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MA DBAS DISTRICT GAZETTEERS
MADURA.
VOLUME I,
[Peicb, 2 rupees.']
3 shtUirijfS."}
MADRAS DISTRICT GAZETTEERS.
MADUEA
BY
W. FRANCIS,
INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
]\I A D R A S :
PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT PRESS.
1906.
PEEFACE.
/ /> * ^
/. ;
The first ' Manual ' of this district was The Madura Country
of Mr. J. H. Nelson, I.C.S., published at Madras in 1868.
The chief features of his work were its sections on the
political and revenue history of the district ; and these have
been freely utilized in the present volume. The early part of
the former of them, however, has naturally been largely
superseded by the discoveries due to the progress of epigraphy
in recent years ; and limits of space have necessitated the
ruthless condensation of much of Mr. Nelson's picturesque
account of the Nayakkan dynasty in the latter part of the
same section. Most of the rest of the book is new. It is
arranged on the system followed in the other District Gazet-
teers of the new series now being brought out, and statistical
matter appears in a separate Appendix which is to be revised
decennially, after each census.
Under instructions, the volume does not deal with the
Ramnad and Sivaganga zamindaris, which are to be transfer-
red to another district, and treats the area which will be
included in the proposed new Nilakkottai taluk as though
this taluk were already in existence. The absence of statistics
for this latter tract has, however, in some cases prevented
the consistent carrying out of this method of referring to it.
Thanks to the various gentlemen, non-official and official,
who have been kind enough to help with the undertaking
have been rendered wherever possible in the body of the
volume. The plan of the Madura temple at p. 267 and the
early portions of the lists of Collectors and Judges on pp. SOS
and 218 were prepared for the revised District Manual which
was begun by Sir Harold Stuart.
W. F.
14^MS5^
>>
PLAN OF CONTENTS.
Chapter
PAGES
I. Physical Description
1-23
II. Political History . .
24-71
III. Thb People
72-111
IV. Agriculture AND Irrigation .. .. .. .. J 12-131
V. Forests
132-143
VI. Occupations and Trade
144-153
VII. Means of Communication
154-159
Vlli. Eainfall and Seasons
160-167
IX. Public PIealtii
168-17a
X. Education
174-178
XI. Land Revenue Administr.'
i-TiON 179-209
XII. Salt, Abkari AND Miscellaneous Eevenue .. .. 210-213
XIII, Administration of Jusiici
214-219
XIV. Local Self-Goveknment .
220-227
XV. Gazetteer —
Dindignl Taluk
228-244
Kodaikanal Taluk
245-253
Madura Taluk
254-281
Melur Taluk
282-291
Nilakkottai Taluk
292-299
Palui Taluk
300-311
Periyakulam Taluk
312-324
Tirumangalam Taluk
325-331
Index
333-363
TABLE OF CONTENl^.
CHAJ'TER I.
PHYSICAL DKSCBJPTION.
PASE
Gexieat, Desi RiPTioN (pHgo 1) — Positiwii and In >niulai-ie.s— Taluks and chief
towns — Pjtymology of t.lic iiamn (2)— Naturnl divisions. Hili.s (3) —The
Palnis — Vanishanad and Andjpai.ii hills ((>) — Tho Nagjmalai (7) — Siru-
malais— Kaiaiidamalais (8) — Aiaofarraalais (9) — Tho Nattam and Aildr
hills — Isolated hills — Scenery (10). Rivers — The Gundar — Tirnniaiiiniut-
tar and Palar — Ko Javanar, Nanganji, Xallatangi and Shaninuganadi — The
Vaigai and its tribufcai-ies (M). .S(>ii-s(12). Climatk (13)— Rainfall-
Temperatme. Gkology (!4! — Minerals (15). Flora. I-'aixa (20) —
Cattle — Sheep and goats (,22) — Game ... ... 1-23
CHAPTER II.
POLITICAL HISTOKY.
PtBHinoKic Peoples (page 2'1-) - PaUcolithic man — Kistvaeix, etc. (25).
Early History — The Pandya dynasty — Its antiquity (2G) — Appears in
early Tamil liteiature — Its first, mention in inscription* (29) — Its sf-rua;-
gles with tlie Pallavas, 7th century — Decline of the latter — The Ganga-
Pallavas, 9th century (30) — Pandya ascendancy — Chola revival, 10th
to 12th centnries^Pandja rebellions (31) — Pand\-a renaissance, 12th
century (33) — Struggle for the throne — Decline of the Clioias, 13th
century (311 — Pandya rule thenceforth — Maravarman Sundara-Paudya I,
121G-3-') (35) — Arrival of the Hoysalas — Jatavarnian Sundara-Pandya I,
1251-61 (30) -End of the Hoysala and Chola power — Maravarman Kula-
86khara I (12G8-1308) and his successor — Splendour of the Pandya realm
(37). Musalii*..\]Invasio\, 1310 — Musalraan dynasty at Madura (38).
