Carnatic Sultanate

The old province, known as the Carnatic, in which Madras (Chennai) was situated, extended from the Krishna river to the Kaveri river, and was bounded on the West by Mysore kingdom and Dindigul, (which formed part of the Sultanate of Mysore). The Northern portion was known as the 'Mughal Carnatic', the Southern the 'Maratha Carnatic' with the Maratha fortresses of Gingee and Ranjankudi. Carnatic thus was the name commonly given to the region of Southern India that stretches from the East Godavari of Andhra Pradesh in the north to the Maratha fort of Ranjangudi in the south (including the Kaveri River delta), and Coromandal Coast in the east to Western Ghats in the west.

With the decline of Vijayanagara Empire in 1646, the Hindu nayaks, established in Madurai, Tanjore and Kanchi, made themselves independent. However, they quickly became tributaries to the kings of Golconda and Bijapur, who divided the Carnatic between them. Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1692 appointed Zulfiqar Khan as the first subahdar of the Carnatic with his seat at Arcot as a reward for his victory over the Marathas led by Rajaram I.[3]

With the decline of the Mughal empire, the Carnatic subah became independent as the Carnatic Sultanate, which controlled a vast territory south of the Krishna river. The Nawab Saadatullah Khan I moved his court from Gingee to Arcot. His successor Dost Ali conquered and annexed Madurai in 1736.

In 1740, the Maratha forces descended on Arcot. They attacked the Nawab, Dost Ali Khan, in the pass of Damalcherry. In the war that followed, Dost Ali, one of his sons Hasan Ali, and a number of prominent persons lost their lives. This initial success at once enhanced Maratha prestige in the south. From Damalcherry, the Marathas proceeded to Arcot, which surrendered to them without much resistance. Chanda Sahib and his son were arrested and sent to Nagpur. The Nawabs of the Carnatic were Rowthers.[4]

Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah became the ruler in 1765.

The growing influences of the English and the French and their colonial wars had a huge impact on the Carnatic. Wallajah supported the English against the French and Hyder Ali, placing him heavily in debt. As a result, he had to surrender much of his territory to the East India Company. Paul Benfield, an English businessman, made major loans to the Nawab for the purpose of enabling him, who, with the aid of the English, had invaded and conquered the Maratha state of Tanjore, to satisfy some claims of the Dutch at Tranquebar on territories of the Rajah of Tanjore.[5]

The thirteenth Nawab, Ghulam Muhammad Ghouse Khan, died, and the British annexed the Carnatic Nawabdom, applying the doctrine of lapse. Ghouse Khan's uncle Azim Jah was created the first Prince of Arcot (Amir-e-Arcot) in 1867 by Queen Victoria, and was given a tax free-pension in perpetuity.

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  In the year 1702, Nawab Daud Khan, the Mughal Empire's local Subedar of the Carnatic, besieged and blockaded Fort St. George for more than three months,[9] the governor of the fort, Thomas Pitt, was instructed by the British East India Company to vie for peace
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  Death of the Nawab Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan in a battle against the French in 1749, by Paul Philipoteaux
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  The Siege of Arcot was a major battle fought between Robert Clive and the combined forces of the Mughal Empire's Nawab of the Carnatic, Chanda Sahib, assisted by a small number of troops from the French East India Company
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  Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah, (1717–1795)
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  Umdat ul-Umara the Nawab of the Carnatic was a covert ally of Tipu Sultan
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  Azim Jah, eleventh and penultimate Nawab of the Carnatic, 1867 to 1874.
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  Azim-ud-Daula, Nawab of the Carnatic and his son Azam Jah.

• Carnatic Wars
• Amir Mahal
• Nawab of Masulipatam
• Nawab of Banganapalle
• Nawab of Savanur
• History of Tamil Nadu
• Nizams of Hyderabad

• Indian Princely States on www.uq.net.au
• The House of Arcot

24.18°N 88.27°E / 24.18; 88.27