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| Battle of Padmanabham | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofExpansion of the East India Company | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Vizianagaram estate | East India Company | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Vijayram Raj II | Colonel Pendargast | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Severe loss of soldiers, including a Chinna Vijayaramaraju. | |||||||
TheBattle of Padmanabha took place inPadmanabham,Visakhapatnam district (modernAndhra Pradesh, India), on 10 July 1794. This was a battle between King ofVizianagaram led by Vijayram Raj II and East India Company Madras Presidency Forces led by Colonel Pendargast under the command of BritishGovernor of Madras,Sir Charles Oakly. The British emerged victoriously and the King was shot dead in the middle of battle.
As a consequence of the war, Vizianagaram was occupied by East India Company and became a tributary estate or Zamindari.
By 1768, the tribal areas such asParlakimidi,Ganjam, Mohiri, Gunsuru, and Pratapagiri were ruled by 20Zamindars. They have 34 forts and maintained approximately 35,000 armed troops. Many of these jamindars[check spelling] revolted against the English East India Company. Some of the castles were located in the hills of themanyam. Therefore, the defeated rebel Zamindars retreated into the Hill fortress
After the death of Ananda Gajapatiraju, Vijayaramaraju became Rajah of the Vizianagaram Zamindari. Still, he was a boy. So Sitaramaraju was appointed as divan,[clarification needed] the step brother. When Rajah came to age, he removed Sitaramaraju from Diwani.[clarification needed] Diwan was angered by this action, he formed an alliance with the English.
The British attempted to increase payment ofpeskas from Vijayanagara Zamindar and to reduce the strength of his army and ordered him to pay his dues of 8,50,000 peskas. Rajah argued that he had no dues, the British had captured Vijayanagara on 2 August 1793. British ordered that Vijayaramaraju must go to exileMasulipatnam with the pension of Rs 1200 per month. However, Vijayaramaraju refused these orders and he went to Padmanabham located between theBhimunipatnam and Vizianagaram with 1000 troops. The British troops defeated the Vizianagaram army and Chinavijayaramaraju died due to bullet injury in the battle. The battle only lasted one and a half hours and the British lost 13 soldiers.[1]
After the death of Vijayaramaraju, his son Narayanababu found shelter inMakkuva village. Thekonda doras andsardars supported him. In the end, he made a treaty with the British and agreed to pay 5 millionpeskas.
After that British occupied Vijayanagara Town. But they returned Zamindari to Narayanababu. They renewed thezamindars lands and deprived them of their unique venture of Rebellion. By 1802, Britishers implemented the permanent tax system for zamindaris.
A book on the battle written by Challapragada Satyanarayana Murthy and published by the Telugu Academy was released in 2003 byAshok Gajapathi Raju.[2]
