Machilipatnam

French East India Company

1750–1759 CE

The French Compagnie des Indes in the Telugu country. It traded at Masulipatam (Machilipatnam) from 1669 and at Yanam from before 1750. Dupleix and Bussy helped the Nizams Muzaffar Jang and Salabat Jang to the throne. In return the Company received Masulipatam and its country (1750), the Kondavid country (1751–52) and the four Northern Circars of Mustafanagar (Kondapalli), Ellore, Rajahmundry and Chicacole (1753), to pay for Bussy's army in the Deccan. Bussy governed the Circars through the Raja of Vizianagaram and the zamindars. In 1757 he destroyed Bobbili and took the English factories. Colonel Forde's victory at Condore (Chandurti) in December 1758 and his storm of Masulipatam in April 1759 ended French rule on the coast. By the treaty of May 1759 Salabat Jang shut the French out of the Deccan. Yanam, taken and given back several times, stayed French until 1954.

East India Company

1759–1858 CE

The English East India Company in the Telugu country, from its first landing on the coast in 1611 to the Crown's take-over in 1858. For a century and a half it traded through factories at Masulipatam, Nizampatnam, Madapollam, Viravasaram, Vizagapatam, Injaram and Bendamurlanka, under farmans of the Golconda kings and the Mughals. Its fort at Madras stood on land granted in 1639 through the Nayaka Damarla Venkatadri. After Forde drove out the French it received the Masulipatam country (1759), the five Northern Circars by the emperor's grant of 1765 and the treaties with the Nizam of 1766 and 1768, Guntur (1788), the Ceded Districts of Rayalaseema (1800) and Nellore with the Carnatic (1801). It governed through Chiefs and Councils, then Collectors. It settled the coastal zamindars permanently in 1802–03, and the Rayalaseema cultivators under Thomas Munro's ryotwari system. It broke the power of the Vizianagaram raja at Padmanabham (1794) and of the poligars. After the Guntur famine of 1832–33 it built the Godavari and Krishna anicuts.

Muhammad Shah III

1463–1482 CE

Bahmani sultan (1463–1482) who came to the throne as a boy. He brought Rajahmundry, Kondapalli and the Krishna–Godavari coast under Bahmani rule, and spent three years settling Telangana. In 1481 he had his great minister Mahmud Gawan executed because of a forged letter, a deed the sources blame for the break-up of the kingdom.

Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah

1593–1626 CE

Sixth Qutb Shahi sultan of Golconda (1611/12–1626), nephew and son-in-law of Muhammad Quli. He was a scholarly and peaceful king. He founded the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, began a new town called Sultannagar, sheltered the rebel Mughal prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) and had the first history of his dynasty written. His queen, Hayat Bakhsh Begum, was the mother of Abdullah Qutb Shah.

Abdullah Qutb Shah

1614–1672 CE

Seventh Qutb Shahi sultan of Golconda (1626–1672). He was crowned as a boy and left the government to his mother Hayat Bakhsh Begum and his ministers. In 1636 he accepted the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as his overlord. His minister Mir Jumla conquered the Karnatak and its diamond mines. In 1656 Mir Jumla's quarrel with him brought Aurangzeb to besiege Golconda. An inscription in Persian and Telugu records the siege. He died without a son in 1672.

Aurangzeb (Alamgir)

1658–1707 CE

Sixth Mughal emperor (1658–1707). As his father's viceroy of the Deccan, he made Golconda pay its unpaid tribute. With Mir Jumla's help he besieged Abdullah Qutb Shah in Golconda in 1656, and won the handover of Ramgir and the Karnatak. As emperor he took Golconda in 1687 after an eight months' siege. He made the kingdom the Mughal province (subah) of Haidarabad and stayed near the fort until January 1688 to settle it. This page covers only his part in the history of the Telugu country.

Abul Hasan Tana Shah

c. 1672–1699 CE

Abul Hasan, called Tana Shah, was the last Qutb Shahi sultan of Golconda (1672–1687). He was a kinsman and son-in-law of Abdullah Qutb Shah. He left the government to the Brahmin brothers Madanna and Akkanna, who allied the kingdom with the Marathas. Aurangzeb made this a charge against him and took Hyderabad in 1685. In 1687 Aurangzeb besieged Golconda for eight months, until a gate was opened by treachery. Abul Hasan died a state prisoner at Daulatabad.