VrJAYANAGAR DOMINION, 1305 — Its effects (39)— King Achyuta's campaign,
1532 (40). Na'yakkan Dynasty, 1559-173G— Its origin (40— Vjsvantitlia
Nayakkaii, 1559-63 (■12) — His incnediatc succosaors (43)— Fall of Vijaya-
nagar kingilom,I5tj5 (41) — Tiruniala Xayakkan, 1623-59 — Kedefies Vijaya-
nagar (45) — Calls the Muliamniadans to his aid — And becomes their fenda-
tory (iG) — His wars with Mysore — His death (47) -Kebellions among hi»
vassals (48) — A. curious rumour — Tiruraala's capital (49) — His public build-
ings—Mnfctu Alakadri, 1659-62 (50) — Chokkanatha (1662-82) — His
troubles with his neiirbbours —His coB(iue8t and loss of Tanjore (51) — At-
tacked by Mysore and the Marathas (52) — The latter seize his country
(53) — Ranga Krishna Muttu Viiappa (1682-89) — iMatters improve — Man-
gam mil (l(;89-1701) (54.)— Her charities— Her wars— Her tragic death
(55)— Vijaya Ranga Chokkanatha (170t-31) (5G)— His feeble rule — Mi'nak-
shi (1731 .");;) -Miisfilman interference — I'hid of Nayakkan dvTasty(5<S) —
Character of its rule. Misalman Domikiok— Chanda Sahib (L7S6-40) —
h
Table or oontbnts.
VAftB
A Marafclia interlude, 1740-43 — Musalman authority re'establishcd, 174J
(59) — The rival Musalman parties ('iO). English Period — Sieg^e of
Madura, 1751 — Col. Heron's expedition, 1755 (62) — Mahfnz Khau rents
tlie oouiitrj' — Muhammad Vusuf sent to quiet it —Mahfnz Kh&a rebels
(03) — Captain Calliaud's attacks on Madura, 1757 — Anarchy again prevails
(Gtj) â €” Yusnf Khan again despatched — He rebels and is han<fed, 1764— His
cliaraoter (67) — Haidar Ali's invasion, 1780 — Assignment of tlie revenue to
the Company, 1781 ((38) -Colonel Fnllarton's expedition. 1783 — Assign-
ment of the revenue cancelled, 1785 (69) — Assumption of the revenue,
1790 — The Company collects the peshkash, 1792 — Story of the Dindigfil
country— Its cession in 1792 (71)— Cession of the rest of Madura, 1801 ... 24-71
CHAPTER III.
THP] PEOPLE.
OiNERAL Chahactkristics (page 72)- Density of the population — Its growth
— Parent-tongne (73)— Education (74)^ — Occupations — Eeligiotis. The
Jains. The Christians (75) — Roman Catholic Mission — American Mis-
sion (77) — Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission (79). The Mi'Saljians —
Ravutans—BelatioHS with Hindus (80). The Hindis — Villages — Houses
(81)— Dress (82)— Food (83) — Amusements — Religious life : Brahman in-
fluence small (84) — Popular deities: Karuppan (85) — Aiyanar — Madurai
Viran— Others (86) — Vows — Devils (87). Principal Castes— Kalians (88)
— Idaiyaus (96) — Valaiyans (97)— Kammalans (99) — Nattukottai Chettis
— Vannans (101)— Kusavans— Parivarams(102) — Kunnavaus (103) — Pulai-
yans (104)— Paliyans (105)— Tottiyans (106)— Kappiliyans (108)— Anup-
pans (109) — Patnulkarans 72-111
CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION.
AoRicULTDRAL STATISTICS (page 112)— The different taluks— The various cropi
(113). Wet Cultivation (114)— Paddy — Its cultivation (115) — Its varie-
ties. Dry Cultivation (116)— Methods— Cotton (118) — Tobacco (119).
Irrigation ^121) — Area protected— Wells (122) — TanVs and channels
(123) — The Periyar project (126). Economic Condition of Agricul-
Tu»i«T8 (lao) iia-iai
CHAPTER V.
FORESTS.
Be^nnings of conservancy (page 132)— The Forest Act of 1882 (135)— The
existing forests — Their position (136) — Their characteristics— In the east
and south of the district (137)— On the slopes of the Palnis (138)--On the
Falni plateaus— In the Kambam valley (139)— Plantations (110)— Minor
produce (141)— Grazing-fees— Working plans: in the four eastern taluks
—In the Kambam valley (142) 132-143
TABLB OF CONTENTS. 1:1
CHAPTER TI.
OCCUPATIONS AND TKADE.
0( ciii'ATiONB (page 144)--Agiiciilturc and imsturo. Arts anh IxnrsTRiES —
Hlankut miking (145)— ^Gotton-weaving — Silk-Wfaviiig: (lifi) — Appliances
(147) — Hyeing — Gold and silver thread \\i8) — Wax-prim inir — ("olton-
spinninu: (140) Cigar-n aking Coffce-eniing (ir)0)--()il.s- Tanning —
Wood-carving — Metal-work — Banjiies (151) — Jlinor intlustiics. Trauk —
Exports — Imports — Mechanism of trade (152). Wkights ani> Mkasukks —
Ta])les (if weight — Measures for grain- Li(iuid8 (153) — Land —Distance —
And time — Coinajje ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 144-153
CHAPTER VI r.
MEANS OF OOMMUMCATION.
Roads (page 154"^ — Their foriiicr state -Their oxisting condition - Tlie chief
routes (155) — The Kottakudi ropeway — Law's ghat — The .4ttur ghat(15fj)
— I'ridges- Travellers' bungalows and chattrjims (l')7). h'Aii.wAVa '.158)
— Existing lines — Projected roites ... ... ... ... ... ... 154-159
CHAPTEE Vin.
RAINFALL AND SHASONS.
R.AiNFAr.i, (page UlUi — Li;il)ilily to famine and Hoods (Itil). 1<'ami.\f,s A.\r>
S< AKCiTiEs- In prc-British days-In 17S:>'J— In 1812-14 (162) -In 1832
and lyaO- In l857--ln 18615 -The great famine of 1870-78 (1615). Pluoks
(160) 100-167
CHAPTER IX.
