Tirumala Nayaka

Tirumala Nayak or Tirumalai Nayakar or Tirumalai Nayak, the monarch king of Madurai was undoubtedly, the most notable of the 13 Madurai Nayak rulers in the 17th century. He was the greatest contributoins are found in the many splendid buildings and temples of Madurai. Under his patronage many of the finest works were created. In the field of religious architecture” the Madurai style” as described by scholars are notable stand-outs, was the revival and continuation of the building procedure of the imperial Pandyas (1100-1350). His palace Tirumalai Nayak Palace was an architectural feat of everlasting wonder. He started his reign in one of the most stirring periods with frequent interludes by other neighboring Hindu kingdoms and the Muslim kings.Nevertless by the end of his career he humbled most of them through successful, sometimes blunderous military campaigns and ended up having a large kingdom. His territories compromised much of the southern Tamilnadu,or the old Pandya Country, including Coimbatore with more additional territories of Travancore, and the Chola Empire.

Initial years

Muttu Virappa Nayak of Madurai was succeeded by the great Tirumala Nayak, the most powerful and the best known of his dynasty, who ruled for thirty-six eventful years. He was called upon to play his part in much more stirring times than his predecessors. The peace imposed upon the south by the sway of Vijayanagar had been dissolved by the downfall of that power, and the pandya country was torn by the mutual quarrels of the once feudatory governors (‘Nayaks’) of Madura, Tanjore, Gingee and Mysore;by the unavailing attempts of the last rulers of the dying empire to reassert their failing authority; and finally by the incursions of the Muhammadan kings of the Deccan, who now began to press southwards to reap the real fruits of their victory at Talikota. An added trouble lay in the in-subordination of the Setupathis of Ramnad, who took advantage of the embarrassments of the rulers of Madura to disobey their commands and finally to assume independence. The last-named danger was not experienced by Tirumalai Nayak himself, but was reserved to perplex his successors. He defies Vijayanagar Almost the first act of his reign was to withhold the tribute due to the king of Vijayanagar. The letters of the Jesuit priests already mentioned showed that he anticipated trouble in consequence, and accordingly massed large bodies of troops in Trichinopoly and strengthened its fortifications. He none the less still sent annual complimentary messages and presents to his suzerain, and this sufficed for some time to appease the resentment of the incapable representatives of that ancient line. But about 1638 king Ranga, a more resolute prince, succeeded to the throne of Chandragiri; and he soon resolved to put an end to the contumacy of Tirumala and prepared to march south with a large and formidable force. Tirumala had meanwhile persuaded the Vijayanagar governors of Tanjore and Gingee (in south Arcot) to join him in his defiance of their mutual suzerain, and thus Ranga was left with only Mysore, of all his tributaries, to support him. He however continued his preparations, with the result that the governor of Tanjore eventually grew alarmed, sent in his submission, and betrayed the designs of the confederates.

Calls the Muhammadans to his aid

Ranga advanced upon Gingee Fort, but his plans were frustrated by a desperate move on the part of Tirumala, who, reckless of the claims of a larger relief of Gingee, but hardly had they arrived there when the Bijapur troops went over to the enemy, and joined in the Siege of the fort they had been sent to deliver. The Golconda king, however, was soon recalled by trouble in other parts of his new conquests, and Tirumala threw himself into the Gingee fortress. Owing to dissensions between his troops and those of the former garrison, however the gates were opened not long afterwards to the troops of Bijapur and the town fell into the possession of the Musalmans,thus ending the reign of Gingee Nayaks.

and becomes their feudatory

Tirumala retreated in dismay of Madura, and the Mohammedans advanced triumphantly southwards, exacted submission from the governor of Tanjore, and proceeded to lay waste the Madura country. Tirumala then submitted, apparently with out striking a blow, paid a large sum to the invaders, and agreed to send an annual tribute to the Sultan of Bijapur. Thus, after an interval of nearly 300 years, the Mohammedans were back in the district.

