“Rashomonesque” - that was how Kombai S. Anwar described his Golconda expedition. The audience agreed when he finished his talk. What a maze he led them through! Where did the thread begin? In Thanjavur!
A typical Moghul structure that turned out to be an Ashurkhana (Shia mourning place), clue to which lay in Alla Koil Sandhu, a by-lane in the cradle of Carnatic music, kindled Anwar’s curiosity and he decided to retrace the trail. What did he find? Its link to the Maratha rulers, the Golconda Sultanate and the connection to the English traders leading right to Madras’s St. George Fort...
“I found that a fascinating chunk of history has not been highlighted and was bewildered, not only by the volume of information but by the missing links,” said Anwar. His quest touched the Vijayanagar clan, its disintegration, the rise and fall of the Bhamini kings and the ascent of the Moghul rulers.
Political squabbles and the see-saw of power play are part of the long history of this land that produced Artha Sastra. Travelling with Anwar, what caught one’s interest was the social picture that emerged. There was Hindu-Muslim amity, but religion was a sensitive issue and the English, who up to this time were only traders, were totally confused by the caste divisions among the natives.
It sent ripples of laughter as Anwar spoke of the Idangai and Valangai sects. Vellalars, accountants and leather workers belonged to the former whereas Chettiars, artisans and oil mongers came under the latter. Skirmishes often broke out and the totally helpless Company issued shoot-to-kill orders.
Not that the English had smooth sailing on the domestic front. Protestants by faith, the Company chiefs at Fort St. George were wary of the advances of the Catholics (Poperye was the word used to mock at the followers), whom they could not eliminate, for the revenue that was brought in. So what was the way out? Protestant-Catholic marriage was allowed but the child born would be protestant!
“That a Telugu Merchant (Koneri Chetty) should command the (Vijayanagar) Rajah’s forces is singular enough, but that the (Golconda) Nawab should employ a General of that race (Hindu) when ample selection from Moslem warriors was open to him is even more surprising,” goes the East India Company’s record of a battle that ended without a fight at Poonamallee, on the outskirts of Madras in 1656.
To complete the story, Chetty led the troop but surrendered. The twist , according to Anwar, is that Chetty was not humiliated but treated with respect and showered with gifts. Varnas blurred as armies even had fighters with tufts!
Sample this - the Rowthers in the employment of Srirangatri, donated land to the Cheyyar Murugan temple as the deity cured an illness. The 17th century India, when the English were only traders, bristles with such interesting titbits. “Not actually surprising,” explained Anwar, “considering that it was a composite population,” even as a visual slide of an army led by Abdulla Qutb Shah, had blacks. “Yes, they are African foot soldiers led by Telugu generals.”
Slave trade continued until Aurangzeb banned it. The battle for Santhome has this interesting aside - Badrudin was beheaded but with the head fixed back on his neck rode his horse, pet dog faithfully following, until the head fell at a place, which is today’s Zamin Pallavaram. A dargah stands as testimony to his ‘martyrdom.’
This colourful phase ends where the Raj begins, as the traders transform into rulers. “What I have gathered is only bits and pieces of a huge canvas, an era to which several remarkable personalities, from Sivaji to Aurangzeb, Venkoji to Gopanna (Bhadrachala Ramadas) and the Thanjavur Quartet belonged. More research has to be done to bring facts to light and complete the picture,” concluded Anwar.