PUHLIC HEALTH.
Gknkral Ilf.ALTH (page 108)- Cholera — Fever (109) — Small-pox — Madnra foot
— Vital Ktatistics (171'. Medical Institutions — American Mission hospi-
tals and disj)en8aries — The Madura hospital- The Dindi^ul hospital 172)
— Other institutions 168-173
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATION.
RarTjV History (page 174) — The three Sangams— The new Sangam (175) —
Education under the Nayakkans. Cknsus Statistics — Figures by reli-
gions and talnks (170). EnicATioNAi, ixsTiTUTioxs— The lasumalai Col-
lege — The ^Lidura College (177) -Upper secondary schools— Lower second-
ary pechools (178)— Other schools— Nowsimpers, etc. ... ... ... 174-378
adi TABl^B OF CONTBNtS.
CHAPTER XI.
LAND KE VENUE ADMINISTRATION.
PA»B
R.F. VENUE History (pane 179) — Native revenue gystems— Methods of tli**
Navakkans (180)— Of the Marathas (181) -And of the later renters —
British administration : in the Dindisu' conntry (183) — Mr. ^^c^>eod, first
Collector. l700~IIis incapacity (184)— Mr. Wynch and liis maladministra-
tion, 1794 (IS.'S) — rommissibn of enquiry, 1796 — Mr. Hurdi.s' Collector-
ship (186) — Order restored and survey and settlement bcsfun, 1800 (187) —
Principles of these (188) — Miscellaneous taxes ()8fl) — The finantial results
(190)— Air. Parish becomes Collector— The di.-trict declines, 1805 (191)--
Mr. Hodgson's report upon it — Triennial village leases, 1808-10 — Mr. Rons
Peter's redactions in the assessments, 1823 (192) — Further reductions,
1831 — Abolition of vavpayir assessments, lSo4 (193) — Unsettled pa'aiyams
(194) — British administration in the Madura country (196) — Eitticulties at
the outset — Formal cession of the conntry, 1801 (197) — Early setcleuu-nta
in it -The various land tenures — Government land (198) — TLafta devas-
tanam — Sihhwndi pomppu (199) — JtritJiam — Pnruppn villagfcs —Church
maniijam.9—Chiitirn.ra land (200) — Arcfi-kattahii — Arai-Jatfahn villatres —
Ardha-ma7)iijai>i, etc. -Defects of the settlement — Triennial leases and
the ryoiwari system (201' — Kednctions in assessments. The Existing
Stkvky AKn Skttlemext, 1885-89 — Principles followed (202) — Kates
prescril)ed (203")- Resultant effects (204)— Settlement of hill villages
(205). iNAMs (206). ExisTixe Divisional Charges. Appendix, List of
Collectors (208) 179-209
CHAPTER XII.
SAliT.ABKAj'.I AND MISCELLANKOUS liEVENUE.
Sait (page 210) — Earth-salt — Saltpetre. AbkXki and opum (211) — Arraok
— Foreign liquor — Toddy — Opium and hemp drugs (212). Income-Tax
(913). Stamps :!10-813
CHAPTER XIII
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
Former Courts ^xjage 214). Civil Jvstice -E.xisting courts (215) — Amount
of litigation— Uegititration. Criminal Justice — The vaiious tribunals —
Crime — Criminal castes (216). Police— Previous systeu.s — '1 he existing
force. (217). Jails. Appendix, List of Judges (218j 3U-319
CHAPTER XIV.
LOCAL SELF-GOVEKNMENT.
The Local Boards (page 220)— The Unions— Finances of the Boards (221).
The five Mixicipalities — Madura Municipality (222) — Improvements
effected by it— The water-supply scheme — Drainage (224) — Dindigul
Municipality (225) — Water-supply —Palni Municipality (22U) — Periya-
knlam Mxmicipality— Kodaikanal Municipality (227) 220-827
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIU
CHAPTER XV.
GAZETTP]ER. .
PAOK
DmniGiL Talik (page 228)— Agaram (229)— AmbSturai— Atfcur (230)—
Ayyampalaiyam (231) — Dindii^ul— Kinakkalapuram (237) — Eriyddu (238)
— Kannivadi— Knvakkapatti (21U)— Madnr— Maruauttu (211) — Palakka-
nuttu — Sukkampatti (242) -- Tadikkoiului — Tavasimadai (243) — Veda-
■andur. Kodaikaxai, Taluk (245) — Kodaikanal. Madura T\LLK(2ci) -
Anaimalai — Anappanadi (250) — Kodim:ingalam(257) — Waduiu — ilangulaiu
(278) — PaBumalai — Sirnpalai^Tirupparankunrain (279) — v'elliyakimdani
(281). Mklur Taluk (282)— Ahigarkovil— AriMapatti (28(3;- Kanmgala-
kndi- Kot.tampatti (287; -IM^lur (288) — Nattain — Tiruvadi'ir (280).
