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Showing posts from December, 2020

Aurangzeb’s friendly relations with Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar, Mysore Kingdom’s most successful independent Hindu King

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Research and author: Ameen Ahmed ~~~ Source: Wiki Commons   Introduction The Hindu Wodeyar dynasty formed the Mysore kingdom in 1399. 1   It ruled the region until India’s independence, with a couple of breaks in between, from 1760 to 1799 and 1831 to 1881. Established as a subsidiary of the Karnata Empire (popular as Vijayanagar Empire), the Wodeyars began to spread their wings after Vijayanagar was sacked at the battle of Talikoti in 1565. 2  During its long existence it saw the rise and fall of many empires, including the Mughals and Marathas. Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar who ruled from 1673 until his death in 1704, is seen as its most successful king. This essay highlights how this far sighted ruler developed and sustained friendship with Aurangzeb to not only check their common enemy the Marathas, but also to reform his kingdom. Mysore King Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar built or repaired many Hindu temples in his reign, like this Shvetha Varaha Swamy temple at Mysore. Picture by the author in

44 sites of Hindus, including Sringeri Mutt and other temples, attacked by Marathas in 1790 - 92 CE.

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Research and author : Ameen Ahmed Below is a  chronological   sequence  of forty four sites belonging to  Hindus (temples, towns, crops), including Sringeri Mutt, affected by Peshwa Maratha soldiers' excesses in Mysore Kingdom (present day Karnataka) between 1790 - 92 CE, during the 3rd Anglo Mysore War. Twenty six of these were eye-witnessed and documented by English soldiers accompanying the Maratha armies . Destruction of seventeen more such places is attributed  by later sources   to these attacks, which were led primarily by the Peshwa Maratha General Parshuram Bhau, his son Appa Sahib and brother Raghunath Rao.  A view of the fortified Hindu holy town of Devarayanadurga, Tumakuru District in 1862. This town was captured on Jul. 13, 1791 by the combined forces of a detachment of Bombay Army of East India Company and Maratha armies led by Parshuram Bhau, who looted and burnt it.  Credit: By Lieutenant Colonel Henry Dixon - https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.7, CC0, https://commo