Back to Gingee, the fort of love and valour

My post History: Gingee, a fort of love and valour published on July 29, 2009 with superb photos by KO Isaac, was quite popular. A few days back I received a comment on it which is reproduced below. It is interesting and self explanatory.

“Myself Harish Singh from Coimbatore (Tamilnadu). I belong to Desingji Raja's lineage. I am very glad to share that this lineage is still existing in South India. In Coimbatore, we are going to release a Tamil book (poetic version) on Desinghji Raja titled "Rajaputhira Maa Veeran Raja Desingh - Veer Varalaru", authored by Shri G. Sardar Singh from Jayamkondan (Tamilnadu). Pl visit www.bondil.org to know more about our lineage and also pl share :) Also pl contact me if you are from the same lineage :)
thank you :)
Harish Singh (rhharish@gmail.com)”

Next year would be the 300^th anniversary of the final battle of Gingee. But the memory of the valiant 22 year old Raja whose life ended on the battlefield on 3rd October 1714 still lives in the hearts of the people of the area. Such stories are immortal.

Some old photographs of the Fort from Wikipedia are given below:

Also see KO Isaac's beautiful photographs of Gingee in the original post.

History: Gingee, a fort of love and valour

 

How many countless men have lived and loved, fought and died at Gingee (Chenji, Jinji), possibly the oldest surviving fort in South India? It is located about 160kms from Chennai, in Villipuram District, near Pondicherry.

Shivaji had called Gingee the most impregnable fort in India. But it changed hands several times since the Cholas originally built it in 9c CE. The control passed on to Vijayanagar, Nayaks, Marathas, Bijapur, Moghuls, Carnatic Nawabs, Mysore, French and the British.

There were two Rajput kings as well at Gingee, under the suzerainty of the Nawab of Arcot - Raja Sawrup Singh and his son Raja De Singh. The former was appointed by Emperor Aurangazeb. The dispute over payment of arrears of revenue and the matter of succession after the death of Sawrup Singh led to a war.

The Nawab’s forces that marched to Gingee consisted of 8,000 horsemen and 10,000 soldiers. The 22 years old De Singh defended his land with a cavalry of 350 horses and 500 foot soldiers.

The valiant young ruler died (either killed in battle of committing suicideto escape capture) on 3rd October 1714 and that was the end of the war. Ballads are still sung in the area about the bravery of De Singh. The young Raja was cremated with full honours as ordered by the victorious Nawab of Arcot.

Mr. CK Gariyali IAS, who was the Collector of Villipuram in the 1980s writes, “Equally famous is his [De Singh’s] horse that has been buried in Gingee close to his master. The character of Raja De Singh is reminiscent of the stories of Maharana Pratap of Chittoor and his horse Chetak.”

Articles on Gingee by the former Collector can be accessed at Chennaionline.com Two specific sites are:

http://www.gingeefort.com/web/artical01.asp and

http://www.gingeefort.com/web/artical05.asp

We should be grateful to him for recording many details about Gingee.

Raja De Singh’s wife committed sati (the practice of a wife immolating herself on her husband’s funeral pyre). It is claimed that the Nawab of Arcot built a town and named it Ranipet to honor the lady. I have not been able to find out her name.

A European priest, Father Pinments, referred to Gingee as the "Troy of the East".

Reproduced below are some recent pictures (©KO Isaac) of Gingee by KO Isaac, President of the Photographic Society of Madras:

 

All photos ©KO Isaac. Click to enlarge.

 

Also see:

Manapad: Conversion of the Paravas