Dodda Krishnaraja I - Demands of Neighbors

Demands of Neighbors

Just before Dodda Krishnaraja's accession, a change had come in the governance of the Mughal Province of Sira (Carnatic Bijapur) to the north and northeast of Mysore. In 1713, Carnatic-Bijapur was split into a payanghat jurisdiction with capital at Arcot and governed by a newly styled Nawab of Arcot, and a balaghat jurisdiction, governed by a newly-styled Nawab of Sira. That same year, the governor of Carnatic-Bijapur, Sadat-ulla Khan, was made the new Nawab of Arcot, and Amin Khan was appointed Nawab of Sira; Mysore, however, remained a formal tributary state of Sira. This division, and the resulting loss of revenue from the rich maidān region of Mysore, made Sadat-ulla Khan unhappy and, in collusion with the rulers of Kadapa, Kurnool, and Savanur and the Maratha Raja of Gutti, he decided to march against Dodda Krishnaraja. However, the Nawab of Sira, anxious to preempt the coalition's action, hit upon a plan himself of reaching the Mysore capital, Seringapatam. In the end, both Nawabs—of Arcot and Sira—settled upon a joint invasion led by the former. Dodda Krishnaraja, for his part, was able to "buy off this formidable confederacy" by offering a tribute of Rs. 1 crore (10 million). This outcome, however, made Mysore vulnerable to similar future claims, which, for example, were made successfully two years later by Maratha raiders who appeared in the Mysore capital. The resulting depletion of the Mysore treasury, led Mysore to itself attack and absorb the poligar chiefdom of Magadi to its north.