Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/252

 ;

BELLAR V.

242

of Bellan-, before Anantapur District was formed. fd/uk of Bellary

and

the

lies

site

of the ancient

annals therefore date back to the

its

But

of the Deccan, in the 14th century.

first it

Within the Hospet

city

of Vijayanagar,

Muhammadan

is

invasion

not until 1640,

when

Maratha, received a formal grant from the Sultan of Bijapur of the forts of Bellary and Adoni, with the country adjacent, that the Sivaji, the

tract

may be said to have entered round Guti (Gooty) remained

corresponding to the present District

upon a separate

The

history.

District

subject to Golconda, but farther south (yet

still

within the old District of

and Harpanhalli became Sivaji died in 1680, and soon afterwards tributary to the Marathas. Aurangzeb advanced upon the Deccan with the Imperial army and His authority, however, was never formally estaboverran the District. lished and the revenues of Bellary were farmed out to the Palegars, who deducted what they chose for military and other expenses, and Bellary) the Palegars of Raidrug, Anantapur,



remitted the balance to the Imperial treasury.

Aurangzeb, and the

rise

After the death of

of the Nizam’s power, several of the Bellar)'

of Giiti (Gooty) and Sandur, asserted a semiMeanwhile Mysore had risen to strength and, on the death of the Nizam, Haidar Ali, the usurper of the Mysore throne, chiefs, notably those

independence.



accepting the invitation of Basalat Jang, the governor of Adoni, to assist him against the Marathas, overran the District of Bellary. The

Marathas soon took the field in force to regain the country and had lost; and Haidar Ali, defeated at Rattihalli, was compelled to abandon all his conquests except Raidrug, Chitaldrug, fortresses they

and Harpanhalli. The Mysore war broke out

in 1767, and Haidar Ali, to recruit his began to levy contributions from the surrounding Districts. Gooty, however, again resisted his demands, and at Bellary, then a dependency of Adoni, he fared no better. But soon afterwards (1774)

finances,

Palegar of Bellary, Basalat Jang, withheld payment from the Nizam, and M. Tally was sent with a force to reduce him to obedience. He appealed for help to Haidar, who defeated the Adoni troops, but A third attempt upon Gooty was succe.ssful kept Bellary for himself. and, making it his head-quarters, Haidar continued to hold his own Throughout for two years against both the Marathas and the Nizam. the

these campaigns the Palegars of Chitaldrug, Raidrug, Harpanhalli, and other divisions of the District, acted as the acknowledged tributaries

of Mysore.

Tipu,

On

Haidar’s death

who had succeeded

all

asserted their independence; but

his father, captured their fortresses

one

after

the other, put the chiefs of Raidrug and Harpanhalli to death as a

warning to the

rest,

and collected

strongholds of Gooty and Bellary. British

Government, Tipu was

in

all

their

arms and stores

in

the

But, arousing the hostility of the

1789 involved

in

war; and on the