THE BATTLE OF GANDIKOTA began with Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu firing a massive shot from his enormous cannon named Ramabanam, placed at the gate of his fort. It instantly decimated a considerable portion of Mir Jumla’s army below. In one shot, Mir Jumla had lost 3000 men. Apart from Ramabanam, Nayudu had just one more cannon. It was a 12-Pounder placed on a bastion, waiting to be fired.
Mir Jumla realised how badly he had miscalculated. If one cannonade could inflict this amount of damage… And so, he wasted no time in retreating to Goriganuru, about 20 Kms southeast of Gandikota. He camped there for several days, strategising and improvising. Then he returned and started a seige of the fort, trying to advance by making vigorous sallies, sorties and cannonades. It lasted several days but the outcome, again, was loss and hopelessness. Ultimately, Mir Jumla had isolated the central issue impeding his success. It was the unforgiving terrain of Gandikota. Plus, the manner in which Thimma Nayudu had fortified it compounded the ardour. Mir Jumla’s only hope was to try to get his cannons up the mountain.
Which is when he resorted to what almost all Muslim invaders had done under similar circumstances: treachery, double-dealing and breach of faith.
Accordingly, Mir Jumla sent a secret message to all the French gunners serving under Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu. This is how Tavernier describes the betrayal:
"…the Nawab, seeing at length that the place could not be taken unless guns were carried up to the heights, ordered all the Franks [French] who were in the King’s service as gunners to come to him, and promised each four months’ wages in addition to their ordinary pay if they could find some means of conveying guns up to the heights."
The temptation was too juicy to resist and Nayudu’s French gunners promptly showed the vulnerable spots along the Gandikota scarp where Mir Jumla’s cannons could be carried. Almost in no time, four cannons were mounted and began blasting away at the fort, bombarding it nonstop. Eventually, Nayudu’s favourite Ramabanam was shattered. The Gandikota Kaifiyat gives a rather graphic picture of the sudden assault. It records how the intensity of the incessant barrage and the sound of the explosion was so terrifying that pregnant women had abortions on the spot and scores of men in the vicinity died of pure shock.
When even this assault did not deter Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu, Mir Jumla opened negotiations. He sent a solemn communique to Nayudu: it was an exchange offer. Give me Gandikota and I’ll give you the prized fort of Gutti and all the dominions that it commands. The offer sounded good to Thimma Nayudu but he didn’t trust this Turushka. He set his own terms: hand me Gutti first, allow me to garrison it and only then will I give you Gandikota. Mir Jumla declined but gave a counter-offer: vacate Gandikota first. I give you my solemn word that I will hand over Gutti immediately. Thimma Nayudu then sought counsel with his ministers and advisors. They told him that this was an exceptional offer and that he should accept it. Getting a fort like Gutti was a phenomenal advantage. Thimma Nayudu dispatched his formal assent to Jumla.
In the first leg of his exit from Gandikota, he sent away most of the Vigrahas along with their ornaments to a place called Raju Cheruvu. It was physically impossible to clear the fort of all its belongings — jewelry, money, artifacts, and the huge collection of the Murtis of Devatas. All these were the wealth of generations. And so, he had them buried within the ramparts of the fort.
In the final leg, Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu frontally led the evacuation. He was followed by the women in his harem, soldiers and other members of his retinue. He camped in the town below and awaited Mir Jumla’s Parwana granting him the fort of Gutti.
On his part, Mir Jumla lost no time in occupying Gandikota. Thimma Nayudu sent him a reminder: send me the Parwana now!
Which is when Mir Jumla showed his true colours.
As a cunning and ruthless plunderer and an ethics-free fighter, he had deliberately misled Thimma Nayudu. He had absolutely no intention of giving Gutti to Nayudu. Having such a powerful Hindu chief controlling that important stronghold meant allowing him to acquire greater power. Nevertheless, Jumla wrote the Parwana. Instead of Gutti, Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu would now be given the fort of Hanuma Gutti, an insignificant fortress near Kamalapuram.
Cornered and rendered helpless, Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu was forced to accept this humiliating exchange. Profusely cursing Mir Jumla, he left for Hanuma Gutti and remained there for the rest of his life. His uneventful death ended the proud warrior dynasty of the Pemmasani Nayakas.