NiLAKKoTTAl Taluk (292) — Ammayanayakkandr — Kulasekharaiikottai
(294) — Mettnpatti— Nilakkottni (295)— Sandaiyiir (296)-S6Iavandan—
Tiruv6dagam (297)— Tottiyankortai (298)— Vattilaguiidu. Palm Taluk
(300) — Aivarmalai— Ayakkudi (301) — Idaiyankottjii (302) Kalayamuttiir
(303)— Kirauur — Mauibarai—Palni (304)— Eettayauibadi (3U8)— V6Iur
(309) — Virupakshi. Pkiuyakulam Taluk (312)— APinagaiam (313) —
Andipatti — Anuraaudanpatti — Bodiiiayakkaiiur — ( hinnunianur (31(») —
D^vadanapatti — Erasakkanayakkanui- — Gantamanayakkanur (317) — Gnda-
lur (318) — Kanibam— Kombai (319) - Margaiyaiikottai (^320) — Peiiya-
kulam — Tevarain (321) — Uttamapalaiyam — Vadaknrai (322) — Virapatidi
(324). Tirjmangalam Taluk (325) — Anai^m- - Doddappanayakkanur
. (326)— Elumalai— Jotilnayakkaimr— Kalligudi— Kilakkottai (327) — Kovil-
ankolam — Kuppalanattam — Rlelakkottai — Nadukkottai v328) — Poraiydr —
Puliyaukiilam — :?andaiyur — Saptiir (329) — Tiruinangalam — L'siUnnpatti
(330) — Uttappauayakkanur — Vikkirauiaagulaiu .. ... ... ... ^3<8-331
GAZETTEER
OF THE
MADUEA DISTEICT
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAl. PESCEIPTION.
Gexeral Description — PoBition and boundaries — Taluks and chief towns —
Etymology of the name — Natural divisions. Hills — The Palnis — Varuslia-
nad and Xudipatti hills — Tlie Nagamalai— Sirumaluis — Karandamalais- â–
Alagarmalais— The Nattam and Ailfir hills — Isolated hills — Scenery. Rivers
— The Gundar — Tirumanimuttar and Palar — Kodavanar, Nanganji, Nalla-
tangi and Shanmuganadi — The Vaigai and its tributaries. Soils. Climate
— Rainfall— Temperature. Geology — Minerals. Flora. Faun'A— Cattle
— Sheep and goats— Game.
Except Tinnevelly, Madura is the soutlierninost CoUectorate of CH.VP. I.
the Madras Presidency. On the north it is bounded by the General
Coimbatore and Trichinopoly districts ; on the east by Trichi-
nopoly, a corner of Pudukkottai State and the Sivaganga Position and
zamindari; on the south by the Sivaganga and Ramnad '°""'*"^^-
zamindaris ; and on the whole of its western side by the great
range of the AVestern Grhats, which here is nearly all included in
the Native State of Travancore. Except this last mountain
frontier, none of the boundaries of Madura follow any natural
features, but owe tlieir origin to administrative convenience or the
vicissitudes of history.
Madura is made up of the eight taluks of Dindigul, Kodai- Taluks and
kanal (comprising the Upper and Lower Palni hills to be referred '^'''*^^ iowup
to immediately), Madura, Melur, Nilakkottai, Palni, Periyakulam
and Tirumangalam. The boundaries and position of these will be
evident from a glance at the map in the pocket at the end of this
volume. Statistical particulars regarding them will be found in
the separate Appendix. The chief towns in the district are its
MADUHA.
CHAP. I.
General
Description.
Etymology
of the name.
Natural
divisions.
capital, Madara (tlie largest mufassal municipality in the Presi-
dency) ; tlie seven places wliicli are the head-quarters of, and give
their names to, the remaining taluks ; and Bodinayakkanur and
Uttamapalaiyam in Periyakulam. Some account of these, and
also of other localities of interest in the district, will be found in
Chapter XY belovr.
The district is named after its chief town. The word is spelt
Madurai in Tamil, and Yule and Burnell say that it is generally
supposed to be the Tamil form of the name of Mathura (the
modern Muttra), the very ancient and holy city on the Jumna,
30 miles above Agra. They point out that the name Madura
seems to have been a favourite among eastern settlements under
Hindu influence — there being places so called iu Ceylon and to
the north of Mandalay and an island of the name near Java —
and suggest that it was perhaps adopted from reverence for the
holy city of the north.
Another etymology is from the Tamil MaJhurai, meaning
anything sweet, the story being that Siva was so pleased with
the buildings erected round about his shrine by the first Pandyan
king that, as a mark of special favour, he sprinkled the temples,
towers , palaces and houses of the town with drops of sweet nectar
shaken from his locks.
There are five well-marked natural divisions in the district.
The Palni hills are totally unlike any other part of it. Tiru-
mangalam taluk in the south similarly differs widely from the
rest, being a level expanse, dotted with a few granite hills, which
is mainly covered with black cotton-soil and the scanty vegetation
characteristic thereof. The remainder of Madura may be grouped
into three areas; namely, first, the level tracts of rice-land
(mainly irrigated with the water of the Periyar project referred to
on pp. 126-130 below) which cover much of the Nilakkottai and
Madura taluks and the southern half of Melur, and which receive
a high rainfall ; secondly, the higher and far drier expanse of red
soil which spreads across the north of Melur taluk, all Dindigul
and Palni, and strongly resembles in its general features, soil and
products the adjoining areas in Coimbatore district ; and, thirdly,
the long Kambam Yalley which makes up the Periyakulam
taluk (see the map) and which, owing to the perennial streams
which flow from its numerous forests and the cool wind which
passes down it from the great hills on the west, is the greenest
and pleasantest part of the district. The low-lying centre of this
valley is occupied by fertile wet land irrigated from the Yaigai,
the Suruli, and the Periyar water flowing down the latter ; but
the higher sides of it consist of dry, red land which is cultivated
PHYSICAL DESCBIPTION. O
here and there under wells, Lut for tJie most part is as "barren CHAP. I.
and stony as the infertile parts of the Mysore plateau and Hill*.
resembles them markedly in general appearance.
