Devaraja Wodeyar II (22 September 1645 – 16 November 1704) was the fourteenth maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1673 to 1704.[1] During this time, Mysore saw further significant expansion after his predecessors. During his rule, centralised military power increased to an unprecedented degree for the region.[2]
Early years
Chikka Devaraja was born on 22 September 1645, the eldest son of Maharani Amrit Ammani and Dodda Deva Raja (
In the first decade of his rule, Chikka Devaraja introduced various petty taxes that were mandatory for the peasants, but those from which his soldiers were exempted.[3] The unusually high taxes and the intrusive nature of his regime created wide protests in the ryots which had the support of the Jangama priests in the Virasaiva monasteries.[4] According to (Nagaraj 2003), a slogan of the protests was:
"Basavanna the Bull tills the forest land; Devendra Indra gives the rains; Why should we, the ones who grow crops through hard labour, pay taxes to the king?"[5]
According to sources, the king, resolving upon a treacherous massacre,
Venkoji to formally purchase Bangalore town for Rs. 3 lakhs. The Maratha king opened negotiations with Wadiyar and agreed to transfer the city for three lakh rupees. While the transaction was in progress, the Mughal army under Khasim Khan came, occupied the city, and hoisted the Mughal flag on its rampart on July 10, 1687. When the Marathas tried to retaliate, Chikka Devaraja Wadiyar stood before the walls of Bangalore and fought for the Mughals hoping that this would help him earn the favours of Aurangzeb. The deal that he negotiated with the Marathas was then sealed by the Mughals.[7][6]
Map comparing the boundaries of Chikka Devaraja's realms to other boundaries of Mysore from 1617 to 1799.
Relations with the Mughal empire
The Mughals, under Aurangzeb, invaded the Vijayanagara region and, having conquered the Maratha-Bijapur province of Carnatic-Bijapur-Balaghat (of which Bangalore was a part), made it a part of the Mughal province of Sira. The payment for Bangalore was consequently made to Qasim Khan, the Mughal Faujdar Diwan of Sira and, through him, Devaraja Wodeyar II "assiduously cultivated an alliance" with Aurangzeb.
Kodagu and Balam in the west to Baramahals in the east.[6]
Mysore at the end of the seventeenth century.
Legacy
According to
Trichnopoly had to be abandoned because the alliance had begun to rupture.[9] Similarly, in addition to receiving a signet ring and a sword described above, a consequence of the embassy sent to Aurangzeb in the Deccan in 1700 was a formal subordination to Mughal authority and a requirement to pay annual tribute.[9] There is evidence, too, that the administrative reforms mentioned above might have been a direct result of Mughal influence.[9]
Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar is credited with the composition of Gita Gopala – an opera in Kannada.
Imperial Gazetteer of India: Provincial Series (1908), Mysore and Coorg, Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing. Pp. xvii, 365, 1 map.
Nagaraj, D. R. (2003), "Critical Tensions in the History of Kannada Literary Culture", in Pollock, Sheldon (ed.), Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia, Berkeley and London: University of California Press. Pp. 1066, pp. 323–383,
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (1989), "Warfare and state finance in Wodeyar Mysore, 1724–25: A missionary perspective", Indian Economic and Social History Review, 26 (2): 203–233,
