Tadpatri

Tadpatri is a town on the south bank of the Penner, in the Anantapur district.¹ It grew under the Vijayanagara kings, and it is known for two richly carved temples of that time.¹²

The town lies on low ground.¹ Here the Penner runs “in a sandy bed about a mile wide”.¹ The Anantapur gazetteer of 1905 describes sand dunes west of the town, some sixty feet high, blown up by the south-west monsoon.¹ The Imperial Gazetteer calls Tadpatri “a considerable trading centre”, “noted for its silk and cotton cloths”.² It also calls it “a place of much sanctity” (holiness).² See Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.

Founders and temples

The gazetteer found no local records.¹ But a Mackenzie manuscript says that the first to improve the village was Ramalinga Nayudu.¹ He was the local governor under the Vijayanagara kings in the reign of Krishnadeva Raya.¹ He began the temple of Ramalinga, or Ramesvara, on the river bank, and dug channels from the Penner.¹

His son Timma Nayudu “obtained the place as a jaghir” (land grant).¹ Timma Nayudu dug more channels and began the temple of Chintala Tiruvenkatasvami.¹ The Imperial Gazetteer says that the sculptures of these two shrines “are some of the finest work extant” (still surviving) “of the Vijayanagar period”.² They are cut in “a close-grained green stone that lends itself to minute finish”, that is, to very fine detail.² See Krishnadeva Raya.

Muslim governors, Morari Rao and Haidar

After the battle of Talikota, governors appointed by the Muslim victors ruled the place.¹ Later, the manuscript says, Aurangzeb’s troops turned them out.¹ The troops did “much wilful damage” to the mantapam (pillared hall) of the Chintala temple.¹ They also built a fort on a sand dune near it.¹

Then “Morári Rao of Gooty took the village and appointed amildars” (revenue officers) “to govern it”.¹ His people repaired the mantapam.¹ “Morári Rao was eventually defeated by Haidar Ali and Tadpatri again changed hands”, the manuscript goes on.³ The gazetteer says that the rest of the manuscript is a list of raids by poligars, Marathas and Musalmans.³ The raids fell on what was “apparently a defenceless sort of place”.³

The poligar (local chief) of Anantapur was among the raiders.⁴ He paid off Morari Rao in 1757.⁴ After that he sent out plundering expeditions that ravaged Tadpatri and other places.⁴

Henderson’s catalogue of Mysore coins (1921) notes that Mughal-style gold pagodas (coins) were struck at Tadpatri, Adoni and Gandikota, “originally in the reign of Farrukh-Siyar”.⁵ Haidar later copied pagodas like these at Gooty.⁵ See Gooty.

1792 and after

By the treaty of Srirangapatna (then Seringapatam) of 1792, the Nizam received a share of Tipu Sultan’s lands.⁶ It included “In Gooty 4 Talooks”.⁶ The first of these is “Tarputry”, valued at 19,055 Kanthiraya pagodas.⁶

The Anantapur gazetteer identifies the Anantapur part of this cession as “the then taluks of Tadpatri and Tádimarri”.⁷ These taluks “fell to the share of the Nizam”.⁷ They passed with the other Ceded Districts to the Company in 1800.⁷

Munro’s budget for Fasli (revenue year) 1216 set aside 5,398 star pagodas to repair the Chintala temple’s mantapam.³ Part of its roof had been “blown off and other damages done to it by an explosion of gunpowder during the disturbances under the former government”.³ A flood of the Penner in 1851 swept away three-quarters of the town.²¹

Footnotes

1. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 199 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸

2. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 495 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

3. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 200 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Francis, Anantapur Gazetteer (1905), p. 146 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. J. R. Henderson, The Coins of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan (Madras Government Museum, 1921), p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

6. C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. IX (4th ed., 1909), p. 214, treaty of Seringapatam, districts ceded to the Nizam (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Anantapur (1905), p. 23 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³