Vira Rajendra - Tippu's Defeat

The success of the first operations by Lord Cornwallis having driven the Mysore troops during two night attacks to seek shelter under the walls of Seringapatam, about 5,000 Coorgs who had been carried away by Tippu, with their wives and children, altogether about 12,000 souls, made their escape in the confusion that ensued and returned to their native country.

Lord Cornwallis made peace with Tippu under the walls of Seringapatam, on severe but still too easy terms. Tippu had to pay three crores of rupees, and to cede one half of his dominions to the Company and to its allies the Nizam and Peshwa. Coorg was in danger of being overlooked and sacrificed. It required the zealous intercession of Sir Robert Abercromby, to induce the Governor General to make an after demand for the cession of Coorg, though not adjacent to the Company's territory, in order to keep faith with Vira Raja and to save him from the fangs of Tippu, whose first move after the peace would no doubt have been to wreak his vengeance upon his former vassal. This demand enraged Tippu beyond all limits. The treaty was in danger of being broken off; but Lord Cornwallis remained firm. English guns, which had already been sent away, were ordered back, and Tippu began to prepare for defence. At the last moment he gave an unwilling assent to the demand, and admitting the stipulation which guaranteed the independence of the Coorg principality from Mysore, he transferred to the English his claims of allegiance and the annual tribute of Rs.24,000 from the Raja; whereupon peace was concluded in March 1792.

From this time to the end of his life, Vira Raja remained the trustworthy friend of the Company, and his affairs prospered. On the place where he had first met with General Abercromby on his march to Seringapatam in 1791, the Raja had founded the town of Virarajendrapet. This was in 1792. In April 1795 he took up his residence in the new palace built at Nalknad.

Meanwhile, Tippu, maddened with revenge against the Chief who had so long alarmed his fears and so successfully defied his power and resisted his arms, resolved on his destruction by the basest means. He gained over Linga Raja, a relative of Vira Rajendra, to undertake with some Coorgs the foul plot of shooting the Raja at a favourable spot in the jungle on his way to Mercara. The first attempt failed; but Tippu concerted with Linga Raja more effective measures to accomplish his design. Two of his best marksmen were to lie in ambush in some place belonging to Linga Raja, and shoot the Raja when coming from his new palace at Nalknad to attend the Sivaratri festival at Mercara. The conspiracy, however, was betrayed, the assassins seized, and during the night-scuffle Linga Raja and his family were killed. The two would-be murderers were kept alive at Virarajendrapet as manifest witnesses of Tippu's treachery, but each had one leg cut off to prevent their flight.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Vira Rajendra - The English Connection

Desirous of gaining the friendship of so able a partizan, and foreseeing the strategical value of Coorg in the impending struggle with Tippu, the Government of the East India Company eagerly seized the proffered hand of Vira Raja, who dreaded and hated Tippu from whom he could expect no mercy, and whose assurances and promises he knew he could never trust. His hopes depended on his success in gaining the support of a powerful ally.

Meanwhile the Mussalman garrison at Mercara had consumed all its provisions. Tippu, afraid of losing his last stronghold in Coorg, despatched a convoy with a considerable force under Khadar Khan. On its reaching Mallusoge (near Fraserpet), ViraRaja attacked and repulsed it, with a loss of 500 men on the side of the Mysoreans. Recognising in Khadar Khan, the commander of the Mussalmans, an old acquaintance who had befriended him during his captivity at Periyapatna and protected the honour of his sister, Vira Raja resolved to spare his life.These proceedings could not fail to raise a suspicion of treachery in the mind of General Abercromby, the Governor of Bombay, that the Raja was leagued with Tippu against the English. But Vira Raja was able to satisfactorily explain his motives. On the evacuation of the Fort of Mercara, all its guns, ammunition and treasure were delivered to the Coorgs, and the Raja, who had come over from Nalknad, liberally supplied the wants of the captured garrison and permitted them to withdraw in safety across the frontier. He was now for the first time undisturbed master of his ancient patrimony.

The period had now approached when Tippu was to encounter the most formidable combination he had yet met, and the capture of Bangalore gave hope of success. Lord Cornwallis advanced towards the capital from Madras, and General Abercromby was to meet him from the west for support. A passage was prepared through Coorg for the Bombay army. The route of the Heggala pass was chosen. Vira Raja accompanied Sir Robert before Seringapatam. Operations had commenced with every prospect of an immediate and successful termination, when the'severity of the monsoon of 1791 suspended active military operations and obliged both armies to fall back, Lord Cornwallis to Bangalore, Sir Robert to Bombay. The artillery, stores and ammunition belonging to the Bombay army, were left in charge of the Raja.

Aware of the great advantages that would attend the friendship of the Coorg chief at this juncture, Tippu now condescended to send a confidential officer, Khadar Khan, the friend of Vira Raja, with an autographed letter from Tippu, and letters from Mir Sadak, his prime minister, and Purnaiya, the minister of finance, soliciting Vira Raja's forgiveness and friendship, and offering as the price for his co-operation against the English, to cede the following districts on his eastern frontier, Heggadadevankote, Periyapatna, Bettadapur, Konanur and Arkalgudu, and to extend his western boundary by the addition of certain districts dependent on Cannanore. Vira Raja showed these letters to Sir Robert, who at the end of the monsoon had returned, and after consulting with him, replied to the Sultan's overtures in these words, "By similar fair speeches and promises you have formerly deceived and ruined Coorg. God has given me but one tongue, with which I have pledged fidelity to the English. I have not two tongues like you." And thus stayed faithful to the English.

Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice

Vira Rajendra - Tippu Sultan's Siege of Coorg

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