The origin of the word Carnatic is explained in various ways. Kannada explorers have stated it to mean the region that has been rendered fertile because of its black soil, or the region that is blessed with fragrant flowers. Whatever the origin, for the analysis of the subject at hand, one can safely assume the general meaning of Carnatic to be the region wherein Kannada language (and other southern languages) is spoken. The region begins to the south of the Krishna River and goes right up to the seas, barring the present-day state of Kerala. Hindustan’s peninsula is bounded on the eastern and western coasts by mountain ranges. The western range is called the Sahyadri or the Western Ghats while the eastern range is called Eastern Ghats. The prevalent terms for high and low-lying areas within these hills were, Balaghat and Paaeenghat respectively. Bala meant high, while Paaeen meant plains. These were prevalent Farsi words used at the time. Accordingly, the words Balaghat and Paaeenghat were used in relation to the hilly regions on the western and eastern coasts.
In the Carnatic region, there are four languages spoken. The region to the north where Telegu is spoken is called Telangana; region to the south, where Tamil is spoken is the Dravid country; the region to the west beneath and beyond the Ghats is known as Malabar. Besides these three regions, the central portion that remains was Carnatic, meaning Belagavi, Dharwad, Bijapur, Hyderabad, and Gulbarga (Kalburgi) districts were part of the Carnatic. In the ancient times, many Hindu kingdoms had ruled this region of the south India. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these regions had once been under the influence of the Bahmani Sultanates and the Vijayanagar Empire. After the battle of Talikota in 1565, bits and pieces of Vijayanagar still survived in the Hindu kingdoms of Mysore, Tiruchirappalli, Tanjore, Madurai and so on. At that time, whichever officials were appointed at various places to keep armed contingents, they had been maintaining their Watans in a hereditary manner, even after their overlord rulers had been destroyed. These were termed as Palegars. Out of these Palegars some were also called as Desais. The Sultans of Bijapur and Golconda exercised control over these and allowed them to survive on the payment of an annual tribute. Even in Maharashtra, such Desais or Deshmukhs were seen. But since the time Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s kingdom had been established, the power of these Deshmukhs began declining within Swarajya. The Marathas often clashed with the Desais and Palegars in the Carnatic. But their complete annihilation was later brought about by Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan. Since Aurangzeb was forcefully opposed by the Marathas in Maharashtra, Muslim power never settled firmly over the Carnatic. These Palegars would keep most of the region in their control, and if any enemy attacked them, they would somehow provide him some kind of tribute etc. for the time being. They would mostly also engage in internecine disputes amongst themselves.
Shahaji and his son Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj first established the Maratha power in the Carnatic. They renovated quite a few old forts and built many new ones. Bijapur Sultan had conferred the Jagir of the Carnatic on Shahaji. It was a part of the Shire principality. Shahaji’s Jagir consisted of the five Parganas of Shire, Hoskote, Kolar, Balapur and Bengaluru.
Once Aurangzeb captured Bijapur and Golconda he appointed various civil and military officials under the office of Subedar at various places, who later grew in strength and began running their own Nawab offices in a hereditary fashion. In the eighteenth century, such five Nawabs were especially powerful in the Carnatic. They were located at Arcot, Shire, Kadpe (Cudappah), Kurnool, and Savnoor. The Mughals had always divided their possessions in the Deccan into six Subas for a long time. These were, Khandesh, Berar, Aurangabad, Bidar, Hyderabad or Golconda and Bijapur. Out of these, the last two Subas were somewhat more expansive. This was because, whatever new region the Mughals captured, they included the new possessions in either Hyderabad or Bijapur Subas, and they named those Hyderabad Carnatic, and Bijapur Carnatic respectively. When Nizam-ul-Mulk charted an independent path here in the Deccan since 1724, the authority of these six Subas of Deccan passed into his hands. He claimed to be the overlord of the Nawabs of the Carnatic, acting on behalf of the Badshah at Delhi. He refused to acknowledge the Maratha right to collect Chauth until 1728, when he was defeated by Bajirao Peshwa. The Nawabs had been paying the tribute to the Marathas since then.
To be continued…
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