Trichinopoly - the Athens of South India

The part played by Trichinopoly in South Indian History before the advent of the Mohammedans and after the British advent is too well-known to be mentioned here. But the vicissitudes of the fortunes of Trichinopoly in the intervening period have not generally received the attention which their importance deserves. The importance of Trichinopoly throughout the period of South Indian political greatness is due not only to its geographical position but also to its topography. Its situation in the Cauvery Delta and its topographical features, reminiscent of ancient Athens, have made it the key to political predominance in the Carnatic.

The greatness of modern Trichinopoly may be said to have commenced with the establishment of the Nayak rule in the far South in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. It was during the regime of Visvanatha Nayak that Trichinopoly, which had just before been under the Tanjore ruler, was included in the Madura kingdom in virtue of a decree of the Emperor of Vijayanagar. The town was rendered fit for human habitation, thanks to the exertions of the Nayak, who further made himself responsible for the excavation of the Teppakulam tank.

Though Trichinopoly, owing to its strategical importance, received the closest attention of the Nayaks, for its position as a capital of the kingdom it was indebted to Muttuvirappa who in 1616 changed his headquarters to it with the object of making effective war on the king of Tanjore. So by the, time of the accession of Tirumala Nayak to the throne, Trichinopoly had become the capital of the Madura kingdom. Another event which contributed to enhance the position and importance of Trichinopoly was a famous battle which was fought at that place about 1616 during the Great Civil War which convulsed and debilitated the Vijayanagar Empire shortly after, and in consequence of, the death of the glorious sovereign, Venkatapati Raya. That battle has been described as the battle of Trichinopoly by the Jesuit writer Barradas. But the more exact researches of recent times have shown that the battle was fought at Topur (modern Tohur) near Trichinopoly.

But we can rightly speak of the battle of Trichinopoly as it might be reasonably supposed that the greatest and most decisive battle of the most calamitous civil war necessitated a particularly large army whose activities could well have ranged from Topur to Trichinopoly. The battle of Trichinopoly was more ruinous to the Empire than the epoch-making battle of Talikota had been. Thus Trichinopoly witnessed the greatest event in the post-Talikota history of Vijayanagar, an event which may be regarded as having given the death-blow to the once mighty and prosperous Hindu Empire of Vijayanagar.

Tirumala Nayak, for reasons which need not be discussed here, transferred the headquarters of the kingdom to Madura, but the loss of prestige thus sustained by Trichinopoly was made good later by Chokkanatha Nayak about 1665. From that date to the end of the Nayakship of Madura (to about 1736), it remained the capital of the kingdom. During the reigns of Tirumala Nayak and Chokkanatha Nayak there was a vast extension of Jesuit missionary enterprise at Trichinopoly.

It is hardly necessary to chronicle the varying fortunes of Trichinopoly which may be described briefly as a series of sieges of the place by the Mysore General, Kumarayya. During the regency of the famous and good Mangammal, Trichinopoly maintained its position intact. The last event which deserves to be mentioned here was the suicide of Minakshi, the last Nayak sovereign, owing to the treacherous policy of Chanda Sahib.