A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c17.100

c17.100

The massacre of the royal family sent a thrill of horror through the kingdom, and Jagga Rāya and his partisans came to be deeply hated. Sympathy grew for Rāmadeva, the sole survivor of the family. He owed his survival to the forethought of Yāchama, who now proclaimed him emperor, and there ensued a long-drawn out civil war in which the whole empire took part. Yāchama defeated Jagga Rāya in battle and forced him to flee to the jungles for refuge. The Gobbūri estates in the south-west of the Nellore district were captured. But, nothing daunted, Jagga became active again, and secured the support of Muttu Virappa Nāyaka of Madura and Krishnappa Nāyaka of Gingee. Yāchama on his side paid a visit to Tanjore and secured the adherence of Raghunātha Nāyaka to Rāma's cause. Yāchama and his allies gathered their forces in the neighbourhood of Trichinopoly; Yāchama led his army from Vellore in that direction and was joined by Raghunātha's forces on the way. The decisive engagement took place at Topur, a village near the Grand Anicut. Jagga Rāya fell in the battle with many of his lieutenants, his army broke up and fled, and Yāchama's victory was complete (1616). The putative son of Venkata, the cause of all the trouble, was captured, and Krishnappa Nāyaka lost all his forts except Gingee; his subsequent attempt to recover them only resulted in another defeat followed by captivity. The war was kept on by Etirāja, Jagga Rāya's younger brother, and by differences among the Nāyaks. The death of the putative son in 1619, followed by reconciliation between Rāmadeva and Etirāja, whose daughter he married, put an end to the war and brought about the recognition of Rāma in Karnātaka, though the Madura Nāyak went his own way. Etirāja now stood by his son-in-law, as did Raghunātha Nāyaka who helped to restore the imperial authority over contumacious vassals. The reconciliation of Rāma with Etirāja estranged Yāchama, however, who had longed to confiscate all the Gobbūri lands, including Pulicat and its surroundings, which belonged to Etirāja himself. After much local fighting Rāmadeva's authority came to count for something in the remnants of the empire by about 1629, and the Nāyak of Gingee gave up his hostile attitude and became a friendly vassal. Even Yāchama's partisans were subdued and Pulicat and its environs firmly secured for Etirāja and the empire. Thus the struggle of a decade and a half ended in a tolerable measure of success for Rāma.