His wars with Mysore

Tirumala’s next conflict was with Mysore. In the early years of his regin, before his troubles with the king of Vijayanagar and the Muhammadans, he had been involved in a short war with that kingdom. His territories had been invaded by the Mysore troops and Dindigul had been besieged, but the enemy had been eventually driven out and their country successfully invaded in revenge by a general of Tirumala’s. Since then, as already noted, the Vijayanagar ruler had taken refuge with the king of Mysore, and now these two monarchs combined to endeavour to recover those portions of the former’s territories which had recently been captured by Golconda. They were at first successful;but,at this point Tirumalai Nayak, whether actuated by jealousy or fear, turned the tables against all his Hindu rivals in the region by persuading the Sultans of Golconda and Bijapur to help him attack Mysore from the south, throwing open the passes in his own country for the purpose. The Sultan of Golconda accepting his proposal, graciously leapt into the fray, flattened out Mysore resulting in the final extinction of the power of Vijayanagar and the humbling of Mysore, and in return extracted huge amounts of tribute from the Nayaks of Madura and Thanjavur. Whether Tirumalai Nayak regretted his action is not known, but for the next century or so, Madura was left alone to progress under the Nayaks. So Tirumala profited little from this new treachery to the cause of Hinduism. It is not clear exactly when these events happened, but they appear to constitute the last interference of the Muhammadans in Madura affairs. Tirumala’s only other external war occurred towards the close of his reign and was with Mysore. In this he is represented to have been altogether successful. The campaign began with an invasion of Coimbatore by the Mysore king-apparently in revenge for Tirumala’s contribution to his recent humiliation at the hands of the Muhammadans. That district was occupied by the enemy with ease, and then Madura itself was threatened. The Mysore troops were however beaten off from the town (Chiefly by the loyal assistance of the Setupati of Ramnad) defeated again in the open, and driven in disorder up the ghats into Mysore.

Hunt for Noses

The campaign was known as the ‘hunt for noses’ owing to the fact that under the orders of the Mysore king the invaders cut off the noses of all their prisoners (men, women and children) and sent them in sacks to Seringapatam as glorious trophies. A counter invasion of Mysore was undertaken shortly afterwards by the Madurai Nayaks under the command of Kumara Muttu Nayak, the younger brother of Tirumala, and was crowned with complete success, in which the king of Mysore himself was captured and his nose was cut off and sent to Madura.

His death

Tirumala died before his victorious brother’s return in 1659. He was between sixty-five and seventy years of age at the time and had reigned for thirty-six eventful years. His territories at his death comprised the present districts of Madura (including the zamindaris of Ramnad and Sivaganga), Tinnevelly, Coimbatore, Salem and Trichinopoly, with Pudukkotai and parts of Travancore. Native tradition is persistent in declaring that he met his death by violence. Several stories are current, but two of them are more widely repeated than the others. The first of these says that he so nearly became converted to Christianity that he stopped his expenditure on the temples of the Hindu gods. This roused the Brahmins, and some of them, headed by a bhattan (officiating priest of the great temple), enticed him to the temple under the pretence that they had found a great hidden treasure in a vault there, induced him to enter the vault and then shut down its stone trap-door upon him, and gave out that the goddess Meenakshi had translated her favourite to heaven. The second story avers that he had an intrigue with the wife of a Bhattan and that as he was returning from visiting her one dark night he fell into a well and was killed. The Bhattan was so scared when he found what had happened that he at once filled in the well, but afterwards told the Brahmans what he had done.

Rebellions among his vassals

During his regin, two rebellions, occurred among his vassals. The first was raised by the Setupati of Ramnad. It was due to an unjust order of Tirumala’s regarding the succession to the chiefship of that country in 1635, which was resisted by the rightful claimant and by the Maravans themselves. Tirumala was successful in placing his nominee on the throne and in imprisoning the rival aspirant, but he was ultimately compelled to allow the latter to succed. He was rewarded by the loyalty of Ramnad in his last war with Mysore. The other rebellion was raised by a confederacy of poligars headed by the powerful chief of Ettaiyapuram in the Tinnevelly district. Its cause is not clear. The Setupati of Ramnad, as chief of all the poligars, was entrusted with the duty of quelling it, and performed this undertaking satisfactorily. The leader was put to death and the others suitably punished; and peace was restored in a few months.

