History of Gingee Fort

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Gingee under the rule of Vijayanagar Kings :- (1400 A.D)

From the survey of books that were present during Vijayanagar period, we come to know that Gingee was under the authority of Kopnnarayer during the 14th Century A.D.

Historians hold the opinion that Kopannarayr, one of the Generals of Vijayanagar empire helped Kampannarayan, with a large army. In return, Kampannarayan handed Gingee over to Kopannarayer.

Gingee under the Nayakka rulers : - (From the end of 14th century A.D. for 150 years)

During the peak of Krishna Deva Raya's power (1509 A.D. - 1529 A.D.) he ordered, Krisnappa Nayyaka to rule a region with Gingee as its capital. He and his successors ruled for about 150 years having capital at Gingee.

The Nayyaka rulers, build tall and strong fort walls with granite, tall towers with sculptural workmanship granite temples on the plains and brick shrines on the peak. This architecture is similar to that architecture in "Hampi"

Under the rule of Muhammaadans:-(1649 A.D. - 1677 A.D)

There was no unity among the Nayakas of Gingee, Tanjore and Madurai. There where frequent skirmishes among them.

Taking advantage of this situation, the Bijapur Sultans, who belong to the Muhammadans dynasty, invaded Gingee at the beginning of the 16th Century A.D. and captured it. After this the army general of "Golgonda" , "Mirjeeva" defeated Krishnappa Nayyaka and handed Gingee over the king of Bijapur.

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Gingee under the Marathas:- (1677 A.D. - 1697 A.D)

After the fall of the Muhammadans rule at the end of the 17th century, Chattrapathi Shivaji, a scion in the annuls of History wrested Gingee from the Muhammadans. Then he asked his brother " Sambaji" to rule Gingee in 1690 A.D. afterwards it was handed over to Rajaram in 1697 A.D.

Gingee, under the rule of the Mughals:- (1700 A.D-1750 A.D)

The Mughal General Zulfigar Khan (1697 A.D. - 1698 A.D.) captured Gingee fort after a tough fight against the Marathas.

Zulfigar Khan, then handed over the rule to Swaroop singh who was the army head at Bundalakand in 1700 A.D. on conditions that he had to collect tax under the supervision of Sad-ad-ullah khan of Carnatic.

After the death of Swaroop, his son Desingh Raja came to the throne. He hated to be a slave to the Mugal rulers and refused to pay the tax to the Nawab. So a war took place between Sad-ad-ullah khan and Desingh Raja. At the end of the war, Desingh Raja by killing himself made a supreme sacrifice to avoid being a prisioner in the hands of Mogul rulers. Historians say that though Desingh Raja ruled for short period, he deeply engraved his marks in the history of Gingee. His wife also throwing herself into fire committed suicide to safeguard her chastity which is considered as highly holy.

After the death of Desingh Raja, Sad-ad-Ullah khan conquered Gingee in 1714 A.D. and ruled till 1750 A.D. for about 36 years.

Gingee under the rule of the Foreigners :- (1750 A.D)

French people who came to India, for the purpose of trade and commerce, attacked Gingee under the command of "Puli" and his troops, captured Gingee and kept Gingee under their control for about ten years. During this period French People annexed Vandavasi in 1760 A.D. and Pondicherry in 1761 A.D. Then the Britishers under the command of General "Coot" attacked the French Army on April, 1761 A.D. by winning the war, they brought Gingee under the control of the British Captain 'Stephen Smith'.

After this time. the General of Mysore, Hyder Ali became the king in 1761 A.D. A.D. As Hyder Ali did not like the British rule in India, he waged war against the British many times. So the Britishers made peace treaty with Hyder Ali. After few years, when Warren Hastings became the Governor General of India, Hyder Ali blamed Britishers for going against the treaty and waged war in 1780, by moving his troops via Polur and Vandavasi to caputure Gingee. But he was defeated by the Britsh army.

After 1780 A.D., the southern parts gradually fell into the hands of the British without any opposition. Due to the political changes in Carnatic area, the Britishers made Chennai fort for the transport facilities and the French made Pondicherry as their capital and started to rule Indian territory.

In the beginning, Gingee was the place of the Jains but later due to rule of Pallava, Chola kings, Pandya, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara kings. Muhammadans, Mughals and the indifferent attitude of foreigners, the Gingee fort, which was surrounded by the granite walls, the mandapas, the temples inside the fort, was gradually destroyed. The Britishers did not take any steps to renovate the fort. Today Gingee fort is placed as a memorial in the pages of history and also for the sake of its admirers.
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