CllAF. XXV]. 



THE KAJAHS OF COORG. 



441 



ranges of mountains extending into the blue distance, and in 

 front rises up the mountain of Tadiandamol, the loftiest 

 peak in Coorg. We watched tlie crimson sunset over the 

 hills, and after dark a spontaneous ignition of the dry grass 

 wound like a serpent along the loftier ridges of the opposite 

 mountains, producing an indescribably beautiful effect in the 

 clear starry night. 



Coorg has been a portion of the British dominions since 

 1834, when the last Rajah was deposed. The old Rajahs were 

 not Coorgs, but Hindu Lingayets, a peculiar sect whose 

 members wear a small god round their necks, in a little 

 silver coffer.^ The family had certainly reigned in Coorg 

 since 1633 ; and Dodda Virappa, who died in 1734, fixed the 

 seat of government at Mercara, and was the greatest prince 

 of his family. He repulsed a simultaneous invasion of the 

 IMysore Rajah and the Nairs of Malabar, and afterwards 

 reigned in peace for eighteen years. Hyder Ali invaded and 

 overran the country several times, but in 1788 the young 

 Rajah Viraraja rallied the people round him, disputed every 

 inch of ground against Tippoo's invading army, and made an 

 alliance with the English in Malabar. On the fall of Tippoo 

 a treaty was signed between the East India Comjjany and 

 Viraraja of Coorg, who died in 1807, leaving the country to 

 his favourite daughter Devammaji. His brother Lingaraja, 

 however, usurped the throne. He was a monster of cruelty, 

 and, dying in 1820, was succeeded by his still more brutal 

 son Viraraja, who massacred all his father's friends, together 



3 The Lingayets are memljcrs of 

 tlie Vira Saivu sect, or worshippers 

 of Siva as the Linga, a representation 

 of vvhicli they carry ruiiiul their necks. 

 The sect is numerous in tlie central and 

 southeru parts of the peninsula. It is 

 of nioderu origin, having been founded 

 l>y a Brahmin of Kalyan in the middle 

 of the 12th century. Its members 

 deny the siiuctity of the Brahmins 



and the authority of the Vedas, recog- 

 nize various divinities, and virtually 

 abolish the distinction of castes and 

 the inferiority of women. They are 

 divided into Aradhyas, by birth Brah- 

 mins, and often well versed in Sanscrit 

 literature ; Jaiujamas, who have a 

 literature of their own, written in 

 Karnatii and Telugu ; and Bliaktas. — 

 Wilson's Indian Glossary, p. 311. 