Joseph François Dupleix

1697–1764 CE

Governor of Pondicherry and of the French settlements in India from 1742 to 1754. By backing Muzaffar Jang and then Salabat Jang in the war for the Nizam's throne, he won for the French Company the grant of Masulipatam (1750) and, through his officer Bussy, the Northern Circars (1753). Superseded by Godeheu in 1754, he died in poverty in France.

Kam Bakhsh

1707–1709 CE

Youngest son of Aurangzeb (1667–1709). When his father died in 1707 he was on his way to govern Bijapur. He proclaimed himself emperor, struck coins and made Hyderabad his seat, where he had the subahdar Rustam Dil Khan trampled to death. His brother Bahadur Shah marched south and defeated him near Hyderabad on 13 January 1709, and he died of his wounds that night.

Charles de Bussy

1718 CE

French general, born in 1718, who commanded the French troops at the court of the Nizams Muzaffar Jang and Salabat Jang from 1751 to 1758. He raised Salabat Jang to the throne and obtained from him the four Northern Circars for the French Company in 1753. He governed them through the Raja of Vizianagaram and the zamindars. In 1757 he destroyed the fort of Bobbili and took the English factories on the coast. Lally recalled him to the Carnatic in 1758, and he left the Circars to be lost to Colonel Forde.

Muzaffar Jang (Hidayat Muhi-ud-din Khan)

1750–1751 CE

Grandson of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I through a favourite daughter, and governor of Bijapur. He claimed the Deccan on his grandfather's death in 1748, with the help of Chanda Sahib and the French. His uncle Nasir Jang imprisoned him in 1750. He was proclaimed Subahdar when Nasir Jang was murdered in December 1750, and granted the French Masulipatam and other land. The Nawab of Kurnool killed him on the march back to the Deccan early in 1751.

Salabat Jang

1751–1761 CE

Third son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I, raised to the throne of the Deccan by the French commander Bussy in 1751. Under Bussy's protection he defeated the Marathas and his elder brother Ghazi-ud-din, and in 1753 assigned the Northern Circars to the French. After Colonel Forde drove the French from the coast, he ceded Masulipatam to the English (1759). His brother Nizam Ali took power as his minister, deposed him in 1761 or 1762 and had him killed in prison about 1763.

Mutnuri Krishna Rao

1879–1945 CE

Editor of the Krishna Patrika of Machilipatnam (1879–1945), a leading Telugu nationalist paper. He organised Bipin Chandra Pal's tour of the Telugu districts in 1907, helped build the National College at Machilipatnam, and was jailed in the salt satyagraha of 1930, the civil disobedience of 1932 and the individual satyagraha of 1940–41.

Cherukuvada Venkata Narasimham

1887–1964 CE

Congress speaker and writer from Ghantasala in Krishna district (1887–1964). He worked on the nationalist papers Desabhimani and Krishna Patrika, taught at the National College in Machilipatnam, and was jailed for a year each in the non-cooperation movement of 1921, the salt satyagraha of 1930 and the civil disobedience of 1932. He was known as Upanyasa Chakravarti.

Vemuri Ramji Rao

c. 1891–1963 CE

Social worker of Machilipatnam (about 1891–1963) who worked for Dalits and tribal people. He set up a high school and hostel for Dalit students at Machilipatnam. In 1930, when Gandhi was arrested, he gave up the title Rao Saheb and his nominated seat in the Madras Legislative Council in protest. He founded and edited the Telugu weekly Deenabandhu.

Gora (Goparaju Ramachandra Rao)

1902–1975 CE

Teacher, social reformer and atheist of Vijayawada (1902–1975), known as Gora. A science lecturer until 1940, he was jailed in 1943 for celebrating Independence Day and detained twice during the Quit India movement. He worked against untouchability, encouraged his children to marry across caste, edited the Telugu weekly Sangham and the English monthly The Atheist, and wrote Positive Atheism.

