When rivals plotted against Kempe Gowfa

We all know that the reign of the Kempe Gowdas came to an end when the Adil Shahis of Bijapur conquered Bangalore in 1638.

The then Adil Shahi Sultan, had sent out a huge force under Ranadullah Khan, Afzal Khan (he was subsequently killed by Chatrapathi Shivaji) and Shahaji Bhonsale (father of Shivaji) to Bangalore and Sira.

While Afzal Khan marched towards Sira and conquered it, Ranadulla Khan also called as Rustam Zaman and Shahaji camped at Bangalore.

The forces of Kempe Gowda held out at the fort of Bangalore for three days before succumbing to the mighty Adil Shahi army.

The ruler of Bangalore then was  Kempe Gowda III and he had come to power in 1633. Unfortunately, his reign was marked by jealousies and squabbles and neighbouring palegars and nayaks, who had become wary of  the rising power of  Bangalore, conspired against Kempe Gowda.

These palegars could not digest the fact that Bangalore was becoming an important centre for inland trade and commerce. The natural beauty of Bangalore and its prosperity made them jealous.

Bangalore had never seen a major war after Kempe Gowda established the City in 1537. It had remained as the capital of Yelahanka Nadaprabhu’s or the Kempe Gowdas for 101 years from 1537 to 1638 A.D.

Kempe Gowda I, the founder of Bangalore, was a visionary, builder and a lover of art and architecture. He was also a powerful vassel of the Vijayanagar and he had earned his military spurs by subduing nayakas and palegars.

His son Gidde Gowda ruled for 15 years from 1570 to 1585. Thereafter, Kempe Gowda II ruled for 48 years (from 1585 to 1633), and like his grandfather, he was a builder. He constructed like Ranganathaswamy temple in Balepet and the forts in Magadi and Savanadurga. The watch-towers in Lalbagh, Kempambudhi tank, Halasur tank, and near Mekhri circle have become famous as Kempe Gowda towers.

It was during the reign of his son that the Kempe Gowda rule came to an end in Bangalore. The neighbouring rulers were never on friendly terns with Bangalore. They joined hands and conspired to bring down Kempe Gowda.

The conspiring chieftains: Hanumappa Nayaka of Basavapattana, Dalwai Chennaiah of Chennapattana, and Sumukhi Begur Nayak among others joined hands to topple Kempe Gowda.

Realising that even their combined armies could not defeat the disciplined forces of  Kempe Gowda, they invited the Adilshah to invade Bangalore. The Adil Shah was only too happy and he sent a huge force under commander Ranadulla Khan and his deputy Shahaji Bhonsle.

The Adil Shah army defeated Kempe Gowda’s army in three days and captured Bangalore. Shahaji permitted Kempe Gowda III to surrender and also allowed him to retreat to Magadi in 1638. From that day, the Kempe Gowdas could never set foot on Bangalore again and instead they set about developed Magadi and Savandurga. Shahaji permitted Kempe Gowda to rule from Magadi and this is how he came to be known as Magadi Kempe Gowda. But the char of Bangalore and its prosperity could never be replicated in Magadi.

Kempe Gowda’s descendents ruled from Magadi till 1728 when the Wodeyars under Dodda Krishnaraja Wodeyar (1714-1732) put an end to the Yelahanka Nadaprabhu’s reign. The last of the Kempe Gowdas called Kempeveera Gowda (1705-1728) or Kempe Gowda the third spent his time in a jail in Srirangapatna. It was an unhappy time for him as he had not only lost his kingdom but also liberty. He died in jail along with his general Veerabhadra Nayaka, a sad and unhappy man, ruing his fate and his defeat at Savandurga by the marauding Wodeyars.  

Thus Bangalore was lost to the Adil Shahis and Shahaji and his Marathas reigned over Bangalore from 1638 to 1688. In 1688, Khasim Khan, the Mughal Commander, took Bangalore from the Marathas and then sold it to the Wodeyars.

The Nada Prabhus

The end of the Vijayanagar Empire in 1565 saw the rise of several small chieftains and minor rajas and nayakas who held sway over small parts of the once mammoth Vijayanagar Empire.

The Vijayanagar Empire stretched practically over the whole of south India and comprised vast areas of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa. The demise of the empire saw the rise of provincial chiefs such as Nayakas of Madurai and Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu and Palegars and Gowdas in Karnataka.

