Chapter two
For roughly two centuries Kodagu was a kingdom in its own right, ruled by a line of Lingayat rajas usually said to have come from Ikkeri and taken their name from the village of Haleri.
Origins
The dynasty's foundation is conventionally placed in the sixteenth or early seventeenth century, but the sources disagree, and the earliest reigns are known mainly through later compilations.
The rajas are generally described as a branch of the Keladi–Ikkeri house who established themselves at Haleri and gradually brought the nads — the country's territorial divisions — under a single authority. Rule was never absolute: the okkas and their headmen retained considerable local standing, and the kingdom governed through them rather than over them.
Under Mudduraja the seat moved to a new settlement that became Madikeri, fortified and refortified over the following century. Later rulers extended control toward the lowland frontiers, which is where friction with Mysore began.
Madikeri, the Haleri capital, and its much-rebuilt fort.
Commissioned illustration for this project.
Illustrative image, not a historical photograph.
Caution
Rulers
reigned mid-17th century
UncertainHaleri raja, founder of the capital at Madikeri
Credited with establishing the settlement and fort that became Madikeri (Muddurajakeri). Regnal dates for the earlier Haleri rulers differ between the colonial gazetteers and later compilations, so the years attached to him should be read as approximate.
reigned c. 1789–1809
DocumentedHaleri raja who allied with the English East India Company
Escaped Mysore captivity, recovered the kingdom during the wars against Tipu Sultan, and entered into a treaty relationship with the Company in 1790. He built the forest palace at Nalknad and left the state independent but encircled.
Sources & Further Reading
Full bibliographyreigned 1820–1834
DocumentedLast raja of Coorg
Deposed after the Coorg War of 1834 and exiled; the Company's justification rested heavily on accounts of his cruelty written by the officials who removed him, which later historians read with caution.
Chronology
c. 1600 (disputed; c. 1600–1633)
DisputedA prince of the Keladi–Ikkeri Nayaka house settles at Haleri and establishes what becomes the Kingdom of Coorg.
The founder is conventionally named Vira Raja. The founding date is genuinely unsettled: sources offer dates from around 1600 to 1633, and no single authoritative gazetteer reconciliation exists. Treat any precise year with caution.
1681
DocumentedThe Haleri ruler Mudduraja establishes a new capital, 'Muddurajana Keri', which becomes Mercara and today Madikeri.
1780 – 1809
DocumentedDodda Vira Rajendra escapes Mysore captivity, expels Mysore forces from Kodagu, and allies with the English East India Company against Tipu Sultan. He founds Virajpet.
The alliance was operational through the Third and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars of the 1790s. A single precise treaty date is not consistently given across accessible sources; the relationship developed through the decade.
1809 – 1834
DocumentedThe last quarter-century of the kingdom passes through a regency and two reigns, ending with Chikka Vira Rajendra.