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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Chandurti

Village seven miles north by east of Pithapuram in the Godavari country. The Godavari gazetteer identified it with the 'Condore' of Orme's history. Near it, on 9 December 1758, Colonel Forde's English and the Raja of Vizianagaram's troops routed the French army of the Marquis de Conflans. The victory opened the way to Rajahmundry and Masulipatam and ended French rule in the Northern Circars.

Chandurti is a small village in the old Pithapuram division of the Godavari district. According to the Godavari gazetteer (1907), it “has given its name, under the distorted form of Condore, to the decisive battle by which the sovereignty of the whole of the Northern Circars was wrested by the British from the French”.1 The gazetteer places the village “seven miles north by east of Pithdpuram”, with 1,087 people.2

The gazetteer follows Orme’s narrative.3 Orme calls the village “Condore” and puts it near the foot of the hills, about three miles from the village he calls “Chambole”.3 Francis’s Vizagapatam gazetteer puts the battle “near Condore, about 35 miles east-north-east of Rajahmundry”.4 See French East India Company.

The battle

In early December 1758 the French under the Marquis de Conflans were camped at Gollaprolu, on the main road north-east of Pithapuram.25 The English under Colonel Forde, with the Raja of Vizianagaram, were camped at Chebrolu, three miles north of it.25

Orme says that on the 9th, “at four in the morning, the English troops were in motion” for Condore.3 The gazetteer explains that Forde wished to draw the French “to ground where their cavalry would not be of much assistance to them”.5 Conflans crossed the plain to meet him, and the armies met about a mile beyond the village.356

The French centre came on at a slant.78 Forde’s European battalion, hidden behind a field of tall Indian corn, surprised it.78 The whole French army broke and fled to its camp and then towards Rajahmundry, and it lost thirty guns.78 See Francis Forde.

The gazetteer adds that “a very precise local tradition survives in the village to this day as to the locality in which it was fought”.2 Villagers ploughing their fields had found “old swords, bullets, cannon-balls, remains of pewter vessels, and elephants’ bones”.2 Tradition placed the field at a spot called Angleyulapadu, “the place of the English”.29 This spot lies a little east and north of a pool between Chandurti and Vannipudi.29 See Rajahmundry and Kakinada.

Where the sources disagree

  • The date. Orme and the gazetteer’s history chapter give 9 December 1758.310 But the gazetteer’s own account of the battle, in its entry on Chandurti, has the armies moving “on the early morning of the tenth”.5
  • The French camp. Orme puts it at Gollaprolu.3 The gazetteer notes that the writer Cambridge, who lived at the time, says “near Tallapool”, which it reads as Tatiparti.2 It adds that local tradition places the camp at the deserted village of Vodulapenta.2

Footnotes

  1. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  2. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 227, s.v. Chandurti (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  3. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (Madras reprint, 1861), p. 377 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (1907), p. 34 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 228 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 378 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 379 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 382 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 229 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 31 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

People

Francis Forde

before 1770 CE

Irish officer of the 39th Foot, sent by Clive from Bengal in 1758. He routed the French under Conflans at Condore (Chandurti) near Pithapuram on 9 December 1758 and stormed Masulipatam in April 1759, so winning the Northern Circars from the French for the East India Company. He had earlier led the English detachment in the failed attack on Nellore (1757). Appointed one of the Company's Supervisors in 1769, he was lost at sea when the frigate Aurora disappeared after leaving the Cape at the end of that year.

References

Sources (3)
  1. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 2, 31–32, 227–229. [Public domain]
  2. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (Madras reprint) (opens in a new tab), Pharoah and Co., Madras, 1861, pp. 377–383. [Public domain]
  3. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 34. [Public domain]

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