NAYAKS PALACE SHIMOGA

There is speculation with regard to the real architect or the real builder of the Mangalore tiled palace built on the banks of Tunga river. The location of the palace itself seems to have been a residential quarters during the Neolithic period with ideal supply of Tunga river water.


LEGENDARY
When Lord Hanuman was enroute to fetch Sanjivini for the fatally injured Laxman, he stopped over at the ashram in shimoga. During Mahabharat times Bhima had bath in the river Tunga and performed puja of the Shivlinga installed by the Pandavas. The place where Bhima took bath is known as Bhima Madu and the linga where he worshipped is known as Bheemeswar.






The Palace is built in a typical Mangalore tiled roof, to withstand the heavy down pour. The durbar hall is built with wooden pillars all round giving an elevation of almost twenty two feet from the ground level. There is a mezzanine floor to accommodate the king for durbar. The wooden staircase leads upto the mezzanine floor. The carved pillars and artificial roofs is made of teak and rosewood. The paintings on the wall seems to be missing, maybe preserved elsewhere.

According to library books available in Shimoga museum the original builder of the palace was Hiriya Venkatappa Nayak ( 1592 – 1619 ) who was responsible for the construction of the palace. He fought many a battles against the Palegars, who were rebellious after the fall of the great Vijaynagar Empire. It is recorded that one Hanumappa Nayak who was Palegar at Sante Bennur became ambitious to challenge the suzerainty was defeated in the Battle at Hole Honnur. His son had to surrender Shimoga, Lakkavali and Gajjanur territory to Venkatappa Nayak. In view of the strategic importance Venkatappa Nayak constructed the Fort and palace on the banks of Tunga at Shimoga. He also constructed Bhuvangiri palace ( currently Kaveledurga in Shimoga dist)




The Palace was much larger structure, currently only the darbar hall survives the ravages of the war against Bahmani kings. The original palace seems to have been destroyed by Adil Shah and the wealth was looted by his soldiers. Thereafter Shivappa Nayak ( 1645 – 1665 ) recaptured Shimoga palace and rebuilt some of the destroyed edifice. The palace was built with Indo-Islamic architecture with balcony.

Fugitive Rajaram, son of Shivaji was given asylum when chased by Aurangazebs army. Queen Chenammaji ( 1679 – 1697 ) protected Rajaram against the might Aurangzeb. Rajaram was surrounded by the Mughal army, he managed to slip past all his valuables through his trusted Jadhav to Gingee fort in T.N. Later under a guise of commoner Rajaram managed to escape from Shimoga. The exact dates are not known of Rajarams stay.
The British captured Shimoga fort and palace after defeating the local chieftain Dhondiyawagh from Chennagiri. The british occupied the fort in 1799 after defeating the remanents of resistance from Tipu’s feudatories. They were not impressed by the Fort and Palace, and decided to convert it as a Saw Mill. A plaque MPWD 1829 confirms the conversion of Palace into saw mill. The architectural beauty of the fort was lost with its conversion to a saw mill to store forest logs.



On first march 1983 the saw mill handed over the Palace to the archaelogical dept for renovation and maintainence of the heritage monument. The Kote police station was originally a horse stable. Originally the Fort and palace extended to more than 200 acres now it has come down to 10 acres, which has diluted the importance of the Palace.

The ASI has converted the Fort into a museum with all the artifacts being displayed around the palace premise. There are number of sculptures which have been recovered from Annavati forest, Basvapatna, Saluru, Kalkere, Choradi forest, Balligave, Somapura, Kannuru, Kolisalu forest, Baruru, Tavanandi fort, Gurupura, Islapura. Hopefully all these valuable sculptures recovered will be housed in a safe museum in future rather than openly displayed and prone to damage under extreme weather.

In conclusion the Nayaks palace has witnessed sedition, sexual encounters, sculptures and saw mill. It has been a mute witness to changing times for over a 400years.

LOCATION : Shimoga museum and palace is situated just after the bridge on the left turn, with just 1 km distance detour. The entry to the palace and museum is free with limited parking facility. Thanks to the museum authorities we were able to cull out information for benefit of travel buffs.