As will he seen from the map, the mountain ranges of Madura
include the broad mass of the Palni liills on the west ; south of
these, on the other side of the beautiful Kambam valley, the
narrower, nearly parallel, Varushanad and Andipatti range ; the
northern continuation of this, the snake-like Nagamalai which
eventually turns south-eastwards in a wide curve nearly as far as
Madura town ; the Sirumalais north-north-west of that place ;
and, to the east of these, the Alagarmalais and Karandamalais.
Round about Nattam, the town which lies within the triangle
formed by these last three ranges, are several groups of smaller
heights which are usually called ' the Nattam hills' ; and the
similar elevations to the northward, round the Ailur railway-
station, are known as ' the Ailur hills.'
The Palnis are apparently so called from tlie to\\Ti of the same The I'alnis.
name which lies just north of them. Their Sanskrit appellation
is Yarahagiris, or ' pig hills,' and to account for it a legend is
related of twelve naughty childreu, who scoffed at a devout rishi
who dwelt amid the forests on them, were transformed by hin
into pigs, were rescued by Siva and were eventually promoted to
high office under the Pandya kings. Eepreseutations of this story
appear among the sculptures in the Pudu mantapam at Madura
(p. 271). It has led to another derivation of the name, the word
Palni being thought by some to be a corruption of Panri-malai,
the Tamil form of the Sanskrit Yarahagiri.
The range is an oSshoot of the Western Ghats and is con-
nected with the main part of that great formation. South-west
of it runs another oifshoot called the Cardamom Hills. These
wall in the western side of the upper part of the Kambam valley,
but all except their steep slopes is outside Madura and the scope
of the present volume.
The greatest length of the Palni range is 40 miles and its
maximum breadth 25 miles, and it is divided east and west into
two distinct portions, the Upper Paluis and the Lower Palnis, the
line between which runs north and south througli Neutral
Saddle on the map. The forests on both these ranges (as also
those on the other hills of the district) arc referred to in Chapter
V below and the roads up them in Chajiter YII.
The Lower Palnis consist of a confused jumble of peaks from
3,000 to 5,000 feet high, separated from one another by steep,
wooded valleys of great beauty. In these ravines are a few
4 mAduea.
OHAP. I. villages. They are all small (the largest of them, Pannaikada,
-Hir.Ls, contains less than 3,000 inhabitants) and they are picturesquely
surrounded with groves of tamarind, jack, mango, orange, lime,
citron, sago and other trees. At the approaches to some of them
may still be seen remains of the gates v^hich led through the
hedges with which they were defended in the turbulent days
of old. They usually possess a number of hamlets, perched at
haphazard on the slopes of the valleys among dry cultivation and
fields of the peculiar aroinatic -flavoured plantain for which this
country is famous and which goes on bearing for twenty years at
a stretch, even without irrigation. The crops include paddy,
coffee, cardamoms, ginger, turmeric and most of the usual dry
cereals of the plains. Coffee was first planted in these hills by
M. Eraile de Fondclair about 1846. He obtained the seed from
the Sirumalais, where his father had already experimented with the
plant. The coffee gardens, like those elsewhere, have now faUen
on evil days and several of them have been almost abandoned.
Cardamoms and ginger require shade and are grown under the
forest trees. The former take five years to come into bearing.
Turmeric is planted in the open and is eighteen months before it
is ready for gathering.
None of the inhabitants of this part of the range are hill-men
in the strict sense of the word, all of them having come up, in
some distant past, from the low country. They do not differ
greatly from the people of the plains in appearance, dress or
physical characteristics. The principal landowners are the
Kunnuvans, and the Pulaiyans form the chief labouring caste.
Both these communities are mentioned again on pp. 108 and 104
below. Telugu-speaking Chettis and Musalmans are gradually
acquiring a good deal of the land which formerly belonged to
the Kunnuvans ; they trade with these latter, involve them in
financial difiiculties and then take their fields.
The hill cattle are similarly merely animals which have been
taken up from the plains. There are no distinctive breeds like
the Toda buffaloes of the Nilgiris.
Parts of this lower range are feverish. March to July are
perhaps the worst months in them^ but no part of the year can be
considered safe.
The Upper Palnis run from 6,000 to 8,000 feet in elevation.
The highest point in them (or in the district) is Vembadi Shola
hill, which is 8,218 feet above the sea. The sanitarium of
Kodaikanal (p. 245) stands on the southern edge of them. They
differ from the Lower Palnis in possessing fewer ravines and
valleys, much less forest, a colder climate and a more barren soil.
PHYSICAL d:escription. 5
and tliey consist largely of considerable plateaus made up of rolling- CHAP. I.
downs covered wdth coarse grasses, hidden away in the more Hu.ls.
sheltered valleys of which are isolated woods called sholas.
Except in these hollows, the soil is usually a thin stratum of black
peaty earth of varying depth beneath which is a yellow clay, and
in many places the underlying rock crops out.
