Morari Rao of Gooty · Telugu History

Colour photograph of a rocky hill with fortification walls winding up to the summit under a cloudy sky. · Imrx100 (Wikimedia Commons) (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab)

Wilks wrote that Gooty “fell afterwards into the possession of the Mahratta house of Gorepora, which was distinguished in the wars of the south under Morari Row”.¹ For a generation the hill fortress was the seat of a small Maratha state, in name a dependency of the Nizams.² Its ruler, Morari Rao Ghorpade, was a local lord of the Anantapur country.³ He was also the most sought-after captain of horsemen in the wars of the Carnatic.⁴⁵

The Madras Museum’s catalogue of Mysore coins (1921) counts “Morari Rao, the Maratha ruler of Gooty” among the feudatories (subject chiefs) of the Nizam in the Ceded Districts.⁶ It places him beside the Nawabs of Cuddapah and Kurnool.⁶ See Morari Rao Ghorpade, Gooty and the Gooty fort.

The sources

Robert Orme wrote a history of the war of Coromandel from the English records of the 1740s and 1750s.⁵ It is the main source for Morari Rao’s soldiering.⁵ Mark Wilks’s Historical Sketches (1810–1817) add the Mysore side and the fall of Gooty.⁷ Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas (1826) adds the Maratha side.⁸

The Anantapur district gazetteer (1905) draws on the Mackenzie manuscripts for his dealings with the local poligars (local chiefs).⁹¹⁰ It also quotes Orme and Wilks at length.⁹¹⁰ Aitchison’s collection of treaties (1892) gives the family’s later history at Sandur.¹¹

Origins and the seat at Gooty

The family were already in the country. Wilks says that six years after Aurangzeb’s death the uplands of the Carnatic were held by the Pathan chief of Kadapa (then Cuddapah) “and by Siddojee Gorepora the Mahratta”.¹² Siddoji, he goes on, was “establishing a Mahratta power at Gooti, far beyond the bounds of Maharashtra”.¹²

The Anantapur gazetteer says that “about 1746” Morari Rao “was permitted by the Nizam to establish himself in the fort”.⁹ It adds that “some accounts say that it was already in the possession of his family”.⁹ Then “in 1754 he made it his permanent residence and repaired its fortifications”.⁹

The Marathas had left him viceroy of Tiruchirappalli (then Trichinopoly) when they took it in March 1741.¹³ Orme says that he surrendered Tiruchirappalli to the Nizam.¹⁴ After that he “was permitted to erect a principality, dependant indeed on the Soubah of the Decan, but independant of his own nation”.¹⁴

Wilks says that while arranging to leave Tiruchirappalli, Morari Rao had “obtained his recognition of the state of Gooti as a dependency of the Soubadars of the Deckan”.² He used this tie to the Nizam to escape the Peshwa’s demands for tribute.² In Wilks’s words, “the Mussulman thus sheltered himself behind the Hindoo, and the Hindoo behind the Mussulman”.² See Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I.

Territory

The Anantapur gazetteer writes of the district under the Nizams: “Much of it, indeed, became virtually a Maratha possession”.³ Morari Rao “established himself at Gooty about 1746, obtained possession of Penukonda”.³ He also “exacted separate tribute from (at any rate some of) the poligars and made himself arbiter of the destinies of the district”.³

The gazetteer lists his gains:¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸

in 1741 he “reduced” Madakasira “and made the poligar pay tribute”¹⁵
in 1751 he took Kodikonda from its poligar¹⁶
he took Tadpatri “and appointed amildars to govern it” (an amildar is a revenue officer)¹⁷
the fort of Hirehalu, twelve miles south of Bellary, was his¹⁸

Penukonda was the old capital of the later Vijayanagara kings.¹⁹ The gazetteer says it “is found to be forming part of the possessions of Morari Rao of Gooty”.¹⁹ Wilks says that in 1762 his lands lay north-east of Haidar’s new province of Sira.²⁰ Their southern edge was the small country of the poligar of Little Balapur.²⁰ Aitchison says that Sandur, in the Bellary country, “formed a part of the possessions” of Morari Rao.¹¹

The poligars

Morari Rao’s power showed most in the affairs of the poligars. About 1740 the Hande family of Anantapur quarrelled over the succession.¹⁸ One side “called in Morari Rao of Gooty, captured Anantapur and imprisoned” the poligar.¹⁸ Besides its peshkash (yearly tribute) to the Marathas, the estate then paid “a tribute of Rs. 5,000” to Morari Rao.¹⁸

In 1757 Morari Rao attacked Anantapur.²¹ The town held out for some time, but at last it paid him Rs. 50,000 to go away.²¹

At Udiripikonda his men plundered Marutla, “and extracted Rs. 12,000 from it”.²² In 1759 they took the fort after a three months’ siege, imprisoned its chief and pulled down the fortifications.²² Basalat Jang of Adoni turned them out, but Morari Rao got the fort back.²² See Adoni.