Tirumala’s Capital

Tirumala’s capital was Madura. The royal residence had been removed thence to Trichinopoly(Trichy) by his predecessor, but Tirumala moved it back again, notwithstanding the fact that Trichinoploy, with its almost impregnable rock, its never failing Cauvery river and its healthy climate, was by nature far superior to Madurai, where the fort was on level ground, the Vaigai was usually dry and fever was almost endemic. The reason given in the old manuscripts for the change is that Tirumala was afficted with a grievous long-standing catarrh which none of the vaishnavite gods of Trichinoploy(Trichy) could (or would) cure. One day when he was halting at Dindigul on his way to Madura,Sundareswara and Meenakshi, the Saivite deities of the latter place, appeared to him in a dream and promised him that if he would reside permanently in their town they would cure him. He vowed that he would do so and would spend five lakhs of pons on sacred works. Immediately afterwards, as he was cleaning his teeth in the early morning, the disease left him; and thenceforth he devoted himself to the cult of Saivism and the improvement of Madura. None the less, he resided a good deal at Trichinopoly, and successors (though they went to Madura to be crowned) generally dwelt there permanently.

His Public buildings

Despite so many upheavals, Tirumalai Nayak's reign is famous for the legacy he left behind in numerous constructions. If he was not adding a tower to the Meenakshi temple, the unfinished tower called the Raya Gopuram and adding a hall, he is credited for having excavated the huge artificial reservoir, or Teppakulam and some scholars say, even the interesting building called "Tamukam", or Collector's bungalow. It's at the palace however that he excelled himself. There are stories of how he himself sat on a jeweled throne in the midst of a chamber made of ivory set in a pillared hall made of black stone. This was called the abode of paradise. As though to mock this memory, there is now a tacky throne made of cheap materials placed under the central dome of the audience hall. It is, however, by his many splendid public buildings in Madura that he is best remebered at the present time. The largest and most magnifient of them was the great palace which still goes by his name the Tirumalai Nayak Palace . The original Palace Complex was four times bigger than the present structure. The Palace was the classic example of the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. The palace was divided into two major parts, namely Swargavilasa and Rangavilasa. The royal residence, theatre, shrine, apartments, armory, palanquin place, royal bandstand, quarters, pond and garden were situated in these two portions. The courtyard and the dancing hall are the major center of attractions of the palace. High walls running 300 m from the east to the west, 200 m from the north to the south and 12 mt high enclosed the complex. These walls are called the Pari Madil and are said to have survived till a hundred years ago. What is even more surprising is that the destruction of Tirumalai Nayak's Palace at Madurai was started by his own grandson, Chokhanatha, who carried parts of it for his own palace at Trichy. During the course of the centuries, it has been used as a paper making factory by convict labour, as a weaving depot, a district court, municipal school and so forth. Lord Napier, one of the British Governors in Madras directed Mr. Chisholm, leading Government architect of that time, who has left some excellent public buildings at Chennai, to prepare the initial reports for repairing the palace. It seems however that for a people so lacking in a sense of historical correctness, or who are more than content with the buzz of popular legends that are sung about the glories of Madurai and its enchanting goddess, the palace is just another crumbling monument that refuses to be wiped out entirely. It is a standing example of a synthesis of the two styles of the country - the Dravidian and the Islamic. Scholars agree that the Southern artisans have displayed exceptional skill in amalgamating the two styles. But when these artisans wanted to integrate a third style from the West, brought by the Europeans, they failed.This unsuccessful attempt prompts Percy Brown to comment that "although a work of considerable magnitude, the Tirumalai Nayak palace denotes an architectural retrogression",were thoughts by Bishop Caldwell to constitute the grandest building of its kind in Southern India.No matter what the truth, the Palace of Tirumalai Nayak waits like a small architectural gem tossed into the dusty corridors of history just waiting to be admired for the glory that it once was meant to reflect. The thousand pillared pavilion is a huge canopied area and has exquisitely worked pillars.When the "Vasantha" festival was celebrated the year the 1000 Pillar Mandapa was completed, the Nayak was himself received the customary honours in person. In subsequent years they were offered to his sculpture. The practice continues till date. The beautiful Teppakulam at Madura, the Pudumantapam and the unfinished tower called the Raja gopuram belonging to the Great temple there (and doubtless other additions to that buildings), and (perhaps) the Tamakam, the curious buildings in which the Collector now resides, were also due to his taste for the magnificent.