Tlie general fall of the range is to the north, and the slope
in that direction is fairly gradual ; but on the south the hills
terminate abruptly in precipitous cliffs which in parts of the
Kambam valley are veritable walls of rock forjiiing scenery of the
boldest and wildest description. On the north, two great valleys
pierce the range and penetrate southwards through it as far as
the villages of Vilpatti and Pumbarai. Up these, in days gone by,
led two of the most frequented of all the routes followed by the
pack animals of the merchants from Palni, then the chief centre
for the trade with the hills. The path from Palni to Vilpatti is
interrupted in the middle by precipitous ground over which no
horse could travel. The other up the Pumbarai valley is easier.
Both these, like other similar tracks on the range, have now been
almost deserted in favour of the bridle-path from Periyakulam to
Kodaikanal. This bridle-path. Law's Uliat, the new Attur Ghat
(see pp. 155-6) and the roads within the Kodaikanal settlement are
as yet the only really practicable routes on the range. Communi-
cation between village and village is by forest roads and rough
Inll-paths.
The Pumbarai valley is the most remarkable on the range.
Its almost parallel sides, up which cultivation climbs amid woods
and broken ground, are bounded by precipitous crags which look
as if they had been formed by the sudden subsidence of the
ground between them. I'umbarai itself stands on a terrace at the
head of the valley and (although its inhabitants number less than
1,500) is one of the most important of the Upper Palni villages.
It was once suggested as the station of the revenue subordinate
in charge of these hills and it Loasts a temple to Subrahmanya
wliich is held in much repute.
The houses in this upper range are usually divided by regular
paved lanes, are built of wattle and daub, are thatched with grass
and possess fire-places. The people are chiefly the Kunnuvans
already mentioned, Karakkat Yellalaus and a few of the wild
Palijans referred to again on p. 105 below. In the Upper and
Lower I'alnis taken together there are in all fifteen Government
villages containing a population of just under 20,000 persons.
The crops of the upper range include paddy, coffee, poor
varieties of wheat and barley, and garlic. This latter is the great
patti hills.
6 MADURA.
CHAP. I, article of export. The frequent torrents pouring down the sides
Hills. of tlie hills, which are almost perennial, are often dammed at the
top of a slope and thence cunning-lj led to irrigate paddy planted
on a series of narrow terraces ingenioQsly cut in the hill-side from
its brow down to its foot. Manure is supplied to these terraces in
liquid form hy leading the stream through the manure-heaps.
The paddy is a coarse variety and takes eight or ten months to ripen.
There are wide extents of land over which the hill folk have no
rights of occupation, and the greater part of these has been consti-
tuted reserved forest. At present the disposal of unsurveyed and
unassessed waste land other than reserves is governed by the
provisions of Board's Standing Order No. 20 and not by the rules
usual in the low country.
Vaiuslumad After the Palnis, the largest area of hill in Madura is the line
^"II-^'mV." which, for want of a better name, may be called the Varushanad
and Andipatti range from the Varushanad valley at the southern
end of it and the village of Andipatti near its northern extremity.
Tins (see the map) runs north-eastwards from the south-western
corner of the disti'ict, almost parallel with the Palnis and
Cardamom liills which face it on the opposite side of the Kambam
valley. Like them, it is an outlier of the Western Grhdts.
The great Varushanad (' rain country ') valley, in which the
Yaigai river takes its rise, is so called after the village of the
same name, now deserted on account of its malaria, the interesting
ruins of which (see p. '518 below) stand on the right bank of a fine
bend of the Vaigai near the centre of the lower part of it. Not
far off are the remains of Narasingapuram, also deserted. At
the uppermost end of the valley stands the prominent Kottaimalai
('fort hill '), 6,<JI7 feet above the sea and the junction between
Madura, liamnad and Travancore. The valley is quite unin-
habited except for a few Paliyans. It was apparently originally
Government land, but was quietly annexed by the Gantamanayak-
kanur poligar in the old days before the value of such tracts was
properly understood. The poligar gradually exercised mder and
wider rights of ownersliip over it, and when at last, in 1880,^
the attention of Government was directed to the matter, they
reluctantly adopted the view that it was too late to attempt to
establish their claims.
The western side of the head of the valley is flanked by the
highest portion of the Varushanad and Andipatti range. This
for many years remained unsurveyed, and was merely marked in
the atlas sheets as ' a high waving mountain overrun with an
^ See the history of the matter in G.O., ^''o. 917 Revenue, dated 4th
August 1880, and connected paperg.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 7
iinpenctraWe forest'; whence it is still called 'tLe High AYavj'. CHAP. I.
It is the least known part of the hills of Madura! On the top of Hills.
it is a plateau covered with evergreen forest, and the jungle runs
down on both sides of it in great continuous masses to a belt of
more barren land consisting of rock and rough grass. Below
this again, at the foot of the hill, is a fairly thick line of deciduous
forest. The High Wavy is entirely uninhabited except for a few
of^the miserable Paliyans already referred to, who live in the
forest at its foot.
The eastern side of the Varushandd valley is formed by a lower,
narrower and more broken line of liills. The most prominent
peaks in this are holy Saduragiri in the Saptur zamindari (pro]>
erly Chaturagiri, ' the four-square liill,' from its appearance)
which is 4,172 feet high, is declared to be even now the residence
of celestial sages and is a favourite place of pilgrimage ; and
Kudiraimalai (' horse hill ') 1,262 feet above the sea. The range
is an inhospitable region. It is rugged, gaunt and burnt up,
clothed for the most part with only the scantiest sprinkling of
thorny trees, euphorbias and cactus, covered often with stupend-
ous blocks of naked grtinite and visited by no one but a few
herdsmen and their flocks. The rock of which it is formed contains
numerous narrow dykes of a hard stone which weathers more
slowly than the rest, and these stand out in all kinds of curious
shapes and from a distance often closely resemble L-uildings and
lines of fortification.