Army

His wealth came from his horsemen. Wilks calls his troops “the most select, the most faithful, and the best organized of any in the south”.⁴ They were “composed of a judicious mixture of Mohammedans, Mahrattas, and Rajpoots, with an ample accompaniment of Beder Peons” (Bedar foot soldiers).⁴

Orme says that he enlisted “none of his countrymen but such as were of approved valour”.¹⁴⁵ He kept them by “equitable partitions of plunder”.¹⁴⁵ He chose his officers so well “that there was not a commander of 100 horse who was not fit to command the whole”.¹⁴⁵

His corps served:⁴²³²⁴²⁵

Muhammad Ali and the English at Arcot and Tiruchirappalli in 1751–52⁴
the Mysoreans and the French from 1752 to 1754²³
the French again under Lally until 1760²⁴
the English against Haidar in 1767–69²⁵

See Morari Rao Ghorpade.

Coins and buildings

J. R. Henderson’s catalogue (1921) describes Haidar’s “new Muhammad Shahi” pagoda (gold coin) struck at Gooty.²⁶ It says this coin “was simply a copy of an earlier Mughal pagoda of the same mint which was first coined during the reign of Muhammad Shah”.²⁶ The older coin “was reissued later by Morari Rao, the Maratha chief who occupied Gooty before Haidar”.²⁶

On the summit of Gooty a small pavilion of polished chunam (lime plaster) stood on the edge of a cliff.²⁷ It was called “Morari Rao’s seat”.²⁷ The story went that he sat there to play chess or swing, “varying the monotony by now and again watching a prisoner or two hurled from the top of the adjoining rock”.²⁷

The gazetteer credits him with granaries on the hill of Udiripikonda.²² It says his people repaired the mantapam (pillared hall) of the Chintala Venkataramana temple at Tadpatri, which Aurangzeb’s troops had damaged.¹⁷²⁸ The chief temple of Madakasira “is fabled to have been built by a minister of Morari Rao’s who was blind”.²⁹

Haidar Ali and the Marathas, 1762–1772

In 1762 Haidar Ali besieged Little Balapur, whose poligar had Morari Rao’s support.³⁰³¹ He beat the force Morari Rao sent to relieve it.³⁰³¹ Wilks writes that “with the double view of furthering this object, and retaliating on Morari Row, he extended his conquest over a considerable sweep of country to the northward”.³⁰³¹ He took “Coodiconda, Penconda (the former capital of Carnatic), and Merg Sera”, that is, Kodikonda, Penukonda and Madakasira.³⁰³¹ Morari Rao “acknowledged the decisive nature of the defeat which he had sustained by retiring to his capital of Gooti”.³⁰³¹

Early in 1765 the Peshwa Madhavrao made peace with Haidar.³² Haidar’s first promise was “to restore all the districts and places which he had wrested from Morari Row”.³² The gazetteer says that Morari Rao retook Kodikonda in 1766 and won back Madakasira.¹⁶¹⁵ See Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan and Madhavrao I.

In the First Mysore War he served with the English. In 1769 Haidar made a treaty of peace with Madras.³³ It named “Morari Rao” with the Raja of Tanjore among the “friends and allies to the Carnatic Payen Ghat” included in it.³³

Later that year Haidar came to Gooty, “on which he was not yet prepared to execute his intentions”.³⁴ The two “rival adventurers” met and exchanged costly presents.³⁴ In 1771 Morari Rao, now with the Marathas again, guaranteed the terms on which Haidar’s garrison gave up Gurramkonda.³⁵³⁶ In 1772 “Morari Row had engaged to employ his good offices” in the peace between Haidar and the Marathas.³⁵³⁶ See Gurramkonda.

The end, 1776

After taking Bellary, Haidar demanded a payment from Gooty.⁷ Morari Rao answered “that he also was a Cena putti (General), and was in the habit of levying, not paying contributions”.⁷

Haidar’s men stormed the town and the lower forts.³⁷³⁸³⁹ The citadel was crowded with followers, horses and cattle, and it ran short of water.³⁷³⁸³⁹ A treaty for twelve lakhs of rupees broke down when Morari Rao’s hostage let slip at Haidar’s table that only thirst had brought them to terms.³⁷³⁸³⁹ Haidar then blockaded the citadel more closely.³⁷³⁸³⁹ On the third day the garrison came down unarmed “with Morari Row at their head”.³⁷³⁸³⁹

Wilks writes: “All the possessions of the house of Gorepora, were transferred with no other ceremony than the substitution of the seal of Hyder.”⁴⁰ Morari Rao died at Kabbaldurga.⁴⁰ Wilks adds that “many of the family survived for fifteen years, and were destroyed in the general massacre of prisoners which was perpetrated by Tippoo’s orders in 1791”.⁴⁰ The Anantapur gazetteer says that the fall of Gooty “established Haidar as suzerain of the district”.⁴¹ Its poligars now paid their tribute to him.⁴¹

The English had not forgotten their ally. In 1779 the Governor of Madras complained to Haidar “of Hyder’s conquest in 1776, of the territories of Morari Row, who was included as an ally, in the treaty of 1769”.⁴²

In 1782 the Company made terms with the agent of the Rani of Mysore.⁴³⁴⁴ They kept “the liberty of reinstating the family of Morarow in the country of Gooty”.⁴³⁴⁴ The Rani’s agent replied that “Gooty is not to be delivered to its former possessor”.⁴³⁴⁴

Gooty never was given back.¹¹ But in 1790 Morari Rao’s grand-nephew Siddoji and his uncle Venkat Rao drove Tipu’s governor out of Sandur.¹¹ The family were allowed to keep it “as part of the ancient inheritance of their family”.¹¹ This was the origin of the later state of Sandur.¹¹ See Gooty fort.

