Gingee Fort or
Senji Fort (also known as Chenji, Jinji or Senchi) in
Tamil Nadu,
India is one of the surviving forts in
Tamil Nadu, India. It lies in
Villupuram District,
160 kilometres (99 mi) from the state capital,
Chennai, and is close to the
Union Territory of
Puducherry. The fort is so fortified, that
Shivaji, the Maratha king, ranked it as the "most impregnable
fortress in India" and it was called the "
Troy of the East" by the
British. The nearest town with a railway station is
Tindivanam and the nearest airport is Chennai (
Madras), located 150 kilometres (93 mi) away.
As per
Tamil legend, the tragic tale of Raja Tej Singh, popularly known in
Tamil as
Thesingu Raasan,
is associated with the fort. The true life story of Tej Singh and his
general, Mehboob Khan (aka Maavuthukaran), who were friends, has
inspired many poems, street plays, and countless other stories. He was
the son of Swarup Singh and revolted against the
Nawab of Arcot,
and was defeated and killed in the war that followed. Though Gingee
became a part of the Nawab's territory in 1714, the young and courageous
Tej Singh became a legend and his life, love and brave but tragic end
were eulogised in various
ballads.
The
BijapurNawabs
who held the fort from about 1660 to 1677 AD called it Badshabad, while
the Marathas who succeeded them called it Chandry or Chindy. The
Mughals,
on their capture of the fort in 1698 A.D., named it Nusratgadh in
honour of Nawab Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat-Jang, the commander-in-chief of the
besieging army. Later, the English and the French called it Gingee or
Jinji. The early Madras records of the English give the spelling Chingee
or Chengey
History
The main source for the first two hundred years of the history of the
place is the "Complete History of the Carnatic Kings" among the
Mackenzie manuscripts. According to historian Narayan, a small village
called Melacerri, located 3 mi (4.8 km) away from Gingee is called "Old
Gingee" has traces of fortifications from about 1200 AD.
Ananda Kon of the shepherd community (Konar-Yadav), accidentally found a
treasure in one of the cavities of the Western hill while grazing his
sheep. Making himself the head of a small band of warriors, he defeated
the petty rulers of the neighbouring villages and built a small fortress
on Kamalagiri, which he renamed Anandagiri after himself. The Konar
dynasty ruled Gingee from 1190 to 1330 AD, and was succeeded by the
chief of a neighbouring place called Kobilingan, who belonged to the
Kurumba caste and ascended the throne of Gingee. He was a feudatory of
the powerful Cholas. Gingee came into the hands of various ruling
dynasties of
South India, starting from the
Cholas.
Originally the site of a small fort built by the
Chola dynasty during the 9th century AD, Gingee Fort was modified by
Kurumbar while fighting the Cholas and again by the
Vijayanagar empire during the 13th century. As per one account, the fort was built duirng the 15-16th century by the
Nayaks, the lietunants of the
Vijayanagara Empire and who later became independent kings.
The fort was built at a strategic place to fend off any invading armies. It was further strengthened by the
Marathas under the leadership of
Shivaji in 1677 AD. He recaptured it from the
Bijapur sultans who had originally taken control of the fort from the Marathas. During
Aurangzeb's campaign in the
Deccan,
Shivaji's second son who had assumed the throne, Chhatrapati Rajaram,
escaped to Ginjee and continued the fight with Moghuls from Ginjee. The
fort was the seat of the Maratha Empire for a few months.
The Moghuls could not capture the fort for seven years in spite of
laying siege. The fort was finally captured in 1698, but not before
Chhatrapati Rajaram escaped. It was later passed on to the
Carnatic Nawabs who lost it to the
French in 1750 before the
British finally took control in 1761 despite losing it to
Hyder Ali for a brief period. Raja Desinghu ruled Chenji during the 18th century
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