In the beginning of 1780, the ruling Raja (Linga Raja) of Coorg died and left behind his young sons, Vira Rajendra Wodeyar, Linga Raja and Appaji. Haidar Ali, father of Tippu Sultan, conceiving it a favourable moment, assumed entire possession of Coorg, under the pretence of being guardian to the princes until they should come of age. Meanwhile they were to reside in the fort of Goruru. A Brahman named Subbarasaya, formerly karnika or treasurer of the Coorg Raja, was appointed to the government of Coorg, by the usurper, and a Mussalman garrison held Mercara fort, which Haidar caused to be strengthened.
Enraged at the abduction of their princes from their country, and at the Brahmans lording it over them, the Coorgs in June 1782 broke out in open rebellion, and on hearing that Haidar had marched for the Carnatic to oppose the British army under Sir Eyre Coote, they drove the Mussalmans out of the country and proclaimed their independence.
The death of Haidar prevented an immediate retribution; but Tippu Sultan, his son, was fully determined on the reconquest of Coorg. He first sent the family of the Coorg Rajas to Periyapatna, and after having treacherously seized General Mathews and his officers at Nagar, and reduced Mangalore in 1784, he marched through Coorg on his way to Seringapatam, when he compounded matters with the insurgents. But scarcely had Tippu left, when the Coorgs, stirred by the apprehension of incurring his vengeance, again took up arms, and repossessed themselves of their native hills in 1785.
To suppress this revolt, Tippu despatched a force of 15,000 men, under Zain-ul-Ab-i-din. At Ulagulli in Mudugeri-nad, the Mussalmans were opposed by a body of 4,000 Coorgs, who after a sharp encounter forced them to retire to Bettadapur with the loss of their baggage. The failure of his general induced Tippu to take the command in person, and having collected another army, he entered Coorg by the same route and reached Mercara with but little loss, where he effected an amicable settlement. But under pretence of peaceful intentions and conciliatory measures, Tippu allured most of the Coorgs to Tale Kaveri, and when they felt most secure, he suddenly seized them with their families, about 85,000 souls, sent them to Seringapatam, and had them forcibly circumcised. On this day on which he added so great a number to Islam, he assumed the royal dignity and declared himself independent of Delhi.
Into depopulated Coorg he sent Mussalman landlords, and gave to them the lands and slaves of the exiles, besides a supply of labourers from Adwani in the Bellary district. A Brahman named Nagappaya, a nephew of Subbarasaya, was charged with the government of Coorg; but was soon convicted of embezzlement and condemned to the gallows, when he fled to the Kote Raja in Malabar.
Such was the state of affairs, when in December 1788, Vira Raja or Vira Rajendra Wodeyar, accompanied by his wife and his two brothers Linga Raja and Appaji, the principal survivors of the Coorg family, effected his escape from Periyapatna after a confinement of six years. Leaving his family in a secure retreat at Kurchi in Kiggatnad, Vira Raja was persuaded beyond the frontier by Nagappaya, and fell into the power of Vira Varmma, the Kote Raja. Here a deal was struck between Vira Varmma and Vira Raja in which the latter had to give up three valuable and extensive districts, vis. Kiggatnad, Amatnad and Yedenalknad, in exchange for his freedom. Vira Raja thus purchased his freedom and returned to Coorg. With a number of Coorgs, who had rallied round their chief, he surrounded the camp of the Kote Raja, and forced him not only to return the document extorted earlier, but to renounce also on his part every claim to the Wynad country.
Vira Raja now sallied forth at the head of his Coorgs to fight the Mussalmans. During this season, the gallant Vira Raja once, on his return from an expedition into Mysore, found the residence of his family at Kurchi a heap of ruins and ashes. Every soul of his family had been destroyed and all the old family treasures carried off. The runaway Nagappaya had shown the way to a troop of Nair banditti and Mullu Kurubas, despatched upon this errand of treachery and blood by the fiendish foe of the Coorg Rajas, the Kote Arasu.
In the meantime, Tippu Sultan, irritated by the daring incursions into his territories, determined on retribution. He ordered a large force into Coorg, under the command of Golam Ali. Viraraja must soon have succumbed to the superiority in numbers and discipline of the Mysoreans, had not a revolt of the Malayalam Rajas compelled Tippu to order Golam Ali with his army to the Western Coast. On his March he was fiercely attacked by the Coorgs at the Kodantur pass and suffered severe losses. Thereupon Tippu sent a considerable reinforcement under four captains, amongst them a Frenchman. Vira Raja lay in wait for them at the Heggala pass and dispersed the Mysoreans, who left 800 men dead on the ground and 400 wounded. Tippu was alarmed, and despatched Buran-u-Din, his own brother in-law, with a strong army and large supplies, to secure Coorg by strengthening the four forts of Kushalnagara (Fraserpet), Mercara, Beppunad and Bhagamandala. On his way to Mercara he was attacked and beaten by Vira Raja, but escaped from there with the loss of one half of his military stores. Without having seen the other forts Buran-u-din returned to Seringapatam, and concerted with Tippu another campaign for the same purpose; but Vira Raja anticipated their design by storming and dismantling all the other forts.
Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice
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