They ruled over principalities of  Abbludu, Anekal, Avati, Bairanadurga, Bengalore, Chikkaballapura, Devanahalli, Doddaballapura, Gauribidanur, Gudibande, Heb-Holavanahalli, Hoskote, Hulikaluru, Huliyurdurga, Jangamakote, Kolar, Koratagere, Kunigal, Magadi, Mulabagalu, Nandi, Ramapura (Ramagiri), Sarjapura, Savanadurga, Shiddlaghatta, Utridurga, Vadigenahalli (Vijayapura), Sugaturu, Yelahanka in Karnataka; Berikai, Sulagiri, Madurai, Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu and Punganuru  in Andhra Pradesh.

These local chiefs often fought among themselves and later onlt the fittest survived. In Karnataka, the Wodeyars ruled over Mysore and Srirangapatna the erstwhile capital of a province in Vijayanagar empire, while Kempe Gowda reigned over Bangalore, Yelahanka, Magadi, Hosokte and surrounding areas.

The ancestors of Kempe Gowda are believed to have migrated to Yelahanka from Tamil Nadu. Historians surmise that it was towards the beginning of the 14th century that Mallabhaire Gowda or Ranabhaire Gowda migrated into Bangalore province along with his family.

Legend has it that the Gowda family comprised of seven members and they moved into an area adjacent to a village at the foot of Ramaswami Betta which is situated east of Nandi Hills or Nandidurga.

Since they were wealthy and they had arrived at the Betta in carts, they were called by the locals as Bandi Koppallu or Vokkalu, which meant those who had come in carts.

The Ranabhaire Gowda family is also invested with a Telugu origin and hence they are also called as Morasu Vokkalu. Members of this family worshipped Baire Deva.

The Telugu legend of  the origin of Kempe Gowdas say that Ranabhaire Gowda was compelled to leave Yanamanji village near Kanchi in Tamil Nadu in the dead of night to ensure that his beloved daughter, Doddamma, did not fall into the hands of a local chief who belonged to a lower caste. You see, the local chief was supposed to have been enamored of Doddamma’s beauty and he wanted to marry her.  

The Gowda escaped from the village with his immediate family members and several clansmen. However, there is another version of this story and according to it, Yanamanji was part of Mulabagal in Kolar district and the Gowdas made their way from near Mulabagal to present day Bangalore.

Whatever their place of origin, the Hoskote inscription of 1367 is emphatic that the founder of the line of Yelahanka Nada Prabhus was Ranabhaire Gowda of Avati. Another inscription of Subramanya says that the family of Ranabhaire Gowda came to Bangalore and that his brother Jayagowda was the founder of Yelahanka and his successors were called Kempanache Gowda, Hiriya Kempe Gowda (founder of Bangalore city) and

Immadi Kempabopalla.

Ranabhaire Gowda, a farmer, first came to Avati and slowly began ruling over provinces surrounding Bangalore. His brother, Jayagowda or Jayappagowda founded the lineage of Yelahanka Nada Prabhus.

Jayagowda served as a vassal of Vijayanagar and he is believed to have ruled for 15 years. He was succeeded by his son, Gidde Gowda. When Gidde Gowda did not have children, he prayed to  Kempamma, the consort of Bhairedeva, that if he was blessed with a son, his descendents forever would bear her name.

When a son was born to Gidde Gowda, he called him  Kempananje Gowda or Kempnache Gowda. He ruled Yelahanka and Bangalore  from 1443 to 1513.

Kempnache Gowda was succeeded by his son, Kempegowda I, in 1513. This ruler was a contemporary of  the Vijayanagar Emperor, Krishna Deve Raya. It was he who decided to shift the capital from Yelahanka to Bangalore and this was sometime in 1537.

Kempe Gowda sought permission from the Vijayanagar Emperor, Achuta Deva Raya, to build Bangalore and also construct a mud fort. It was during this time that a small dam was built across the Arkavathy at Hesarghatta.

Achuta Deva Raya was impressed with the sincerity, dedication and faithfulness of  Kempe Gowda and bestowed on him twelve hoblies of Kengeri, Kumbalgod, Hesarghatta, old Bengaluru, Varthur, Yelahanka, Begur, Halasuru (Ulsoor), Talagatpura, Jigani, Kanneli and Banavara and Hesaraghatta earning a revenue of 30,000 pagodas.

