Savnoor, a town sixty kilometres south of Hubli, was taken over by an Afghan Sardar in Aurangzeb’s time and his descendants had ruled over it since. Originally an officer at Bijapur, he switched allegiance to Aurangzeb when Bijapur was taken over by the Mughals. As is often the norm, there is a story that the founder, Nawab Abdul Rauf Khan, while on a hunt saw a hare chase a dog and struck by the scene decided to establish his capital there. Over the next sixty years, a succession of Nawabs tried to retain their independence. Shahu first sent Bajirao Peshwa against Savnoor in 1726, then it was ceded to Sambhaji II of Kolhapur as his area of influence in 1730. The Nizam had not given up his claims either. Savnoor had to pay Sambhaji II tribute off and on, however, a settled arrangement could not be enforced. Savnoor Nawab’s kingdom was quite expansive, and his control prevailed in the region between the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra.
Besides Savnoor, many other big and small principalities were continuing almost independently in the Carnatic. They were Mysore, Bednoor, Chitradurga, Harpanahalli, Anagondi, and Rayadurga. Out of these, the Mysore realms were over the southern half of the Carnatic, while the rest were on the northern half of the Carnatic. In them, the Bednoor principality was quite big on the boundaries of the western Ghats. Beneath the Ghats, there was Sondhe principality, which also had some control over the Ghat regions. When the Nizam became independent, the Tanjore principality, and the Gutti principality established by the Ghorpades were two Maratha principalities in the Carnatic. Gutti’s rulers had under their control the forts of Gajendragad and Sondur. Gutti’s Murarrao Ghorpade turned out to be especially valorous. For fifty years, he established a sound influence over various rulers in the Carnatic. In summary, at the time of the Peshwa rule, three different types of rulers were powerful in the Carnatic, Muslims, Marathas and Kannadigas, and they kept engaging in internecine warfare as well.
Arcot Nawab’s kingdom was spread over the Carnatic Balaghat. The Nawab of Arcot, Sadat-ullah Khan of the Nevayat (immigrants from Arabia from the sixth century, literally meaning newcomer) dynasty ruled the territory for nearly three decades. On his death in 1732, his nephew Dost Ali Khan succeeded him, but the Nizam did not approve his accession.
When Dost Ali was managing the administration of the Carnatic, his son-in-law Hussein Dost Khan alias Chanda Saheb, a very clever and scheming gentleman rose to prominence in 1732. He improved his army, increased the revenue collections, and generated experience in state administration. He established friendly relations with the French and arranged for their assistance to be provided in emergency situations. In the same year, Chokkanatha, the Nayak ruler of Tiruchirappalli, died without an heir and Meenakshi, his queen, succeeded him. However, soon a descendant from another branch, named Bangaru Tirumala, disputed the succession and tried to take over the city. Taking this opportunity, Arcot’s Nawab Dost Ali dispatched his son-in-law Chanda Saheb along with the army to extract whatever advantage he could obtain from the dispute. Chanda Saheb played a very big treacherous game to capture Tiruchirappalli. He established relations with the queen there. Pitting the two protagonists at Tiruchirappalli against each other, Chanda Saheb won Meenakshi’s trust and obtained a large sum of money from her for safeguarding her city. Bangaru had to be content with the city of Madurai.
In the next four years, the Hindu kingdoms of Tanjore and Tiruchirappalli became the eye of the storm that ruffled the entire Carnatic. Maratha Sardars like Raghuji Bhosale etc. were fully aware of all this back-story. Thereafter, Chanda Saheb nursed the desire to destroy Hindu kingdoms of Tanjore and Madurai, and increase the prestige of his Islamic religion. The state of Tanjore had been conquered in 1676 by Vyankojiraje (or Ekojiraje) Bhosale, the stepbrother of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. After his death, his three sons, Shahaji II, Sarfoji, and Tukoji ruled one after the other, making it a rich and prosperous territory with its fertile well-irrigated lands. When Tukoji died in 1736, his son Shahaji III came to the throne, but was dependent on Sayyed Khan, his military commander, for support.
Sayyed Khan ousted Shahaji III from the throne and enthroned another claimant named Sidhoji. Shahaji III, therefore, began to scout for friends who would get him back to power and his quest took him to Benoit Dumas, the French Governor of Pondicherry. Dumas promised him help, in exchange for the east coast port of Karaikal. In his moment of need, Shahaji III agreed. However, Sayyed Khan once again supported him and brought him back to the throne. Shahaji III then repudiated his agreement with Dumas and refused to hand over Karaikal. Dumas who had friendly relations with Chanda Saheb, turned to him for help. Chanda Saheb then attacked Tanjore and conquered Karaikal for Dumas.
To be continued…
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