 The
Gingee country then came under the rule of the
Hoysalas in the later part of the 13th and in the
first half of the 14th century. From the Hoysalas it
passed on, by relatively easy efforts, into the
hands of the first rulers of Vijayanagar. The
Vijayanagar dominion gradually expanded over South
India and and divided the administration into three
important provinces, which were under the control of
Nayaks. These were the Nayaks of Madura, Tanjore and
Gingee. Information about the Gingee Nayaks and
their rule is very scanty. It is said that the
Tubaki Krishnappa Nayaka (1490 to1521) was the
founder of the Nayak line of Gingee kings. He seems
to have ruled gloriously all over the coast from
Nellore down to the Coleroon up to 1521 A.D. Under
the Nayaks the Forts were strengthened and the town
was greatly enlarged.
The last Nayak of Gingee was forced to surrender to
the Bijapur army towards the end of December 1649
A.D. The booty acquired by the Mohammedan rulers of
Bijapur was 20 crores of rupees in cash and jewels.
Gingee assumed a new and enhanced strategic
importance under the Bijapur governors. Bijapur was
in possession of the fortress of Gingee till 1677
A.D., when the famous Sivaji, the son of Shaji fell
upon it in his momentous Carnatic expedition. The
Marathas greatly strengthened and fortified its
defences.
The Mughals were then able to capture the fort of
Gingee in the Carnatic from Ramaraja the King of the
Marathas, early in 1698, after a protracted and weak
siege of seven years. Zulfikar Khan, the son of Asad
Khan, the Grand Vizir in the court of Aurangazeb,
was in command of the siege operation of Gingee and
of its governor till he left the Carnatic after
about a year from its fall.
After that Aurangazeb, granted a mansab of 2,500
rank and jagir of 12 lakhs to Sawrup Singh, a
Bundela Chieftain, along with the killedari of
Gingee in 1700 A.D. Raja Sawrup Singh died of old
age in 1714 A.D. His arrears of payments due to the
faujdari amounted to 70 lakhs, being a defaulter for
ten years. The Nawab of Arcot reported this matter
to the Badshah (Mughal Emperor) at Delhi. Hearing
about the death of his father, Desingh, the son of
Raja Sarup Singh, started for Gingee from
Bundelkhand, his ancestral home.
 On
arriving at Gingee, Desingh assumed the government
of Gingee after performing the last rites of his
father. Aurangazeb had granted a firman to his
father and Desingh took formal possession of his
father’s jaghir on ground of his hereditary right.
Desingh did not receive a warm welcome from the
Mughal officers. The Nawab of Arcot, Sadatullah
Khan, who attempted to dispossess Desingh, pleaded
that the firman was not valid. When Payya
Ramakrishna, who was his secretary, informed him of
the legal necessity of getting the firman renewed by
the new Emperor before assuming the jaghir, Desingh
replied that he had got the firman of Aurangazeb and
that he need not apply to anybody else.
In fact after regaining the fort from Marathas,
Aurangzeb had first appointed Nawab Daud Khan as the
deputy subhadar of the Deccan. Nawab Daud Khan
removed his headquarters from Gingee to the town of
Arcot, as he believed that the place was not
healthy. This diminished the importance of Gingee.
While shifting his headquarters, Daud Khan appointed
Sadatullah Khan as his Diwan and Faujdar in 1708.
Sadatullah Khan later became the Nawab of the two
Carnatics in 1713, under Nizam-Ul-Mulk. He was the
regular and acknowledged Nawab of the Carnatic
between the years 1710 and 1732 A.D. After the death
of Raja Sawrup Singh he renewed the demand for the
arrears of revenue with his son Raja Desingh. This
lead to a battle between the two, which
unfortunately ended in the death of the young and
valiant Rajput, Desingh on 3rd October 1714.
The gallantry displayed by Desingh at the young age
of 22, against the powerful Nawab Sadatulla Khan of
Arcot in a struggle that was hopeless from the
outset (Desingh’s army consisted of only 350 horses
and 500 troopers, while the Nawab’s army had 8,000
horsemen and 10,000 sepoys) has made us remember him
forever. The ballets are sung in and around Gingee
till date about his bravery. However, the fortress
of Gingee lost its pre-eminent position and
political importance within a few years of the
extinction of the Rajput rule.
Subsequently, the two European rival powers in
India, the English and the French, got themselves
involved in the internal quarrels and fights and the
French won for themselves the Gingee fortress on the
11th Sept., 1750, under the initiative of Bussy.
They took good care to secure the fort by a strong
garrison, which was well supported with artillery
and ammunition.
Gingee remained firmly in French possession until
after the fall of Pondicherry to Sir Eyre Coote in
January 1761. The English commander was Captain
Stephen Smith. With the fall of Gingee the French
lost their last possession in the Carnatic.
Gingee regained its political importance, for the
last time in its fateful history, in 1780 A.D, when
Haidar Ali, helped by some able French Officers,
invaded Carnatic with a force of 90,000 men.
Haidar’s men appeared before the fortress and easily
carried it by their assault in November 1780. The
English re-conquered it at the close of the second
Mysore war from Tippu Sultan in 1799. After that
Gingee had been free from the ravages and anarchy of
war, but subject to desolation and decay. During the
frequent Indo-French Wars, the British resident
wanted the Fort and The Fortification to be
demolished. Luckily his suggestion was not accepted
and the Fort remains for us to experience and relive
the history.
C K Gariyali IAS
Source :
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