![Joppen1907India1700a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Joppen1907India1700a.jpg)
Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, (as the British referred to them) in Tamil Nadu refers to the holder of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, ''palayam'' was given for valuable military services rendered by any individual. The word ''pālayam'' means domain,a military camp, or a small kingdom. This type of Palayakkarars system was in practice during the rule of Pratapa Rudhra of Warangal in the Kakatiya kingdom. The system was put in place in Tamilnadu by Viswanatha Nayaka, when he became the Nayak ruler of Madurai in 1529, with the support of his minister Ariyanathar. Traditionally there were supposed to be 72 Palayakkarars.The majority of those Palaiyakkarar, who during the late 17th- and 18th-centuries controlled much of the
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
region as well as the Tamil area, had themselves come from the
Yadhavar,
Kallar,
Maravar
Maravar (also known as Maravan and Marava) are a Tamil community in the state of Tamil Nadu. These people are one of the three branches of the Mukkulathor confederacy. Members of the Maravar community often use the honorific title ''Thevar''. The ...
and
Vatuka
The 'Vaduga' or 'Vadugar', comprise three distinct Telugu-speaking caste-based communities of what is now the state of Tamil Nadu in India. They are families who moved south to the region from north Madras presidency following the collapse of th ...
,
pala ekari communities.
The Palaiyakkarar of
Madurai Country were instrumental in establishing administrative reforms by building irrigation projects, forts and religious institutions. The Palaiyakkarar who worshipped the
goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...
Kali
Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hinduism, Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In t ...
did not allow their territory to be annexed by
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
.
Their
wars
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
with the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
after the demise of the
Madurai Nayakas is often regarded as one of the earliest struggles for
Indian independence. Many captured Palaiyakkarar commanders were either executed or banished to the
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...
by the British.
Puli Thevar
Puli Thevar was a Tamil
Palaiyakkarar who ruled Nerkattumseval, situated in the Sankarankoil taluk, Tenkasi,formerly Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu. He is notable fighting against East India Company from May 22, 1752 - 1767 in India. Worship of God ...
,
Veerapandya Kattabomman
Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil Palayakarrar and king of Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India. He refused to accept the sovereignty of the British East India Company and waged a war against them. He was captured by the Briti ...
, the
Marudu brothers
The Marudhu Pandiyars (Periya Marudhu and Chinna Marudhu) were Diarchal Kings of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, India, towards the end of the 18th century. They were known for fighting against the East India Company. They were finally executed by t ...
,
Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone
Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone (11 July 1710 – 19 July 1759), from Kattalankulam in Thoothukudi District, was an Indian polygar who revolted against the East India Company, British presence. In Tamil Nadu he waged a war against the Presidency a ...
,
Chinna Alagumuthu kone
Chinna may refer to:
* Earl "Chinna" Smith (born 1955), Jamaican guitarist
* Chinna, Dalmatia, an ancient Illyrian settlement
* ''Chinna'' (1994 film), a 1994 Kannada film
* ''Chinna'' (2005 film), a 2005 Tamil-language film
* Chinna (Telugu act ...
,
Maruthanayagam
Maruthanayagam Pillai (1725 – 15 October 1764), was the commandant of the British East India Company's Madras Army . He was born in a Tamil Vellalar family in a village called Panaiyur in British India, what is now in Nainarkoil Taluk, Raman ...
,
Dheeran Chinnamalai
Dheeran Chinnamalai (17 April 1756 – 31 July 1805) was a Palayakkarar and Pattakarar who fought against the British East India Company.
Early life
Dheeran Chinnamalai was born on April 17, 1756 in present-day Kangeyam, to a noble family. His ...
,and
Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy
Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy was an Indian freedom fighter leader. The son of a former Telugu Palegaadu Mallareddy and Seethamma, Narasimha Reddy was born in Rupanagudi village, on 24 November 1806. He belonged to the Motati Clan of Reddy's. He ...
were some notable Palaiyakkarar who rose up in revolt against the British rule in
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. Their wars against the British East India Company predates the
Indian rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
in
Northern India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
by many decades but is still largely given less importance by historians.
Role
The Polygar's role was to administer their Palaiyams (territories) from their fortified centres. Their chief functions were to collect taxes, maintain
law and order
In modern politics, law and order is the approach focusing on harsher enforcement and penalties as ways to reduce crime. Penalties for perpetrators of disorder may include longer terms of imprisonment, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws a ...
