Historical time With the end of the
Chola Empire in 1279, Thanjavur was ruled by a branch of Chola dynasty, until the
Vijayanagara Empire conquered all of
southern India by the late 14th century. In 1532 CE,
Achyuta Deva Raya, the brother and successor of
Krishna Deva Raya of Vijayanagara Empire, granted
Sevappa Nayak, the governor of Thanjavur, the permission to establish a feudatory kingdom.
Sevappa Nayak Sevappa Nayak (1532–1580) was the first Thanjavur Nayak king. He was the son of Timmappa Nayak, a Vijayanagara viceroy in the
Arcot region through his wife Bayyambika. The work
Raghunathabhyudayam written by Vijayaraghava Nayaka gives some genealogical details of Timmappa. Timmappa or
Timmabhupati was the ruler of North Arcot with his capital at Nedungunram. The epigraphs of all of the Tanjore Nayaks show that they belonged to Nedungunram. According to historian V. Vriddhagirisan, Timmappa Nayak was the brother of Nagama Nayak. Nagama Nayak was the father of
Visvanatha Nayak (founder of the Madurai Nayak dynastic line). Hence Viswanatha Nayak and Sevappa Nayak were the cousins. Before assuming power of the Tanjore kingdom, Sevappa had distinguished himself under Krishnadavaraya as an administrator and a builder. Sevappa's wife Murtimamba was the sister-in-law of
Achyuta Deva Raya and the sister of the Vijayanagara Queen, Thirumalamba. Some sources suggest that Sevappa acquired the Thanjavur Kingdom as
Stridhana from Achyutadeva Raya. Sevappa was also a ceremonial
betel bearer to
Achyuta Deva Raya, the brother of
Krishnadevaraya. According to the M. Anant Narayan Rao, the "position of a ceremonial betel bearer or
adaiappan (
thambul karandivan) was a post given to a very trusted subordinate and Sevappa being a powerful and influential man of the locality was appointed the first Nayak of Thanjavur". The position of a betel bearer was usually not given to an outsider, as this position would make the man privy to all of the king's personal details. Therefore, the position was usually given to a trusted member within the family. His contributions include building the prakaras at the temples of Vridhachalam and Kanchipuram, gilding the Vimanas of Srisailam and Thirumala (Tirupati) temples with gold, construction of the tallest temple tower (gopuram) at Tiruvannamalai, and repairing the Sivaganga Fort and the tank at Tanjore.
Achuthappa Nayak Sevappa's son,
Achuthappa Nayak (1560–1614), was named in memory of Achyuta Deva Raya. He led a peaceful reign of 54 years. Up until 1580 Achuthappa Nayak co-ruled with his father under the Yuvaraja title while immediately after that he was joined by his heir, son Raghunatha Nayak. He was said to be deeply religious and was well considered a master in the art of warfare. His minister was
Govinda Dikshitar, a great scholar and a shrewd administrator. His long reign was of comparative peace apart from the internal struggles enabling him to contribute much to spiritual and public utility development.
Conflicts and wars Wars with Madurai During the reign of Achuthappa, the Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by the
Deccan sultanates armies at the
battle of Talikota. Later when the Vijaynagara rulers re-established their capital in Chandragiri and Vellore under Sriranga Rayas, Achuthappa Nayak continued his loyalty while Gingee and Madurai Nayaks intended to break free by refusing to pay tribute. This would also lead to bitter animosity between the
Madurai Nayaks and the Tanjore Nayaks ultimately leading to the Battle at Vallamprakara where the Tanjore army with the Rayas fought against Veerappa Nayak of Madurai by defeating the latter. This happened at the same time as when the Rayas of
Chandragiri were waging wars with the Deccan Sultanates in southern
Andhra Pradesh, Achuthappa Nayak provided support.
Wars with Portugal Portugal controlled the
Nagapattinam territory as well as the Colombo province in
Ceylon and the entire West Coast of India. The King of
Jaffna kingdom went into a war against Portugal against the methods adopted by the missionary conversions in Jaffna. Later King of Jaffna sought help from the Tanjore Nayaks in repelling Portuguese advances through many battles
Public contributions Achuthappa Nayak was deeply religious from his young days and the fertile nature of his country helped him make large contributions in gifts and infrastructure to major Temples and also important irrigation systems. The main benefactor was the Srirangam Temple. His assistant and advisor was his
minister Govinda Dikshita.
Srirangam Temple The
Srirangam Temple towers (Gopurams) of the North and West and the eighth Prakara (temple Wall Street) and several Halls (Mandapam) inside the Temple complex were built by him. The Golden Vimana of the inner most shrines (Temple Flag) and the image of God studded with Crown jewels was presented by Achuthappa Nayak. Vijayaraghava's long reign witnessed a large amount of literary output both in music and Telugu literature. Vijayaraghava's court had a number of poets and literary scholars. Vijayaraghava Nayak wrote more than thirty books in Telugu. His long reign was sadly brought to an abrupt end by
Chokkanatha Nayak of Madurai. ==End of Nayak rule==