A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c20.50

c20.50

We know that in 1639 the king of Vijayanagar was named Ranga or Sri-Ranga, and that he was at that time residing at Chandragiri; because in that year Mr. Day, the head of the English trading station at Madras, obtained from the king a grant of land at that place, one mile broad by five miles long, on which Fort St. George was afterwards constructed. The country about Madras was then ruled over by a governor or Naik, and so little heed did he pay to the wishes or commands of his titular sovereign, that although the Râya had directed that the name of the new town should be “Srîrangarâyalapatnam” (“city of Srî Ranga Râya”), the Naik christened it after the name of his own father, Chenna, and called it “Chennapatnam,” by which appellation it has ever since been known to the Hindus. Such, at least, is the local tradition. This king was probably the Ranga VI. of the *Epigraphia* list, mentioned as living in 1644 A.D.