From the extreme northern end of these rugged heights the The
odd Ndgamalai \' snake hilP) range strikes oft east and then ^"^'agauiai.ii.
south and runs to within three or four miles of Madura town. It
is well named, being a long, straight ridge of barren rock of very
uniform height ; and local legends declare that it is the remains
of a huge serpent, brought into existence by the magic arts uf the
Jains, which was only prevented by the grace of Siva from
devouring the fervently Saivite city it so nearly ap})roaches.
All the last part of it consists of granuhir quartz of a very light
colour (pale red or yellow) and this renders it a most conspicuous
item in the landscape round Madura.
On the eastern side of the district the most considerable hills sirunialnis.
are the Sirumalais (' little mountains ') which stand some sixteen
miles north of Madura. They consist of a compact block almost
twelve miles across, and their highest points are a little over
4,400 feet above the sea. On the top of them is a basin-shaped
plateau some 3,00U feet high, in the north-eastern corner of which
ftre three small villages inhabited by immigrants from the low
CHAP. I.
Hills.
8 MADUBA.
country. The climate is very malarious and the only Europeans
who have ever attempted to settle on the range (the American
missionaries, see p. 250) were speedily compelled to quit it. The
fever of 1809-10 committed great havoc in these hills and the
Survey Account of 1815-16 says that there were then only 89
people left upon them.
The range has always been noted for its great fertility. The
earliest Tamil poems extant speak of the many varieties of fruits
which it produced in abundance, and it is still famous for its
plantains (which are vociferously hawked at all the neighbouring
railway-stations), its coffee and its cardamoms, and grows all the
fruit trees already mentioned as occurring in the Lower Palni
valleys. The Survey Account speaks with enthusiasm, also, of
the timber trees ' of prodigious height and magnitude ' which
grow upon it in those days ; but most of the range belongs to
the Ammayanayakkanur zamindari and its forests have been so
recklessly denuded that much (f the great damage done by the
floods of 1877-78 (the breaching of road^, of the railway, and of
950 tanks in Melur taluk alone) was attributed by the then
Collector to the utter bareness of its slopes.
Mr. William Elliott, Judge of Madura from 1838 to 1840,
appears to have been the first to start planting coffee on the
range, and he is said to have obtained his seeds and young plants
from Mysore. His estate (which is still called ' Elliottdale ')
eventually passed to M. Faure de Fondclair (father of the M.
Emile de Fondclair already mentioned as the pioneer of coffee-
planting on the Lower Palnis ) and from his family to the Eoman
Cath.^lic Mission. ' Vans Agnew's estate ' is another property
on the range which is under European management. The coolies
who work on the estates go up every day and return to their
villages at night. The coffee grown is considered superior to
that from the Palnis. In 1870 Capt. E. A. Campbell, late of the
Madras Army, was experimenting on these hills, on behalf of the
Cotton and Silk Supply Associations, with mulberry trees and
exotic cotton.
K&ranila- The Karandauialais, which stand some eight miles north-east
malais. of the Sirumalais, measure about six miles across and are crowned
by a little plateau un which are three small villages. From all
sides of this run down low ridges enclosing steep valleys each of
which has its own local name and gives rise to a small rivulet. On
the southern slope are the remains of a fine cocoanut garden and
of a hunting-seat of a former poligar.
PHYSICAL EE8CRIPTI0JC. »
The Alagarmalais, so called from tlio fa-nous tomi>lo to CU.W. T.
Ala^arsvarai v/hioh etar.ds at the soatliern f(jot (»f thoin tA-e've Hills.
miles from Madara (see p. 2.S2), consist of a ridtre about ten miles j^]^^^^
in length and 1,000 foet above the sea at its highest point, from malaij.
which lesser ridges branch otf in every direction I'lTiniag valleys
which again have each a local name.
The JVattam and Ailur hills merit no lengthy detcription. TheXaitam
They are little, stony ridges and hummocks with steep sides ^J'lfg'^'^'^'"
covered with the shallowest soil, and are of value only for the icon
ore they contain and the scrub they support.
Besides all the above, the district contains a large number Isolarcdh lla
of isolated peaks and heights which belong to no regular range.
Some of these are worthy of passing mention. The Diudigul
rock, the Anaiinalai and the Pasumalai are separately relVrred
to later on fpp. 2-32, 254 an 1 2:S). Eangamalai {o,0'J\) feet),
en the northern frontier of Dindigul, is excee<ling]y pr^.miuent
throughout most of that taluk and Palni. On one of its
precipitous sides is a temple and a sacred pool iuto which the
devout throw money and jewellery in performance of vows, and
on top of it is a cauldron which is filled with ghee and lighted ut
Kartigai and l)ipavali. Karumalai (' black hill,' 2, '"'2 7 feet)
five miles to the south-sou'h west, is similarly sucrf^d, peopla
going op on Saturdays to the spring which issues from its side
from beneath two big boulders leaning towards one another.
Kondrangimalai (2,701 feet), tea miles away on the rorthern
frontier of Palni, is even more striking in appearance than either
of these. The foot of it is clothed with jungle, and out of this
rises a very steep, tapenng, sugar-loaf peak, formed of one mass
of solid rock, bare of any vegetation. On the top of it (as is the
case with so many of the striking peaks in this district) is a tiny
shrine, the ascent to which passes up steps cut in the rock and is
provided with iron stanchions where the climb is steepest. The
hi'l is a most not,iceable landmark for miles in every direction.
