The most remarkable feature of Tiruchirappalli, which lies on the south bank of the river Kaveri, was the imposing rock fort. A few miles west of Tiruchirappalli, the Kaveri divides into a northern branch called the Coleroon, and a southern, which is the Kaveri proper. Then the entire country eastwards, including Tanjore, is a fertile plain irrigated by the delta of the Kaveri.
Between the two branches of the Kaveri, north of Tiruchirappalli, is the island of Shrirangam. On the island of Shrirangam, is the huge walled temple of Ranganathswamy, with a reclining form of Lord Vishnu, built from the 1st century CE onwards. Tiruchirappalli was a centre of Chola country for nearly a thousand years until it was taken over by some neighbouring powers and for a short time by Muslim invaders from the north. It was then won by prince Kumar Kampana and became a part of the Vijayanagar Empire in the latter half of the fourteenth century. It remained under Nayak rule thereafter, until in 1736, Chanda Saheb took possession of the city and the fort.
Chanda Saheb, from his perch at Tiruchirappalli, refused to acknowledge Safdar Ali as the new Nawab of Arcot. Raghuji, who was in a secret alliance with Safdar Ali to remove Chanda Saheb from the region, went about this task with some subtlety. The moment Chanda Saheb heard about this secret agreement, he was frightened and informed the whole story to Dumas. He secured French help to fight the Marathas. This was the first ever western intervention in Indian politics. First, Raghuji withdrew the armies nearly two hundred and fifty miles to the north, giving Chanda Saheb the impression that the Marathas were withdrawing towards Satara. Chanda Saheb had fortified himself at Tiruchirappalli and stocked the fort to be able to stand a prolonged siege. When the Marathas withdrew, he descended from the fort and visited the French fort at Pondicherry where his wife stayed. He also sold some of the provisions he had stocked at the fort.
In November 1740, the Marathas spread out over the Carnatic, brought smaller rulers to submit to their authority and extracted money for their expenses. On Christmas day in 1740, they attacked the Dutch fort at Porto Novo (Parangipettai) and “Captured the Dutch Governor, his wife, and children… their hands had been bound, and they were being held as captive by their conquerors.”
The Marathas also plundered the Dutch factory at Nagapattinam further south. They raided in the environs of Madras. Fatehsingh and Raghuji were also joined by Murarrao Ghorpade, the chief of Gutti, with ten thousand horse.
Raghuji also prepared well on his side for a battle, and secured help from the local rulers and Palegars. Murarrao Ghorpade and Tanjore’s Pratapsingh joined Raghuji with wholehearted passion. Two emissaries from Tanjore, Timaji Ranganath and Gangappa, met Raghuji and agreed with him that, “(He) should capture Tiruchirappalli, should oust Chanda Khan, (for which) Pratapsingh should present him with fifteen lakh rupees, (out of which) three lakh for Rajashree, two lakh for revered mother, two lakh for Fatehsingh and Raghuji Bhosale, and eight lakh rupees towards the expenses of the army (16 January 1741).”
A more detailed account of the Maratha force in the region comes to us in this excerpt in Ananda Ranga Pillai’s diary of December 1740: “On the morning of Saturday, the 13th, (24 December 1740), 2000 Maratha horsemen started from Tiruvannamalai, ostensibly to go to Tiruchirappalli. They rode due south as far as Tyagadurg, then turned eastwards, and arrived at Vriddhachalam in the night. The distance between Thiruvannamalai and Vriddhachalam is fifty miles. The detour made by them to the south was ten miles. They thus rode sixty miles in one day. The next morning, they left Vriddhachalam (these towns were roughly one hundred kilometres west of Pondicherry) and arrived at midday, at about eighteen Indian hours after sunrise, at Porto Novo, covering fifty miles, and thus completing the whole distance of 110 miles in a day and a half. The Maratha freebooters occupied Chitrachavadi, about two miles to the west of Porto Novo, and maltreated and robbed the travellers who passed that way. In the meantime, two peons bearing letters started from the Dutch factory for Nagapattinam. When they approached Chitrachavadi, they perceived the marauders and came running back, warning everyone whom they met of the presence, in the vicinity of the Maratha horse.”
Some men tried to carry away their goods, but they were stopped, and goods seized. Then the Dutch factory was attacked, and the Governor and his family taken prisoner. They were sent back the next morning, but by then the factory had been entirely plundered.
To be continued…
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