, run the local
judiciary
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...
, and maintain a battalion of troops for the king.
They served as regional military and civil administrators. In turn they were to retain of the revenue collected as tax, and submit the remaining to the king's
treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...
. The Polygars also at times founded villages, built dams, constructed tanks and built temples. Also the rulers taxed regions according to the cultivable and fertility of the land. Often several new rainwater tanks were erected in the semi-arid tracts of western and southern Tamil Nadu.
Their armed status was also to protect the civilians from robbers and
dacoits
Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquial ...
who were rampant in those regions and from invading armies which often resorted to pillaging the villages and countryside.
Polygar Wars
The Polygar Wars were a series of wars fought by a coalition of Palaiyakkarar's against the British between 1798 and 1805. The war between the British and
Veerapandiya Kattabomman
Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil Palayakarrar and king of Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India. He refused to accept the sovereignty of the British East India Company and waged a war against them. He was captured by the Briti ...
is often classified as the First Polygar war (1799), while the Second Polygar War 1800–1805 against the British was fought by a much bigger coalition over the whole of western Tamil Nadu headed by
Dheeran Chinnamalai
Dheeran Chinnamalai (17 April 1756 – 31 July 1805) was a Palayakkarar and Pattakarar who fought against the British East India Company.
Early life
Dheeran Chinnamalai was born on April 17, 1756 in present-day Kangeyam, to a noble family. His ...
and
Maruthu Pandiyar
The Marudhu Pandiyars (Periya Marudhu and Chinna Marudhu) were Diarchal Kings of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, India, towards the end of the 18th century. They were known for fighting against the East India Company. They were finally executed by t ...
brother of the
Sivaganga
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 ...
.Final polygar war1847 against the British fought by Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy at kovelakuntla (Koilakuntla)
The Polygars often had artillery and stubbornly resisted the storming of their hill forts. The British columns were exposed throughout the operations to constant harassing attacks and had usually to cut their way through almost impenetrable jungles while being fired on from under cover on all sides. It took more than a year to suppress the rebellion completely.
After a long and expensive campaign the British East India Company finally defeated the rebelling Polygars, some of whom were executed while others were banished to the
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...
. Of the Polygars who submitted to the British, some of them were granted
Zamindar
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 ...
i status, which had only tax collection rights and disarmed them completely.
References
Further reading
* Rao, Velcheru Narayana, and David Shulman, Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Symbols of substance : court and state in Nayaka period Tamil Nadu (Delhi ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1998) ; xix, 349 p.,
6p. of plates : ill., maps ; 22 cm. ; Oxford India paperbacks ; Includes bibliographical references and index ; {{ISBN, 0-19-564399-2.
* Rajaram, K. (Kumarasamy), 1940–. History of Thirumalai Nayak (Madurai : Ennes Publications, 1982) ; 128 p.,
leaf of plates : ill., maps ; 23 cm. ; revision of the author's thesis (M. Phil.--Madurai-Kamaraj University, 1978) Includes index ; bibliography p. 119–125 ; on the achievements of Tirumala Nayaka, fl. 1623–1659, Madurai ruler.
* Balendu Sekaram, Kandavalli, 1909–. The Nayakas of Madura by Khandavalli Balendusekharam (Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Sahithya Akademi, 1975) ; 30 p. ; 22 cm. ; "World Telugu Conference publication." ; History of the Telugu speaking Nayaka kings of Pandyan Kingdom, Madurai, 16th–18th century.
* K. Rajayyan, A History of Freedom Struggle in India
* K. Rajayyan, South Indian Rebellion-The First War of Independence (1800–1801)
* M. P. Manivel, 2003 – Viduthalaipporil Virupachi Gopal Naickar (Tamil Language), New Century Book House, Chennai
* N. Rajendran, National Movement in Tamil Nadu, 1905–1914 – Agitational Politics and State Coercion, Madras Oxford University Press.
*D. Sreenivasulu, "Palegars or factionists, they call the shots in Rayalaseema", ''The Hindu'' (online) 24 January 2005.
External links
The Hindu:Madurai 72 Bastion Fort today Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra
Medieval India
*
Madurai Nayak dynasty
Noble titles
Positions of authority
Tamil history
Titles in India
Polygar Wars