Vyankojirajah Bhonsle (born 1632) or Ekojirajah I Bhonsle was the younger half-brother of
Shivaji
Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adil ...
and founder of
Maratha
The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as ...
rule in
Thanjavur
Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...
in modern day
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
. He was the progenitor of the junior branch of the
Bhonsle family which ruled Thanjavur until the formal annexation of the kingdom by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
in 1855.
Early career
Venkoji was the younger son of
Shahaji
Shahaji Bhonsale (Pronunciation: əɦad͡ʒiː c. 1594 – 1664) was a military leader of India in the 17th century, who served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Bijapur Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire at various points in his career. As a membe ...
, a military commander in service of the Sultan of
Bijapur through his younger wife Tukabai Mohite. He succeeded to the Karnataka portion of Shahaji's empire.
Conquest of Thanjavur
In 1673, the
Nayak of Madurai invaded the kingdom of Thanjavur under the rule of the
Thanjavur Nayaks
The Thanjavur Nayak kingdom or Thanjavur Nayak dynasty were the rulers of Thanjavur in the 15th and 17th centuries. The Nayaks of the Balija social group, were originally appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagara Emperor in the 15th ...
and drove away the ruler. He then proceeded to place his younger brother
Alagiri Nayak on the throne of Thanjavur. This was resented by Rayasam Venkanna, a high-ranking official in the court of Thanjavur who supported the cause of Chengamala Dasu, the deposed son of Vijayaraghava, the late Nayak of Thanjavur. He proceeded to the court of the
Ali Adil Shahi II of Bijapur along with the minor Chengamaldas and requested his help.
The Adil Shah sent Venkoji to invade Thanjavur and restore the throne to the old line of nayaks. A Sanskrit manuscript ''Bosalavamsavali'' narrates how Venkoji conquered Arni and proceeded to Thanjavur to liberate it from the shackles of the Nayak of Tiruchirapalli. The manuscript further narrates that While camping at Tirumalapadi near Tiruvadi, God appeared to him in a dream and asked him not to leave for home. However, Wilkes assigns different reasons for the usurpation of the Maratha. He is of the view that Venkoji was not pleased with the conduct of Chengamaldas who refused to pay the war expenses.
Assisted by Rayasam Venkanna who had switched sides once more, Venkoji conquered Ayyampettai and defeated Alagiri who had now also fallen out with his brother
Chokkanatha Nayak
Chokkanatha Nayak (1662—1682) succeeded his father Muttu Alkadri Nayak, as the ruler of the Madurai Nayak dynasty, when he was sixteen years old.
References
{{reflist
Madurai Nayak dynasty
Telugu people
Telugu monarchs ...
as well as Changamaldas and secured the throne for himself. On the death of the Sultan of Bijapur, he crowned himself as the independent king of Thanjavur.
Reign
Dates of Ekoji I's reign
The Marathi inscriptions of the Thanjavur temple dates the capture of Thanjavur to January 1676. The Madras Tamil manuscript assigns the dates 1675 and 1679 to the conquest and end of Ekoji I's reign respectively. Likewise, the Marathi inscriptions assigns Ekoji's death to 1684. However, Wilkes asserts that Ekoji was well alive in 1686-1687. The records of the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
mention a king called Ekoji as late as 1699-1700.
However, ''Dharmakuta'' a commentary on the
Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
suggests that Ekoji might have abdicated in the year 1684 in favor of his son
Shahuji
Chhatrapati Shahu Bhosale I (Pronunciation: aːɦuː CE) was the fifth Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire founded by his grandfather, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Born into the Bhonsle family, he was the son of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Mahar ...
. However, it is quite unclear as to how many years he lived after the event.
Clash with Shivaji
In 1676-1677
Shivaji
Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adil ...
made an expedition to the Carnatic to claim his portion of the jagir, also desiring to bring the whole of South India under Maratha rule. With this aim in mind, he made a treaty with
Golconda, took
Gingee
Gingee, also known as Senji or Jinji and originally called Singapuri, is a panchayat town in Viluppuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Gingee is located between three hills covering a perimeter of 3 km, and lies west of the Sa ...
and proceeded to Thanjavur after conquering all the lands north of the
Coleroon
The Kollidam (referred to as Coleroon in Colonial English) is a river in southeastern India. The Kollidam is the northern distributary of the Kaveri River as it flows through the river delta, delta of Thanjavur. It splits from the main branch o ...
river. But a
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
invasion
An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity aggressively enter territory (country subdivision), territory owned by another such entity, gen ...
forced him to turn back. He placed Vellore under the rule of a half-brother named Santoji. Ekoji I reacted by launching regular military campaigns into Santoji's territory with the intention of driving him away. However, in 1680, Bijapur succumbed to the invasions of Shivaji and handed over the administration of all lands to the north of the Coleroon river to Shivaji. Ekoji I was forced to become a vassal of Shivaji and pay him tribute. On the death of Shivaji, however, the tribute was stopped and Thanjavur retained its independent existence.
Alliance with Ramnad
The chiefs of
Ramnad
Ramanathapuram (), also known as Ramnad, is a town and a municipality in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Ramanathapuram district and the second largest town (by population) in ...
had been vassals of the Nayaks of
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
. However, the new ruler Kilavan desired to become independent. With this aim in mind, he concluded an alliance with Ekoji and rebelled against his overlord. The battle ended in the reign of Shahuji I with the defeat of Madurai and the liberation of Ramnad.
Literature
Sanskrit and Telugu literature flourished during this period. Venkoji himself is said to have composed a Telugu version of the Ramayana.
See also
*
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Sh ...
*
List of Maratha dynasties and states
This is a list of Maratha dynasties and Maratha princely states.
Historical Maratha dynasties with original clans spread globally
† - States annexed by the British East India Company
Maratha Princely States
The Marathas ruled much of ...
*
Thanjavur Maratha kingdom
The Thanjavur Maratha kingdom ruled by the Bhonsle dynasty was a principality of Tamil Nadu between the 17th and 19th centuries. Their native language was Marathi. Venkoji was the founder of the dynasty.
Maratha conquest of Thanjavur
Follo ...
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekoji 01
1629 births
Maharajas of Thanjavur
Year of death uncertain