Battle of Toppur

VictorLoyalists of the Aravidu house of Vijayanagara, with ThanjavurYachama Nayaka of Velugoti; Raghunatha Nayaka of Thanjavur

1616vs

SideJagga Raya’s faction, with Madurai and GingeeGobburi Jagga Raya; Muttu Virappa Nayaka of Madurai

When Venkatapati Raya died in 1614, his wife’s brother Jagga Raya murdered the heir’s family and set up his own nephew. At Toppur the loyal nayakas destroyed him, the largest battle in the south between Talikota and the Mughal age.

Date: Late 1616 CEWhere: Toppur, by the Kaveri, Tamil NaduType: Battle

Result

Jagga Raya was killed and his army scattered; Rama Deva Raya was crowned emperor early in 1617.

01Murder at Vellore

Venkatapati Raya II, who ruled the Vijayanagara empire from Chandragiri and Vellore, died in 1614 and named his nephew Sriranga as heir. Gobburi Jagga Raya, brother of one of the queens, claimed the throne for a boy he said was the late king’s son. He seized Sriranga and soon had him killed in prison with most of his family. One child, Rama Deva, was smuggled out of the palace. Yachama Nayaka of the Velugoti family, lord of Kalahasti, took up the boy’s cause. Jagga Raya won over Madurai and Gingee; Raghunatha Nayaka of Thanjavur stood with Yachama.

02The battle by the Kaveri

The two armies met at Toppur late in 1616. Jagga Raya had the larger host, with Madurai’s levies and Portuguese gunners from the coast among them. Yachama’s men broke the centre, and Jagga Raya himself was killed on the field; his nephew’s party collapsed and Muttu Virappa of Madurai fled. Thanjavur’s court poets, in the Raghunathabhyudayamu and the Sahitya Ratnakara, celebrate the day as Raghunatha’s victory, while Telugu accounts of the Velugoti house give it to Yachama. Rama Deva Raya was crowned early in 1617.

Why it matters

Toppur saved the Aravidu line for another generation, but the civil war drained the last of the empire’s strength and left the Nayakas of Madurai, Thanjavur and Gingee masters in all but name.