Where the sources disagree

Morari Rao’s descent. Aitchison makes him the third son of Siddoji Ghorpade.¹¹ The Anantapur gazetteer names his father as Siddoji Rao, called Hindu Rao.¹⁵ Grant Duff makes him the grand-nephew of Santaji Ghorpade and the adopted son and heir of an older Morari Rao of Gooty.⁸ The gazetteer mentions accounts that an uncle, “another Morari Rao”, had first taken Gooty.⁹
Leaving Tiruchirappalli. Orme dates his leaving of Tiruchirappalli to August of the year in which the Nizam came south (1743 in his narrative).⁴⁵ Grant Duff dates it to August 1743.⁴⁶ Wilks says the Nizam got Tiruchirappalli from him “in August 1744”.⁴⁷ Elsewhere Orme says that he surrendered it to the Nizam “in 1746”.¹⁴
The seat at Gooty. Wilks finds Siddoji Ghorpade establishing “a Mahratta power at Gooti” about 1713.¹² Grant Duff says that Morari Rao was recognised as chief, or jagirdar (holder of a land grant), of Gooty in 1743.⁴⁶⁴⁸ The Anantapur gazetteer says that the Nizam allowed him to settle there about 1746, and that he made it his permanent home in 1754.⁹
The fall of Gooty. Wilks dates the surrender to early April 1776, after a siege of about three months.³⁹ Grant Duff, Henderson and Sewell’s lists also give 1776, Sewell “after a siege of nine months”.⁴⁹⁶⁵⁰ The Anantapur gazetteer dates it to 1775 in its history and in its account of Gooty, though it quotes Wilks’s narrative.³⁵¹ Under Madakasira the gazetteer says that the fort fell to Haidar again “in 1776”.¹⁵
A captured prince. Wilks heard “many narratives” that Tipu or Haidar had once fallen into Morari Rao’s hands and been released for two lakhs of pagodas.⁵² The tale was “pretty generally believed among the Mahrattas”, but he rejected it.⁵²

Mark Wilks, Historical Sketches of the South of India, Vol. I (1810), p. 218 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 381 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 22 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 278 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. I (Madras reprint, 1861), p. 364 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
J. R. Henderson, The Coins of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan (Madras Government Museum, 1921), introduction (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Mark Wilks, Historical Sketches of the South of India, Vol. II (1817), p. 167 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
James Grant Duff, A History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 2 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Anantapur (1905), p. 157 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 158, quoting Wilks (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. VIII (1892), Part I, p. 101, “Sandur” (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 226 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. I (1861), p. 44 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. I (1861), p. 363 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 183 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 172 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 199 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 145 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 192 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 441 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 146 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 166 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 332 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 411 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 73 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Henderson, Coins of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan (1921), p. 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 153 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 200 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 182 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 445 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 446 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 466 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. VIII (1892), p. 444, treaty with Haidar Ali, 1769, Article 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 131 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 138 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 151 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 168 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 169 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 170 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 171 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 23 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 242 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (4th ed., 1909), p. 205, articles with the Rani of Mysore, 1782 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 206 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. I (1861), p. 51 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 22 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. I (1810), p. 349 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 93, note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 335 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Robert Sewell, Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I (1882), p. 115 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 160 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 146 note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

Vijayanagara & the Qutb Shahis 1336–1687 CE

Mughals, Asaf Jahis & the British 1687–1948 CE

Reform, freedom & people's movements 1850–1956 CE

Adil Shahis of Bijapur

Rulers (9)

Capitals

Monuments

Mughal Empire

Rulers

Inscriptions

Qutb Shahis of Golconda

Rulers (8)

Capitals

Monuments (13)

Inscriptions (7)

Asaf Jahi Nizams of Hyderabad

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Nawabs of the Carnatic (Arcot)

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French East India Company

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East India Company

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Nawabs of Kurnool

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Marathas

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Morari Rao Ghorpade of Gooty

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Banganapalle State

Rulers (10)

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Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan

Rulers

Family tree

Where the sources disagree

Was Morari Rao the son of Siddoji, or the adopted heir of an older Morari Rao?

The sources

Origins and the seat at Gooty

Territory

The poligars

Army

Coins and buildings

Haidar Ali and the Marathas, 1762–1772

The end, 1776

Where the sources disagree

Footnotes

Photos

Related

People

Morari Rao Ghorpade

References