdom went to his son Virappa Nayaka. Some documents claim the two sons of
Krishnappa Nayaka were co-rulers, while other historians claim some member of the royal family was associated with rule, but not actually a ruler, like a
yuva raja system in many of the princely states. During this time he crushed another revolt of polygars who were illegitimate descendants of the Pandyas. Virappa reigned over a period of relative stability. His relations with his nominal Vijayanagara overlords varied by their strength, but were generally cordial. After his death in 1595, power passed to his eldest son Krishnappa Nayaka II. During this time he led an occupation of Travancore and recognized
Venkatapati Raya as emperor of VIjayanagar. During his reign, Ariyanatha Mudaliar died, and he himself died in 1601.
Height of power After his death a succession crisis arose and Krishnappa Nayaka II's youngest brother, Kasturi Rangappa, seized the throne but was assassinated a week later. Muttu Krishnappa Nayaka, the son of Krishnappa Nayaka II's second brother, became ruler. His rule was mainly focused on the organization of the southern coast. The community was excellent at fishing and pearl diving, which made them a valuable revenue source, but the region had generally been neglected by previous Nayakas. The region gradually became lawless and fell under Portuguese control. However, when the Portuguese asserted the coast was now theirs and began to collect taxes, Muttu Krishnappa started sending officers called
Sethupathis to modern Ramanathapuram, where their duties were to protect pilgrims going to Rameswaram and to compel the Portuguese to respect Nayaka authority in the region. Muttu Krishnappa Nayak is credited with the founding of Sethupathi dynasty in Ramnad. He was succeeded by his son Muttu Virappa Nayaka in 1609, who desired greater independence from his Vijayanagara overlords and thus stopped paying tribute regularly. After the death of Venkatapati Raya in 1614, a nobleman Gobburi Jagga Raya murdered his successor Sriranga II and his family. This fomented a succession crisis in the Vijayanagara empire developed and civil war broke out between him and Rama Deva Raya, Sriranga II's son, who had escaped. Madurai, Gingee and the Portuguese supported the side of Jagga Raya while
Raghunatha Nayaka of Thanjavur and Yachama Nayaka of
Kalahasti were among those supporting Rama Deva Raya. In the Battle of Toppur in 1616, the generalship of Raghunatha and Yachama led to a crushing defeat for Jagga Raya's forces, and he was killed. Muttu Virappa was forced to pay a huge tribute to the Centre. He then shifted his capital to Tiruchirappalli later that year so that he could more easily launch an invasion of Thanjavur if he wanted to, but this failed. However, his appeasement of his Pandyan vassals meant they were loyal when Mysore invaded Dindigul in 1620 and was repelled. He died in 1623. Interior |257x257pxMuttu Virappa was succeeded by his brother
Tirumala Nayaka, either as de facto or de jure ruler, in 1623. One of his first acts was to shift the capital back to Madurai, both as a better protection against invasion and its religious significance. The change took 10 years and was finally done in 1635. He also increased the army size to 30,000 to better work against. The kingdom was invaded again by Mysore in 1625, but Tirumala and his generals Ramappayya and Ranganna Nayaka crushed the invasion and launched a counterattack in which they laid siege to Mysore. Later in 1635, Travancore stopped paying tribute to Madurai so Tirumala Nayaka sent armies to attack him, which forced Travancore to resume tribute payments. In 1635, Tirumala Nayaka sent Ramappayya against the
Sethupathi of Ramnad, who had rejected his decision on a succession matter. In this campaign, the Portuguese supported Tirumala Nayaka, and in return he allowed them to build a fortress and station a small garrison wherever they might want. During this time, the Vijayanagara empire was falling fast and so Tirumala Nayaka cancelled tribute payment altogether. However, when Sriranga III took power, he viewed this as an act of rebellion and assembled a large army to subdue his vassal. Tirumala allied with Thanjavur and Gingee, but Thanjavur defected to the emperor. Madurai then made a new alliance with the Golconda Sultanate, who laid siege to Vellore and defeated Sriranga III. When he then appealed to his Nayakas for an alliance, all rejected him and Vijayanagara fell altogether. Goldonda, which conquered Vellore around 1646, laid siege to Gingee along with the Bijapur Sultanate. Tirumala Nayaka's armies arrived too late to save the fortress. In 1655, Mysore launched another invasion of Madurai when Tirumala was on his sickbed, and so he entrusted his defense to the Sethupathi of Ramnad, who had just emerged from a period of chaos. Ragunatha Thevar managed to drive back Mysore and in return all tribute was cancelled from him.
Decline Tirumala was succeeded by his son in 1659, who ruled for only four months, and then was succeeded by Chokkanatha Nayaka. In the first part of his reign, his army commander and chief minister revolted, supported by Thanjavur. He crushed the insurgents and invaded Thanjavur in retaliation, briefly placing his brother Muddu Alagiri as ruler there. But Madurai soon lost control of the region as Alagiri declared his independence and the
Marathas under
Venkoji conquered the province in 1675. Chokkanatha then waged war with Mysore and lost more territory, but his successor Muttu Virappa III recaptured it. After his death in 1689, Muttu Virappa III was succeeded by his infant son with
Rani Mangammal, Virappa's mother, as regent. With the Mughal juggernaut approaching southern India, Rani Mangammal recognised it would be better to pay tribute to the Mughals than have them invade. She supporter their capture of Jinji from Rajaram, who would otherwise have attacked Madurai and Thanjavur, and ruled the fort as a Mughal vassal. Muttu Virappa III's son Vijayaranga Chokkanatha reached maturity in 1704. However, he was more interested in scholarship and learning than ruling, and so real power fell to his chief counselor and commander of the army, who were known to abuse their power prodigiously. After his death in 1732, his wife, Queen
Meenakshi, decided to adopt the son of
Bangaru Tirumalai Nayaka, a member of the royal house. However there was severe strife between Bangaru Tirumalai and Meenakshi, and he led an uprising against her. In 1734, the
Nawab of Arcot sent an expedition south to demand tribute and fealty from the kingdoms there, and in desperation, Meenakshi gave tribute to the Nawab's son-in-law,
Chanda Sahib, to form an alliance. Bangaru Tirumalai retreated to the far south, in Madurai, and organized a large force of disgruntled polygars in 1736. Although they took Dindigul, Meenakshi and Chanda Sahib organized an army to attack Tirumalai. At the battle of Ammayanayakkanur near Dindigul, Bangaru Tirumalai's forces were defeated and he fled to Sivaganga. Once he was admitted into the Tiruchirappalli fort, however, Chanda Sahib declared himself king and imprisoned Meenakshi in her palace, ending the Madurai Nayakas for good. Tradition states she poisoned herself in 1739. == Administration ==