Kempe Gowda then went on a city building spree. He constructed the Basava temple at Basavanagudi temple, repaired and renovated the Gavi Gangadhareswara temple in Gavipuram and the Someshwara temple in Ulsoor He also built several tanks and lakes such as Dharmambudhi near Majestic, Sampangi where the Kanteerava indoor stadium stands today, Siddikatte which today houses the City Market bus stand and market, Kempambudhi, Karanji adjoining the Basava temple in Basavanapura village,  and Bellandur and ensured that Bangalore got adequate water supply.

Unfortunately, Kempe Gowda’s ambition of making Bangalore a thriving city suffered a setback when he was imprisoned by the Vijayanagar Emperor for having dared to establish a mint and issued coins called Virabhadra Varaha.

Historians ascribe this setback to several contemporary Palegars who were jealous of Kempe Gowda and his rising graph. His principal enemy was Jayadevaraya of Chennapatna. When Kempe Gowda was in the Vijayanagar prison, his territory was handed over to Jayadevaraya.

Kempe Gowda was in the prison at Anegundi (near Hampi) for five years, after which he was released and his province restored to him. He was followed by his son Immadi Kempe Gowda or Kempe Gowda II who extended the territory and conquered Savandurga and Magadi.

Kempe Gowda II constructed five towers in Bangalore which today are called Kempe Gowda towers. These towers, which acted as watch towers, were located on elevated ground or on small hillocks. Thus, they came up at Oyalidinne which is today near Mekri Circle, (north), Halasur rock tower which is near the Someshwara Temple (east), natural rock in Lalbagh (south) and near Kempambudhi tank (south-west).

Unfortunately, Kempe Gowda II had many enemies and they all ganged up with Muhammad Adil Shah of Bijapur and in 1638 Bangalore fell to the marauding Adil Shahis.

The local chieftains likc Jagadevaraya of Chennapatna, Seeryada Rangappa, Anantha Raja, Immadi Baira, Aayama Gowda sided with Adil Shah Generals Ranadulla Khan and Shahaji and Kempe Gowda II was forced to surrender Bangalore to the Muslims in 1638.

The Adil Shahis permitted Kempe Gowda II to relocate to Magadi after the latter agreed to pay heavy royalty. This was how Kempe Gowda II came to be called as Magadi Kempe Gowda.

Kempe Gowda II was succeeded by Mummadi Kempegowda who is also known as Male (rain) Kemparaya. He got the name Male when he prayed for rains when his province was in the grip of severe drought. When copious rains lashed Magadi and surrounding areas, a grateful populace called him Male Kemparaya.

He was followed by his son Dodda Veerappa Gowda (1678-1705). Then came  Kempaveerappa Gowda who assumed the title Mummadi Kempa Veerappa Gowda and he ruled from 1705 to 1728. By then, the Wodeyars had gained prominence and they were eying the rich province of  Magadi-Savandurga.

The Wodeyars attacked Kempaveerapa Gowda in Nelapatna which was the earlier name of Magadi. The fort of Nelapatna was breached and the Mysore army under Dalvoi Devarajayya overran the city in 1728.

Both Magadi Kempegowda and his general Veerabhadra Nayaka were taken prisoners and sent to Srirangapatna where they were imprisoned. The city of Nelapatna was destroyed and the Magadi-Savandurga province annexed to the Wodeyar Kingdom.  Kempaveerappa Gowda were captured and sent to

Srirangapatna.

With the death of Magadi Kempe Gowda, the reign of the Yelahanka Nada Prabhus came to an end.  

Shahaji and all his sons

Scores of people, including historians and heritage buffs of Bangalore, are aware of the Bangalore’s rather close association with Chatrapathi Shivaji (1627-1680) and his father, Shahaji Bhonsale (1602-1664).

There are Maratha, Adil Shah, English, Dutch and even Mughal  records that speak about the Marathas in the Deccan, including Bangalore, and their wars. We have in earlier posts such as “The little known brother of Shivaji”, “When a language was born in Bangalore”,  “The palace of Shahaji”, “When Marathi displaced Kannada as the language”,  taken you to the history of Bangalore and the domination of the Marathas in and around Bangalore for almost half a century.

