Madikeri (Kannada: ಮಡಿಕೇರಿ) is a hill station town in Karnataka state, India. Also known as Mercara, it is the headquarters of Kodagu district.
Madikeri was formerly known as Muddu raja keri.^[1] Muddurajakeri which means Mudduraja's town, was named after the prominent Haleri king, Mudduraja who ruled Kodagu from 1633-1687.

The history of Madikeri is related to the history of Kodagu. From the 2nd to 6th century AD, the northern part of Kodagu was ruled by Kadambas. The southern part of Kodagu was ruled by Gangas from 4th to 11th century. After defeating the Gangas in the 11th century, Cholas became the rulers of Kodagu. In the 12th century, Cholas lost Kodagu to the Hoysalas. Kodagu fell to the Vijayanagar kings in the 14th century. After their fall, the local chieftains (Palegars) started ruling their areas directly. These were defeated by the Haleri kings who ruled Kodagu from 1600-1834 A.D. Haleri kings made the place Haleri, near Madikeri as their capital. Mudduraja, the third king among the Haleri kings started leveling the land around Madikeri and built a fort in the year 1681. Madikeri fort was original built by mud and was replaced by "The Sword of Mysore", Tipu Sultan. Kodagu became the part of British India after 1834 A.D.^[2]

"Mercara, panorama view, fourth part, continuation of the bazaar, kings graves on the upper right."

"Mercara, upper left the house of the English officer, bottom right a Hindu temple."

"Mercara kings graves."

"Mercara, English school."

"Mercara. Fort, entrance."
"Mercara. Tombs of the Kings."
"Mercara. View with the Onkara Ishwara Temple."
"Court building in Mercara."
"Entrance to the fort in Mercara."

Publisher:

University of Southern California. Libraries


COORGBOOK by SANNUVANDA SAJAN SUBBAIAH is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.