page_title: Political history of Mysore and Coorg (1565–1760)
section_title: Poligars of Vijayanagara, 1565–1635
hierarchical_section_title: Political history of Mysore and Coorg (1565–1760) / Poligars of Vijayanagara, 1565–1635
caption_attribution_description: English: Inkwash drawing of Chinnapattam fort established by Jugadeva Raya in 1580
context_page_description: The political history of the region on the Deccan Plateau in west-central peninsular India that was later divided into Mysore state and Coorg province, saw many changes after the fall of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in 1565. The point before the rise of Sultan Haidar Ali in 1761 introduced a new period.
  At the height of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Mysore and Coorg region was ruled by motley chieftains, or rajas. Each raja had dominion over a small area and supplied soldiers and annual tribute for the empire's needs. After the empire's fall and the subsequent eastward move of the diminished ruling family, many chieftains tried to loosen their imperial bonds and expand their realms. Sensing opportunity amidst the new uncertainty, various powers from the north invaded the region. Among these were the Sultanate of Bijapur to the northwest, the Sultanate of Golconda to the northeast, the fledgeling Maratha empire farther northwest, and the Mughal empire, still farther north. For much of the 17th century the tussles between the little kings and the big powers, and amongst the little kings, culminated in shifting sovereignties, loyalties, and borders.
context_section_description: On 23 January 1565 the last Hindu empire in South India, the Vijayanagara Empire, was defeated by the combined forces of the  Muslim states of Bijapur, Golconda, and Ahmadnagar in the Battle of Talikota. The battle was fought  on the doab (interfluve, or tongue of land) between the Kistna river and its major left bank tributary, the Bhima, 100 miles (160 km) to the north of the imperial capital, Vijayanagara (Map 2). The invaders from the north later destroyed the capital, and the ruler's family escaped to Penukonda, 125 miles (201 km) to the southeast, where they established their new capital. Later, they moved another 175 miles (282 km) east-southeast to Chandragiri, not far from the coast, and survived there until 1635, their dwindling empire concentrating its resources on its eastern Tamil and Telugu speaking realms. According to historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam: " ... in the ten years following 1565, the imperial centre of Vijayanagara effectively ceased to be a power as far as the western reaches of the peninsula were concerned, leaving a vacuum that was eventually filled by Ikkeri and Mysore."
  In the heyday of their rule, the kings of Vijayanagara had granted tracts of land in their realm to vassal chiefs on the stipulation of an annual tribute and of military service during times of war. The chiefs in the richer, more distant, southern provinces were not controlled easily, and only a fraction of the tribute was collected from them. Overseen by a viceroy—titled Sri Ranga Raya and based in the island town of Seringapatam on the river Kaveri, 200 miles (320 km) south of the capital, the southern chiefs bore various titles: these included the Nayaka, assumed by the chiefs of Keladi in the northwestern hills, Basavapatna, and Chitaldroog in the north,  Belur in the west, and Hegalvadi in the centre; the title Gowda, assumed by the chiefs of Ballapur and Yelahanka in the centre, and Sugatur in the east; and Wodeyar, assumed by the rulers of Mysore in the south.  (Map 2.)
  
  The southern chiefs (sometimes called rajas, or "little kings") resisted on moral and political grounds as well. According to historian Burton Stein: 
   'Little kings', or rajas, never attained the legal independence of an aristocracy from both monarchs and the local people whom they ruled. The sovereign claims of would-be centralizing, South Indian rulers and the resources demanded in the name of that sovereignty diminished the resources which local chieftains used as a kind of royal largess; thus centralizing demands were opposed on moral as well as on political grounds by even quite modest chiefs.
  These chiefs came to be called poligars, a British corruption of "Palaiyakkarar," Tamil: holder of "palaiya" or "baronial estate;" Kannada: palagararu. 
  In 1577, Bijapur forces attacked and overwhelmed all opposition along the western coast. Easily taking Adoni, a former Vijayanagara stronghold, they attempted to take Penukonda, the new Vijayanagara capital. (Map 3).) They were, however, repulsed by an army led by the Vijayanagara ruler's father-in-law, Jagadeva Raya, who had travelled north for the engagement from his base in Baramahal. For his services, his territories within the crumbling empire were expanded out to the Western Ghats, the mountain range running along the southwestern coast of India; a new capital was established in Channapatna (Map 6.)  
  The Wodeyars of  Mysore (present-day Mysore district) disregarded the Vijayanagara monarch, taking possession of Seringapatam in 1610, and annexing small states in their vicinity; (Map 3) the chiefs of Ummattur attempted to do the same despite punitive raids by the Vijayanagara armies. Eventually, as a compromise, the son of an Ummattur chief was appointed the viceroy at Seringapatam. In 1644, Mysore Wodeyars unseated the powerful Changalvas of Piriyapatna, becoming the dominant presence in the southern regions. (Map 6.)  By this time the Vijayanagara empire was on its last legs.
caption: A late 18th-century ink wash drawing of Channapatna fort established by Jagadeva Raya in 1580
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