Since Linga Raja was now actually in possession of Coorg, Mr. Cole, the Mysore resident, advised the English Government to countenance him as long as he would respect the rights of the little Rani. He innocently thought that such a declaration of Government was sufficient to secure the safety and happiness of the princess.
Later that year, Mr. Cole had some disagreeable correspondence with Linga Raja about the seizure of a British subject, Parsi Byramji, who had been cast into prison under a fictitious charge of having forged papers for the Raja of Sode. And then followed reports of Linga Raja's arrogance and dominance.
Now that Linga Raja was the acknowledged guardian of the young Rani and regent of Coorg, the next step was, to make his helpless ward sign a paper, in which she abdicated her sovereignty in favour of her excellent and loving uncle. The document was duly transmitted to Mr. Cole, who was requested to forward it to the Governor of Madras and to the Supreme Government. This was done in the summer of 1810.
One thing remained to be accomplished. Linga Raja had taken possession of Coorg, supplanted his niece, and obtained the sanction or at least the acquiescence of the Government of the East India Company, but there were three lakhs of rupees in the Bombay funds, and upwards of five and a half lakhs of rupees in the Madras funds, both sums standing in the name of Devammaji.
Before the end of 1812 Linga Raja had succeeded to his full satisfaction in all his plans. He had taken possession of the inheritance of his brother Vira Rajendra, Coorg was his, and he was almost formally acknowledged as Raja by the paramount power. The large legacy left to Devammaji by her father, was as good as his own.
Though Linga Raja's actions were of no great consequence to the Supreme Government, he felt uneasy from time to time and distrusted the disposition of the English Government. Drunk with power, he prided himself on his European manners and character, and pretended to be adored by his subjects, while he kept them in the most abject bondage and crushed their spirit by a system of savage cruelty. Cruelty seems to have been his sport. He liked to kill his victims with his own hand, with gun, bow or knife. For small offences people had their ears cropped, their noses cut, or their tongues clipped. For an impertinent answer men or women had their mouths rinsed, that was the phrase, i. e. their lips were cut off all round their mouths, and they were left to perish without food or drink. Others were thrown down a precipice on the hill side, near the Raja's Seat in Mercara. Many seem to have been destroyed merely for the purpose of confiscating their property, for Linga Raja had as great a passion for gold as for blood.
During the first years of his reign he was restrained from giving full vent to his atrocious propensities by the influence of his Devan, Kshauryakere Appanna, who seems to have been a man of character and independence, bold enough to lecture the tyrant whom he had placed on the throne in preference to the rule of a stranger, the Raja of Sode. But by degrees Linga Raja became impatient of the control of a subject. Appanna, relying on the Raja's gratitude, continued to exhort, to warn and at times "to resist his master. He had mistaken his man. One day the Devan was seized and carried before the Raja. He was charged with treason. He knew that he was doomed. The Raja himself conducted the investigation. "Confess your guilt," he cried. "I am guilty indeed," replied the intrepid minister, "of one crime—of having made a wretch like you Raja of Coorg." Linga Raja was mad with rage. Appanna, with several other so called accomplices, was carried out into the jungle to a distance of some miles. There they were nailed to some large trees, the Raja feasting his eyes on the torments of his helpless victims. A large number of people, the families, relations and friends of the condemned men, were slaughtered on the occassion.
After a terrifying reign, Linga Raja died in the year 1820 at the age of forty five, and was succeeded by his son, Vira Raja.
Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice
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