Mir Jumla had wrested the impregnable Gandikota fort not through valour but perfidy.
AS HAPPENS IN ALL SUCH CASES, the moment Mir Jumla and his troops barged into Gandikota, they launched a wanton rampage, also known as Islamic piety. They indiscriminately slaughtered hundreds of cows within the precincts of the Madhavaswami Temple, vandalised every single Murti, raped women, and demolished smaller temples and used their debris to construct the Jumma Masjid that we still witness in the fort. Next, Mir Jumla confiscated all the Agraharas and expelled the Brahmana families living there.
After this, Mir Jumla declared himself the Nawab of Gandikota and began to make additional constructions to the fort. He embarked on an ambitious project of building 24 bastions, newer and more imposing gates, Mahals, recreational parks and tanks. He also built a large fountain which still exists. Without water.
As part of this fort-strengthening exercise, Mir Jumla decided to erect two enormous cannons. The first was a 48-Pounder and the second, a 24-Pounder. He hired a French gunner and gunfounder named Claude Maille for the purpose.
Maille then began casting 20 pieces of cannon, ten for each Pounder. It required abundant quantities of metal. Tavernier, an eyewitness to this endeavour, writes how Maille was “supplied with copper for this purpose from all quarters.” And when even this fell short, Mir Jumla came up with an innovation. He ordered his men to collect Hindu Murtis made of metal. Almost every temple in the whole region falling under the jurisdiction of Gandikota was raided, their metallic Vigrahas carted off to the fort and heartlessly melted. All Murtis except six. Tavernier describes them: “three of which were seated on their heels, and the three others were about 10 feet high.” These were pulled out from the Madhavaswami Temple. But no matter how hard he tried, they simply refused to melt. Finally, in rage and frustration, Mir Jumla summoned the Archakas and in Tavernier’s words, he “accused them of having bewitched the idols.”
In the end, the six Vigrahas did not melt. And Maille failed at making even a single cannon. Admitting defeat, he resigned from Mir Jumla’s service and left Gandikota.
THE PERFIDIOUS CONQUEST OF GANDIKOTA was hailed by the Golconda Sultanate as the “crowning feat” of Mir Jumla. Sultan Qutub Shah honoured him with a gift of Nauroz-i-Khillat (royal robes and other gifts conferred on the occasion of the Persian New Year).
Mir Jumla departed from Gandikota in 1652-3. After returning to Golconda, he pleaded with the Sultan to grant him permission to go on the Hajj pilgrimage.
There is a footnote from the Hindu side to this tragic episode. Sri Ranga III, the last descendant of the Vijayanagara Aravidu dynasty was a contemporary of both Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu and Mir Jumla. On several occasions, he had made some smart alliances with various Nayakas in Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Karnataka and had scored impressive victories against various Muslim powers. However, it is a mystery why he didn’t think it was worthwhile to wrest Gandikota back into Hindu control after Mir Jumla exited.
THE BATTLE OF GANDIKOTA — although of an epic character — is but a page in the annals of countless such tragic battles underscored by similar themes. Of Muslim treachery and blind, naive Hindu trustworthiness and myopia. In a limited sense, this episode is comparable to the renegade manner in which Hyder Ali captured Chitradurga from Madakari Nayaka by engineering mass defections of Muslim soldiers in his army.
And here, we’re stupefied at the sheer naievete of Pemmasani Thimma Nayudu who actually trusted Mir Jumla’s word. This is all the more stunning because when Jumla offered the Gutti fort, it was not even in his control. Jumla captured Gutti after wresting Gandikota.
THE GANDIKOTA KAIFIYAT narrates the ultimate fate that befell the Gandikota fort.
Subsequently, the English Company established their rule over Cuddapah in1722. Their English Sardars stayed at Ghandikota fort for six months and this number was slowly reduced to1000, 100, and finally to 20 Police constables. On account of the disbanding of the garrison on the fort, the merchants had no business to transact and they therefore left the place. The place is now in ruins and is included in the Jammalamadugu taluq in the administration records.
It is truly a miracle how the Madhavaswami and Raghunatha Temples are still standing. Any other place that had undergone such sustained battering would’ve vanished from the face of the earth.
Series concluded
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