The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c12.81

v1.c12.81

The account of Nuniz is supplemented by a more recent but not less trustworthy work. In the beginning of the 19th century, Colonel William Macleod, acting Commissioner in Arcot, requested a learned man of Jinji, named Narayen, to write a history of the Karnataka country. Narayen making use of the old traditions as well as of the available documents, produced the Karnataka Rajakal Savistara Charitram. Section eight of this work is all devoted to the history of Jinji. There he narrates that during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya, the Jinji country was divided among several petty chiefs who did not acknowledge the authority of the emperors of Vijayanagara. In order to reduce them, Krishna Raya sent a considerable army into the Karnatik, which is said to have consisted of 100,000 men, under the command of four chiefs named Vaiyappa Nayaker, Tubaki Krishnappa Nayaker, Vijaya Raghava Nayaker and Venkatappa Nayaker. The army encamped near Vellore. No battle or attack on the fort is there mentioned but the submission of all the chiefs of the surroundings seems to point to a victory of the imperial army. Narayen says that the chief of Chittoor and other petty rulers of the Tondamandalam country had an interview with Vaiyappa Nayaker, who seems to have been the generalissimo. One of the chiefs mentioned is Bomma Reddi of Calastri. On this occasion Vaiyappa fixed their rate of tribute. From Vellore the imperial army proceeded to Jinji. Hear another meeting was held with the chiefs of the Chola mandalam, and their tribute was also settled. In the meantime, while in Jinji, he despatched the subordinate generals towards the South to levy tribute on the Pandya, Chola and Chera Kingdoms. They were respectfully received by the rulers of these kingdoms, and the tribute was paid. Krishna Deva Raya derived three crores of rupees from the eastern Karnataka. For the administration of these newly acquired dominions, he divided the whole country into three parts under three Viceroys. The first extended from Nellore to the river Colerun; this was placed under Tubaki Krishnappa Nayaker, who fixed his capital at Jinji. The second was the fertile country washed by the Kaveri river, and was governed by Vijaya Raghava, who resided at Tanjore. Finally the third was the whole country South of the said Kaveri river, and this was assigned to Venkatappa Nayaker, who eventually settled at Madura ¹.