Coorg had been an independent Hindu Kingdom for many centuries, until the invasion of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan in 1765, resulting in large scale devastation, forcible conversion to Islam and incarceration of thousands of Kodava people at Seringapatam. Following the defeat of Tippu Sultan in the Third Anglo–Mysore War (1789–92), Coorg became independent again, under the suzerainty of the British. In 1834, the Coorg Kingdom was annexed by the British, and the last Raja Chikka Virarajendra was pensioned off on an annual privy pension of British £12,000 and banished to Kashi. Following annexation, a regiment of the Madras Army and British civil servants were stationed in Coorg.