Damarla Chennapa Nayaka

Damarla Chennapa Nayaka, also known as Damal Chennappa Nayudu was a 16th-century Nayaka chieftain and military commander (Dalavoy) who ruled the territories of Kalahasti and Vandavasi under the suzerainty of Vijayanagar emperor Venkatapati Raya (). The Kalahasti Nayaks had their origins in the Velama clans of Andhra Pradesh.

The city of Chennai (originally called "Chennapatnam") was founded by his son Damarla Ayyappa Nayaka, and named after him. It was established in order to separate the warring Europeans within the region, the Dutch based at Pulicat and the Portuguese based at Mylapore. To facilitate trade and regional stability, the Nayaka brothers leased a strip of land to the British East India Company, who subsequently set up Fort St. George. Over time, the settlement around the fort and the adjacent town of Chennapatnam merged to form the modern day city.

Early Life and Background

Damarla Chennapa Nayaka was born into the Damarla clan, a prominent Velama clan hailing from present day Andhra Pradesh. He was the son of Damarla Venkatapathi Naidu, a chieftain who already held influence in the region around present day Hosur (then part of the Vijayanagara administrative division).

Chennapa Nayaka further consolidated his family’s power through a strategic marriage to Akkamamba, the daughter of Velugoti Kasturi Ranga, the ruler of Venkatagiri, and younger sister of the powerful general Velugoti Yachama Nayaka. Damarla family initially served as governors for the Vijayanagara Empire. However, following the empire’s decline after the Battle of Talikota (1565), they began to exercise greater autonomy, effectively becoming independent rulers.

Chennapa Nayaka is said to have died in 1580.

Legacy

Chennapa Nayaka's most significant legacy is posthumous. After his death, his son, Damarla Ayyappa Nayaka, and his brother, Venkatadri Nayaka, managed his territories. In 1639, seeking to mediate between warring European powers, the Portuguese in Mylapore and the Dutch in Pulicat, Ayyappa Nayaka granted land to the British East India Company to build a trading post.

This new settlement was named Chennapatnam () in honor of his father. It later merged with the British Fort St. George to form the modern city of Chennai.

Notes

References

Further reading

• Rao, Velcheru Narayana, and David Shulman, Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Symbols of substance : court and state in Nayaka period Tamilnadu (Delhi; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1998); xix, 349 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps; 22 cm.; Oxford India paperbacks; Includes bibliographical references and index; .
• Sathianathaier, R. History of the Nayaks of Madura [microform] by R. Sathyanatha Aiyar; edited for the University, with introduction and notes by S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar ([Madras] : Oxford University Press, 1924); see also ([London] : H. Milford, Oxford university press, 1924); xvi, 403 p.; 21 cm.; SAMP early 20th-century Indian books project item 10819.
• K.A. Nilakanta Sastry, History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar, 1955, OUP, (Reprinted 2002) .

.History of madraspattanam as detailed by famous archeologist Edgar THURSTON, c.i.e., Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondent Etranger, Soci£t6 d'Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa Romana di Anthropologia