The Harati Family

The Harati family is also known as the Nidugal family. The founder of this family appears to have come from the neighbour­hood of Bijapur. According to tradition, he belonged to a Kshatriya family which had settled at Dodderi, Harati and Sarvad in the Bijapur region. His name was Tippanna Nayaka and he was the son of one Timmaraja. He later appears to have come to Kamalapura near Vijayanagara. A story is told to explain how he got the name Tippaima Nayaka. It says that when his mother was only seven years old, she conceived by the sun. Her father, to avert disgrace, exposed the child to which she gave birth, on a tippe or dung hill. The child was picked up by a cowherd named Kamna, who brought him up as his own. After a time, the Kamma removed to Kamalapura, where there was an enclosure for the exhibition of tiger-fights. Once when the king Krishnadeva Raya was present there, a tiger got loose and ran among the cattle. The boy immediately attacked the beast with his axe and killed it. The king made enquiry regarding such a daring youth and on hearing his story, took him away from Kamma and made him a Nayaka. At the same time, from tlie fact of his having been found on a tippe, he gave him the name Tippanna Nayaka. Another story has it tliat the later defeated a noted athletic champion, who had prevailed against all other opponents at the Vijayanagara court, for whose exploit he was granted by Krishnndeva Raya a tract of country in the east of the Chitradurga district, to be cleared of jungle and formed into an estate. Settling at Machisamudra, Gosikere and Challakere, he is said to have built two towns and named them Dodderi and Harati after the towns of his ancestors in the Bijapur country. His possessions extended from Chitradurga to Pavagada and from Molakalmuru to Sira. At the time of his death, which occurred sometime in the latter half of the 16th century, he divided his territory among his seven sons. There are two156 inscriptions in this district giving a connected account of this family.

On the invasion of the country by the Bijapur army, the descendants of these were driven from their respective possessions, and Timmanna Nayaka who was one of these and who had lost Dodderi, retired to the hill of Nidugal, which he fortified. The family remained thereafter at that place paying a tribute to Sira. When Sira was captured by Haidar Ali in 1761, the then Nidugal chief, also called Timmanna Nayaka, submitted to him and agreed to pay him tribute. Later, while accompanying Tipu Sultan in the expedition against Mangalore, Timmanna Nayaka fell ill and at the time of his death, was compelled to sign a letter relinquishing his territory and ordering his son Hottenna Nayaka to deliver it up to the governor of Chitradurga. Possession was at once taken and Hottenna Nayaka and his brother were sent as prisoners to Chitradurga and thence to Srirangapattana, where they were ultimately put to death when the British ariny ascended the ghats.

There are a number of inscriptions of this family in this district, found mainly in the Challakere and Hiriyur taluks.

Courtesy : Gazetteer of India, Chitradurga District, 1967.