But what many do not know is that the Maratha association of Bangalore is not limited to Shahaji and his son Shivaji.

Infact, Bangalore perhaps could be among the handful of cities and provinces that saw all the sons of Shahaji-Sambhaji, Shivaji, Ekoji or Venkoji, Koyaji and Santaji or Santoji- either staying or ruling over Bangalore. Apart from Shahaji and his family, there are other Maratha heroes who bonded with Bangalore and this post is about them.

Shahaji and his two wives, the legendary Jijabai-the first wife and Tukabai, the second wife, lived in Shahaji’s palace in Chickpet for several years. It is in Bangalore that Shahaji ensured that the ten-year-old Shivaji was trained in warfare and statecraft along with his elder brother Sambhaji and younger half-brother Ekoji or Venkoji.

Shahaji was perhaps the first Maratha and definitely among the first in the period to realise the effectiveness of guerilla warfare. He imparted this training to all his sons, including Shivaji who seemed to be fascinated by the magnificent horses that his father reared.

Shivaji saw from close quarters the life and style of  the Bangalore court and came into contact with the people, who told him stories about the Vijayanagar empire which existed a little less than six decades before his birth.    

Shivaji was also married a second time in Bangalore. He took Soyarbai Mohite as his wife on the insistence of his father. Contemporary Maratha records speak of Bangalore being dressed up for the wedding and the couple being taken in a procession on a caparisoned elephant.

It was in Bangalore that Shahaji decided on bifurcating his jagir. He decided to let Sambhaji retain Kolar, he kept Bangalore for himself and allowed Shivaji and Jijabai to return to Pune and govern the Maratha territories from there.         

It should be remembered that the Marathas first made their first foray into Bangalore sometime in 1638 when Shahaji Bhonsale and Ranadullah Khan, both frontline commanders of the Adil Shahis of Bijapur, laid siege to Bangalore. Shahaji married Tukabai in Bangalore sometime in the 1630s.  

The then Adil Shahi Sultan, Muhammad Adil Shah, who succeeded Ibrahim Adil Shah, was not particularly happy about the prospect of another Hindu Kingdom replacing Vijayanagar which had been decimated by a confederation of Muslim states in the war of Talikota or Rakasa Tangadi in 1565.

Kempe Gowda was the ruler of Bangalore and the Bangalore province was attracting attention for its wealth and prosperity. Another province, Sira or Shira near Bangalore and now in Tumkur district was also emerging as a powerful entity. The Wodeyars of Srirangapatna and the Palegars of Chitradurga and Bedanur were also asserting their independence.

The Adil Shah was naturally concerned about these political developments. After the fall of Vijayanagar, his kingdom had extended upto the borders of the once invincible city of Hampi and now his southern most province was being threatened. It was then that Muhammad Adil Shah decided to reign in the Hindu states.

The Adil Shah had a galaxy of outstanding commanders in his service and the best among them were Ranadullah Khan and his protégé Afzal Khan and Shahaji.

All the three marched towards Bangalore. Ranadullah Khan permitted Shahaji to take the honors of subduing Bangalore, while he asked Afzal Khan to subdue Sira. While Shahaji gave an honorable exit to Kempe Gowda, the third, and also allowed him to retain Magadi and Savandurga, Kasturi Rangan, the palegar of Sira was not so lucky. He was lured to the negotiating table under false pretences and killed in cold blood by Afzal Khan.

The Bijapur Sultan gifted Bangalore as a Jagir to Shahaji who in turn began governing the new province which comprised the regions of Doddaballapur, Kolar, Sira, Kanakagiri, Hoskote and surrounding regions.

Shahaji asked his son Sambhaji, the elder brother of Shivaji, to govern Kolar. Unfortunately, Shahaji had little time for Bangalore since he was busy with the frequent military expeditions.

In 1648, Shahaji was called back to Bijapur and imprisoned for a short while. He was released and the jagir of Bangalore restored to him. The Adil Shah forces then attacked Bangalore which was under the command of Shivaji’s elder brother, Sanbhaji (not the Sambhaji who is Shivaji’s son). Sambhaji valiantly defeated the Bijapur contingent.  

However, Shahaji lost interest in Bangalore soon after his release and pitched camp at Kanakagiri. By then, Sambhaji had been slain in the battle to regain Kanakagiri which had revolted against the Adil Shah. After Shahaji's death in 1664, his second wife's son, Venkoji or Ekoji (1626-1687), became the Jagirdar of Bangalore.

