Kingdom of Coorg

Kingdom of Coorg
Kodagu^{[Kannada, Kodava, Arebhashe}
Kingdom of Coorg Kodagu[ Kannada, Kodava, Arebhashe
Religion	Hinduism
Government	Monarchy
Maharaja
History
• Established	16th century C.E.
• Disestablished	1834
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Vijayanagara Empire
Coorg Province

Coorg

with the fort in the background, 1795

The Kingdom of Coorg (or Kingdom of Kodagu) was an independent kingdom

Ikkeri Nayaka. From 1780 to 1788, the kingdom was occupied by neighbouring Mysore but the Rajah of Coorg was restored by the British and became a protectorate of the British East India Company on 26 October 1790. In 1834, the then Raja of Coorg rebelled against British authority, sparking the Coorg War. The brief conflict led to the British to annex the kingdom in the same year, who transformed the region into a province of British India

.

Early history

Although Rājendranāme, a royal genealogy of the rulers of

Lingayat monk^[3]), he soon began to attract followers; with their help, or their acquiescence, he took possession of the town, and in such manner came to rule the entire country.^[4] According to the genealogy,^[3] the Coorg rajas

who ruled from the early 17th century to the mid-19th century were:

Rulers of Coorg from early 17th century to mid-18th century^[2]
Ruler	Period of rule
Vira Rāja	Not known
Appaji Rāja	Not known
Muddu Rāja I	1633–1687
Dodda Virappa	1687–1736
Chikka Virappa	1736–1766
Muddu Rāja II	1766–1770
Devappa Rāja	1770–1774
Linga Rāja	1774–1780
Dodda Vira Rajendra	1780–1809
Linga Rāja	1809–1820
Vira Rāja	1820–1834 (deposed)

Muddu Raja, the Coorg ruler from 1633 to 1687, initially ruled from the town of Haleri, but later moved his capital to

Piriyapatna, a territory which abutted Coorg (see Map 11), and which was then being ruled by a kinsman of Dodda Virappa.^[5] Buoyed by the victory, the Mysore army soon attacked Coorg itself; however, it had advanced only a short distance, when, while camping overnight on the plain of Palupare, it was surprised by a Coorg ambush. In the ensuing massacre, the Mysore army lost 15,000 men, and the survivors had to beat a hasty retreat. For most of the next two decades, the western reaches of Mysore remained vulnerable to attacks by the Coorg army. In the border district of Yelusavira, the Coorg and Mysore forces fought to a stalemate and, in the end, had to work out a tax sharing arrangement.^[5]

In 1724, major hostilities resumed between Coorg and Mysore.Changing his

Coorg) forces, lacking cavalry, with a minimum of firearms, lost every major battle, but won the war by dint of two factors. First, the terrain, and the possibility of retreating periodically into the wooded hillside, favoured them, in contrast to their relatively clumsy opponents. Second, the Mysore army could never maintain a permanent presence in the region, given the fact that the Wodeyar kingdom had several open frontiers.^[8]

The ruler was succeeded by his grandson, Chikka Virappa, whose unremarkable rule lasted until 1768, when Coorg was conquered by

Haidar Ali, the new sultan of Mysore.^{[citation needed}

]

Later history

In 1780, Coorg was invaded by Hyder Ali of Mysore and the state was annexed. For eight years, Coorg was a part of Mysore. In 1788, through British intervention, the Raja of Coorg regained his kingdom. He signed a treaty bringing Coorg under the protection of the British.

From 1790 to 1834, Coorg remained a protectorate of British India. In 1834, the then Raja of Coorg tried to shake off his allegiance to the British which resulted in the Coorg War. The state was eventually annexed and became the Coorg Province.

British rule

Under British rule, the natives of Coorg were encouraged to join the Indian army. Even today most of the soldiers from Karnataka are from this land.

Legacy

The present day Madikeri was formerly known as Muddu raja keri (meaning Mudduraja's town) and was named after the prominent king, Mudduraja who ruled Coorg from 1633-1687. The present day Virajpet derived from Virarajendrapete was the town established by Haleri king Dodda Veerarajendra, after whose name the city derives its name.^[9]^[10]

Chikka Virarajendra was the last ruler of Coorg. Kannada litterateur and Jnanpith Award recipient, Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, wrote a critically acclaimed book, Chikavira Rajendra, based on the life and times of that ruler. King Dodda Veerarajendra built the Nalknad Palace.^[9]

Gallery

A daughter of Dodda Vira Rajendra
Omkareshwara Temple built by King Linga Raja in Madikeri
Nalknad Palace at Madikeri
Chikka Vira Rajendra, The last King of Coorg (circa 1805)
Princess Gouramma, who would later become Victoria Gouramma, the daughter of Chikka Virarajendra, the last king of Coorg, was adopted to be taken care by Queen Victoria.

References

Citations

^ "Portico of the Coorg Rajah's Palace at Somwarpett". The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons. X. Wesleyan Missionary Society: 48. May 1853. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
^ ^a ^b Rice, Benjamin Lewis (1878). Mysore and Coorg, a gazetteer. p. 100. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
^
OCLC 980488785
.

^ Subrahmanyam 1989, p. 212
^ ^a ^b ^c Subrahmanyam 1989, p. 99
^ Subrahmanyam 1989, pp. 217–218
^ ^a ^b ^c Subrahmanyam 1989, pp. 218–219
^ Subrahmanyam 1989, p. 220
^ ^a ^b Mookonda, Kushalappa (10 January 2017). "The set-up of Kodagu's royal cemetery". Deccan Herarld. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
^ "On the Haleri trail". No. 17 August 2009. Deccan Herald. Retrieved 28 June 2018.

Bibliography

Rice, Lewis (1878), "History of Coorg", Mysore and Coorg, A Gazetteer compiled for the Government, Volume 3, Coorg
, Bangalore: Mysore Government Press. p. 427

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,
S2CID 145180609