Origin of Mandya

I got one interesting article on How the name "Mandya" came to Mandya city, all these days I was knowing only about Mandyavya Rushi, but check out the other interesting facts here

Origin Of Name




Mandya district is part of large plateau from Mysore to the edges of Easter Ghats. Therefore, there are not many legends describing the origin of the district as such, but there are quite a few legends describing the origin of the place.



Mandya seems to have been known as ‘Vedaranya’ and later, as ‘Vishnupura’ in Kritayuga. It is said that a rishi (sage) was doing a penance here and installed an image of God Janardana and was said to be teaching wild beast to pronounce the sacred word, VEDA. On this account, the place came to be known as ‘Vedaranya’.



Several years later, but during the same yuga, another rishi, who was residing here, setup an image of the God Sakaleshwara swami and Lord Vishnu, it is said, appeared to him. The place was thereafter renamed as ‘Vishnupura’. Another account says that towards the age of Dwapara yuga, king by name Indravarma, who had not issues, came to this place in the hope of getting a son. His prayers were granted, and his son Somavarma built a fort and an agrahara at this place and gave it the name Mandevemu, which, it is believed has been corrupted into Mandya. It is also said that in ancient days, a great and popular sage, called Mandavya, lived in the area doing tapas and the place came to be called Mandya after his name.




A more recent account is that the village was granted by Krishna devaraya of Vijayanagar in 1516 to Govinda Raja, twelfth in descent from Anantacharya, a disciple of the religious reformer, Ramanujacharya, and a distinguished devotee of Lord Venkatesha of Tirupati. The first Brahmin families, which settled down here, named the place Mandya after their native place near Tirupati.


HISTORICAL TIMES



Gangas:-


The Gangas ruled the central and southern parts of the old Mysore State, including the Mandya District and parts of the Cauvery basin. They ruled from about 2nd Century A.D to about the beginning of the 11th Century A.D. The region ruled over by the Ganga Kings was know as Gangavadi. The Ganga kings who ruled over Gangavadi, numbered about thirty three.



Cholas:-


In Rakkasaganga’s time, the Cholas under the command of Rajendra Chola, son of the reigning king Rajaraja chola, succeeded in capturing Talakad, the capital of the Gangas. This event seems to have taken place in 1004 A.D. Rakkasaganga continued to rule as feudatory of the Cholas upto 1024 A.D. The whole region, south of the river Cauvery from Coorg and east of a line from near Srirangapatna to Nandidurga, was overrun by the Cholas and annexed to their empire; the area was under their rule for about 100 years.

Hoysalas:-


Bittideva(afterwards called Vishnuvardhana) retook Talakad and drove the cholas out of Mysore. His general Ganagaraja, who was a descendent of the old Ganga kings, effected the capture of Talakad. Hoysalas ruled till about 1346, when Hoysala kingdom was annexed by the Vijayanagar rulers.


Vijayanagar Empire:-



Narasa, the founder of the third dynasty in Vijayanagar, captured Srirangapatna in about 1495. In around 1610 Raja Wodeyar succeeded in gaining possession of Srirangapatna from Tirumala-II.



Wodeyar dynasty:-


Raja Wodeyar (1578 – 1617) “speedily subduing Tirumala Raja seated himself on the jeweled throne in Srirangapatna and gaining the empire received obeisance from all kings.” Raja Wodeyar made Srirangapatna his capital and extended his possessions south of the present Mysore and Mandya districts and also captured several places towards the north from Jagadeva Raya of Channaptna.



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