Contemporary Maratha accounts portray Ekoji as weak, selfish, and extravagant and one who failed to understand the local conditions. Alarmed over repeated raids of Mughals and wary about Shivaji, his half brother, Ekoji decided to sell off Bangalore and settle down permanently at Tanjavur. This was sometime in 1675.

Shivaji came to know of the step motherly treatment that Ekoji had meted to his beloved Bangalore where he had stayed for two years (1640-1642) and where he had married. He marched against Ekoji and occupied his father’s jagir in 1677 comprising Bangalore, Kolar, Kanakagiri and forced Ekoji to come to the negotiating table.

Ekoji wrote to the Adil Shah Emperor complaining against Shivaji but the Emperor wisely refrained from interfering in what he called a family dispute.   

Shivaji forced Ekoji to sue for peace and he kept Doddaballapur, Chikaballapur and Kolar under his control even as he magnanimously returned Bangalore to Ekoji. He dictated the terms of an agreement that he had arrived with Ekoji whereby he made sure that Ekoji’s wife, Dipa Bai, would receive Bangalore as Choli Bangadi or pin money.

Santoji, another half-brother of Shivaji, was part of  Shivaji’s victorious Deccan campaign. He was subsequently rewarded with the province of Vellore and surrounding areas to rule. Santoji defeated Ekoji in two battles.     

Unfortunately, Bangalore’s gift as Choli Bangadi did not last long. Shivaji died in 1680 and Ekoji in 1687 decided to retire permanently to Tanjore to found the Maratha line of Kings. He entered into a pact with the Wodeyar King, Chikadevaraya, for the sale of Bangalore for Rs, 3 lakhs but before the transaction could be completed, the Mughals under Kasim or Quasim Khan and Shivaji’s son, Sambhaji, marched towards Bangalore. If Quasim Khan came with a large force to Bangalore from Golconda, Sambhaji marched with his dedicated army of Marathas from Ginjee. However, the Mughals beat the Marathas to Bangalore and captured the city. The Mughals held Bangalore for some time, there is confusion on whether our City was under the Mughals for three days or three years,  before selling it to the Wodeyars for Rs. 3 lakhs sometime in 1690. Sambhaji then went back to his stronghold of Ginjee, now in Tamil Nadu.

Coming back to the Marathas in Bangalore, Ekoji is remembered even today for his donation of Medaraninganahalli village for maintaining the Kadu Malleswara Temple in Bangalore. Apart from this structure, there is no other monument connected to the Marathas today in Bangalore.

Shivaji's death and the Mughul conquest of the Bijapur kingdom in 1686 exposed Bangalore and surrounding areas of south Karnataka to the Mughuls. Ekoji arrived at a pact with Chikkadevaraya Wodeyar (1645-1703) to sell Bangalore for Rs. 3 lakh. But before the sale was finalised, Sambhaji, the son of  Shivaji, from Ginji and the Mughals under Aurangazeb (1658-1707), from Golconda, marched towards Bangalore.

Khasim Khan then sold Bangalore to the Wodeyars in 1690 for Rs. three lakhs, while retaining Sira and surrounding areas which became a part of the Mughal province.  

Rajaram (1670-1700), a younger son of Shivaji, stayed in Bangalore around 1690 before he escaped from the perusing Mughals to Ginjee. Decades later, the Marathas under the Peshwas captured Bangalore along with Kolar, Hoskote and other places from the Wodeyar King. The Peshwas in 1770 felt that they had a right over Bangalore, Kolar, Mulabagal, Hoskote and surrounding places as it had been a Jagir of Shahaji. They also felt that the Jagir belonged to them as they had been rightfully conquered first by Shahaji, then by Shivaji and later ruled by Ekoji.

It was left to Hyder Ali to drive out the Marathas from Bangalore in 1773. Hyder and his son Tipu Sultan held Bangalore till Tipu’s death in Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799.

Strangely, even after 1799, the Maratha fascination for Bangalore did not end. Ramachandra Pandurang Tope better known as Tatya Tope (1814-1859), one of the heroes of the first war of Indian Independence, stayed at a temple on Avenue Road near Balepet Circle, Chickpet in Bangalore for some time