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.

Gadicherla Harisarvottama Rao

Nationalist journalist who, as a teacher trainee at Rajahmundry, was expelled and barred from government service in 1907 for his part in the Vande Mataram movement. He was jailed in 1908 for an article in his weekly Swaraj, and later led the Home Rule League in Andhra. Regani counts him among the first political prisoners of the movement in Andhra.

Kala Venkata Rao

Congress organiser from Amalapuram in the Godavari district. He left his B.Sc. studies at Machilipatnam in the non-cooperation movement of 1920–21 and was jailed then. He was among the leaders banned from public work in 1932, was sentenced in the satyagraha of 1940–41, and on 29 July 1942 drafted the Andhra Congress instructions known as the Kurnool circular.

Mir Jumla (Mir Muhammad Said Ardastani)

before 1663 CE

A Persian merchant who became chief minister and army commander of Abdullah Qutb Shah of Golconda. He is known by the title of his office, Mir Jumla. He conquered the Karnatak south of the Krishna, including Gandikota and the diamond country of Cuddapah, and he leased the diamond mines. His quarrel with the king in 1655–56 brought the Mughal prince Aurangzeb to besiege Golconda. He then joined Mughal service as Mu'azzam Khan and died in 1663 after an expedition to Assam.

Mubariz Khan (Khwaja Muhammad, Imad-ul-Mulk)

before 1724 CE

Last Mughal governor of Haidarabad (Hyderabad), which he ruled for nearly twelve years from about 1713. He came from Balkh and had governed Gujarat and Malwa. He fought the Marathas instead of paying them the chauth (a quarter of the revenue). He began the city wall of Hyderabad and held lands on the coast as far as Srikakulam (Chicacole). In 1724 the court at Delhi made him viceroy of the Deccan against Nizam-ul-Mulk. He was defeated and killed with two of his sons at Shakar Kheda in Berar on 11 October 1724 (Irvine's date).

Pattabhi Sitaramayya

Congress leader of Machilipatnam and historian of the Indian National Congress. He worked for the National College and khadi in the Krishna district, planned the salt satyagraha in the Telugu districts in 1930, and was arrested during the boycott of the Simon Commission and again in 1930, 1932 and 1942. In 1939 he lost the election for Congress president to Subhas Chandra Bose.

Rustam Dil Khan

before 1708 CE

Mughal subahdar (governor) of Haidarabad (Hyderabad) under Aurangzeb, and son of the earlier subahdar Jan Sipar Khan. He built the Kali Masjid outside the Yaqutpura gate in AH 1114 (1702). After Aurangzeb's death he submitted to the rebel prince Kam Bakhsh. The prince suspected him of a plot and had him trampled to death by an elephant in 1708.

Tirupati Venkata Kavulu

Pair of Telugu poets, Tirupati Sastri and Venkata Sastri, who wrote together in the early 20th century. They were famous for satavadhanam, composing verse on a hundred subjects at once before an audience, and for plays on the Mahabharata such as Pandavavijayamu. Writers of the old school, they translated the Devi Bhagavatam and Arnold's Light of Asia, and trained many later poets.

Dutch tombs, Machilipatnam

1624–1743 CE

Carved granite gravestones of officers and families of the Dutch East India Company at Machilipatnam (Masulipatam), the oldest European monuments of the Telugu coast. The earliest is the tomb of Jacob Dedel, chief of the Company on the Coromandel coast, who died in 1624. A walled burial ground behind the Collector's office, at the place still called Valandupalem, holds slabs dated from 1662 to 1743, with coats of arms and verse epitaphs in Dutch.

Masulipatam plates of Amma II

c. 945–970 CE

An undated Sanskrit copper-plate charter of the Eastern Chalukya king Amma II (crowned 945), found in the record room of the Kistna District Court at Masulipatam. It gives the village of Pedda-Galidiparru in Velanadu to two Jaina temples that two feudatory brothers had built at Vijayavatika (Vijayawada). B. V. Krishna Rao edited it in 1938. It names a Jaina family of chiefs and their teacher, and its editor used it to argue against parts of J. F. Fleet's chronology of the dynasty.