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
