Kathama Nachiar (died 1877) was the

Rani ''Rani'' in Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, sometimes spelled ''Ranee'', is a Hindu/Sanskrit feminine given name. The term is the female form of the term for princely rulers in South and Southeast Asia and applies equally to the wife of a ...

(Queen) of

Sivagangai Sivaganga () is a city and headquarters of the Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Sivaganga is a rani velunachiyar kingdom of Tamil Nadu. It is an important city in this district for official and commercial purposes. Its ni ...

, a

zamindari A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

estate in the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

of India. After an extended succession struggle, she ruled Sivagangai from 1863 to 1877. A patron of the arts and literature, she supported the development of many temples.

Life

Kathama Nachiar was the daughter of Gauri Vallabha, the Istimirar Zamindar of Sivagangai, and his third wife Velu Nachiar. Gauri Vallabha died in 1829 without male heirs. For three decades his older brother's descendants successfully claimed his title and estate. They faced repeated contestation - "from one of Gauri Vallabha's daughters and her son; a surviving widow; three daughters together; and a daughter alone". Though

Hindu law Hindu law, as a historical term, refers to the code of laws applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in British India. Hindu law, in modern scholarship, also refers to the legal theory, jurisprudence and philosophical reflections on the nat ...

dictated

primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

, the legal situation was complicated by argument over the status of the wives and concubines of Gauri Vallabha and his father. Supported in her litigation by George Frederick Fischer, a local cotton merchant, Kathama eventually succeeded in securing an 1863

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

decision which granted her the title. Kathama's installation ritual was described by John Shortt, a colonial medical officer, veterinary surgeon and ethnographer. She did not attempt to assert herself as a fully autonomous ruler. In 1864 she granted Fischer a ten-year lease for the entire zamindari. After Fischer's death in 1867, his son Robert inherited the lease, but made over the lease the following year to Venkatasami Naik, the Madurai Collectorate's

Sheristadar A ''sheristadar'' was once the chief administrative officer in Indian courts entrusted with the tasking of receiving and checking court pleas. The word is derived from the Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historicall ...

(Chief Secretary). Kathama objected to the transfer, but lost her court suit against Venkatasami on appeal. Though Venkatasami was forced to relinquish his government post, he made himself patron to Dorasinga Tevar, the son of Gauri Vallabha's first wife's daughter and a rival claimant to the title.

Photograph

A painted photograph of Kathama survives in an album in the

Pitt Rivers Museum Pitt Rivers Museum is a museum displaying the archaeological and anthropological collections of the University of Oxford in England. The museum is located to the east of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and can only be accessed t ...

, amongst material donated to the

Anthropological Society of London The Anthropological Society of London (ASL) was a short-lived organisation of the 1860s whose founders aimed to furnish scientific evidence for white supremacy which they construed in terms of polygenism. It was founded in 1863 by Richard Francis ...

by John Shortt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kathama Nachiar Year of birth missing 1877 deaths People from Sivaganga district Indian rulers Indian landlords