Daily Life

Da Costa’s graphic description of Tirumala Nayaks goes like this… “Almost every day he appears on the terrace surrounded by his courtiers,while in front of them his elephants are drawn up in two rowa,the space between them being guarded by some three or four hundred Turkish bodyguards.When he comes out of the fortress to visit some pagodas(temples),as he is wont to do on days of festivals,he is surrounded with great pomp.Sometimes he rides in a palanquin,at other times he mounts an enormous elephant…Next come the elephants in a long file,mounted by his nobles and chief captains,preceded by the arms and insignia of the Nayaka.Then the cavalry and the reat of the troops follow”

Personal Interests and stories

Loving tradition tells of the great personal interest Tirumalai Nayak took in the erection of the Pudumandapa. On one occasion, Sumandramurti Achari, the principal architect, was so deeply engrossed in sculpting a relief of the stone elephant eating sugarcane, an incident in the temple's puranic history, that he did not notice the Nayak standing by him. The Nayak rolled some betel leaves and arecanuts and handed them to him. Thinking that it was an assistant who had done so, he took them and began to chew them without looking around. When he realised that it was the Nayak himself, he was so much affected that he damaged the two fingers of his that had taken the betel leaves. Moved by his devotion to duty, the Nayak gave him many gifts.

On another occasion a son of an artist pestered him for a mango when that fruit was not in season. He would not take no for an answer. The Nayak ordered that gold mangoes be brought from the palace. The boy was content and allowed his father to continue the work undisturbed. From this incident the family came to be called the "Mampazham" family.

When, on yet another occasion, the artist was making a sculpture of a consort of the Nayak's a chip broke off from the thigh, as a curious coincidence the same queen had a scar in the same place as chipped. He started work on another image, but again the chip came off from the same place. A minister of the Nayak advised the artist to leave the image as it was. When the Nayak came to know of this from the artist, he was angry, wondering how the minister could know that his queen had a scar on her thigh. He sent for him. The minister knew that the Nayak was angry and might punish him. So he put out his eyes. At this the Nayak was filled with grief. Thereupon the minister composed a poem in the praise of the Goddess, beseeching her to give him back his eyesight if he was innocent. She restored it. The minister was a famous Sanskrit poet. Among his works are the "Shivalilamava", on the traditions of Lord Shiva in Madurai, and the "Gangavatarana", on the descent of the Ganga to the earth. Another famous one is that Thirumalai first brought his consort to the Tirumala Nayak palace after it was completed built in 1636; she commented that the giant pillars and arches reminded her of a stable for elephants, sending the king into such a rage that he had her confined for the rest of her life. And he took another wife.

His Successor

Tirumala was succeeded by his son Muttu Alakadri Nayak. It is perhaps surprising that Tirumala’s brother — who, as has been seen, had just returned to Madura from Mysore at the head of a victorious army-should not have attempted to seize the crown; but he was prevailed upon to accept the governorship of Sivakasi in Tinnevelly district. His other notable successor was his Grand daughter-in-law, Rani Mangammal,who is widely known today than Tirumalai Nayak himself.

Sum up

Tirumala’s character is summed up, probably with justice, in a letter written by one of the Jesuit priests just after his death and dated Trichinopoly,1659— It is impossible to refuse him credit for great qualities, but he tarnished his glory at the end of his life by follies and vices which nothing could justify. He was called to render account to God for the evils which his political treachery had brought upon his own people and the neighbouring kingdoms. His reign was rendered illustrious by works of really royal magnificence. Among these are the pagoda of Madura, several public buildings, and above all the royal palace the colossal proportions and astonishing boldness of which recall the ancient monuments of Thebes. He loved and protected the Christian religion, the excellence of which he recongnised; but he never had the courage to accept the consequences of his conviction. The chief obstacle to his conversion came from his 200 wives, of whom the most distinguished were burnt on his pyre.