It is the h>indsomest peak of its kind in all Madira, aud the
morning mists cling lovingly round it long after they have risen
from the side., of its plainer rivals.
There are surprisingly few noticeable tors among all the
wildernesses of rock with which tlie district abounds. Perhaps
the most reniHrkable 15 that on S6;nagiii, a hill four miles east of
the eastern edge of the Alagarmidais. This consists of one huge
j«tone balanced upon a much sleniierer pedestal, the whole being
perhaps 80 feet hi^rh. It is visible over half Melur taluk aud
Mr. Bruce Foote has likened its appearance from the low grouud
on the north to that of the head and neck of a bcaatiful child.
9
10
MADUHA,
CHAP. I.
HlLT,9.
Scenery.
RiVKRS.
The Gundar,
Tirnmani-
muttar ani
Pilar.
Kodavanar,
NangSnji,
Nallatangi
and Shanmu-
ganadi.
These many ranges and hills make Madura a very picturesque
country. 'J'hey form a background wliich redeems from the
commonplace even its least inviting portion (the Llack cotton-soil
country of Tirumangalam, diversified only by scattered babul
trees and shimmering mirages) and which elevates its most
charming corner (the deep Kambam valley) into a high position
among the entirely delightful localities in the Presidency. Their
colouring would exhaust the vocabulary of the most facile word-
p.'iinter and their outlines vary infinitely from the gentlest of
grass-covered sloj)es to the wildest of precipitous, bare crags.
Among them all, the Palnis stand without a rival ; whether when
at the first dawn a peak here and a slioulder there advance,
capriciously, into the warm light, leaving all the rest in mysteri-
ous gloom ; at evening, when their topmost heights glow with the
rose-colour of the fading sunset ; or at night, when the big cliffs
resume once more their silent watch over the villages below.
Perhaps of all the many moods of this range the most memorable
is when, during a break in the rains, its summits, looking loftier
than ever, remain wreathed in heavy clouds, while its slopes,
seamed with a hundred torrents and cascades, gleam in the fitful
sunlight with every shade of green and blue, from jade-colour to
emerald, from turquoise to lapis lazuli.
The multiplicity of hills renders the drainage system of the
district somewhat complicated. It is enough to mention shortly
here the direction and general nature of the various rivers. The
irrigation works which depend upon them are referred to below
in Chapter IV.
• The Tirumangalam taluk drains south-eastwards away from
the Varushanad and Andipatti range into the Gundar and its
tributary the Kamandalanadi, which unite outside the district
within the Ramnad zamindari. The Gundar flows through Tiru-
mangalam town, but not until it reaches Kamudi in the Eamnad
country is it utilised to any extent for irrigation. The river is
very uncertain, being often in high flood one day and nearly dry
the next.
The north of Melur taluk drains eastwards into the Tirumani-
muttar and the Palar, which are also fickle streams of little
importance within this district but more useful in the lower part of
their courses.
The red soil plains of Dindigul and Palni in the north of the
district drain due northwards into four almost parallel rivers
which rise in the Palnis and eventually fall into the Amaravati
and so into the Cauvery. These (see the map) are the Kodavanar,
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. ll
Nanganji, Nallatangi and Slianmuganadi. Like tlie Gundar, they CHAP. I.
are often in heavy flood one day and trickling" streamlets the Kivers.
next. The picturesque falls of the Nanganji near Yirupakshi are '
referred to in the account of that place on p. 809 below. U'he most
useful of these four rivers is the Shanmuganadi (' six-faced
stream '), which receives the drainage of the great Vilpatti and
Pumlbarai valleys already mentioned. Six principal torrents
flowing down from these combine to form it, and hence its name.
The streams thus far referred to drain the outskirts of the The Vaigai
district. The centre is included in the main river system — that ^'^■! '^^ tribu.
of the Vaigai and its tributaries. These latter all rise in the
Palni hills or the Varushanad and Andipatti range, and join the
Vaigai in the valley which lies between these two. Thereafter
the river receives no tributaries of any importance and flows
south-eastwards past Madura town into the Bay of Bengal not
far from Eamnad. The geography of this upper part of the
"Vaigai and the courses of the affluents it there receives can be
better grasped from the map than from any quantity of written
description.
It will be seen that the river rises in the Varushandd valley
already mentioned and at first flows due north in a winding bed.
Nearly parallel with it meanders the Suruli, which drains the
whole of the upper pait of the adjoining Kambam valley. The
head waters of this latter fling themselves down from the lower
spurs of the High Wavy in a beautiful fall which is visible from
the road along the bottom of the valley. Near here are sacred
caves (the chief is the Kaildm pudavu) whicli are annually visited
by many pilgrims, who bathe in the river and sacrifice goats.
The water has the property (possessed by several of the Derby-
shire streams) of ' petrifying ' objects placed in it. The river is
almost entirely supplied from the south flank of the Kambam
valley (the hills on the other side drain northwards into Travan-
core) and until lately it was of comparatively small importance,
Recently, however, the biggest of the Travancorc rivers, the
Periyar, has been dammed up (see p. 126), and turned, by a tunnel
blasted through the watershed, down into the Kambam valley,
where it is led into the bed of the Suruli. In consequence tho
latter is now full of water for nine or ten months in the year.
About two miles south of Allinagaram the Suruli is joined by
tho Teni, an almost perennial stream which rises in the deep
Bodinayakkanur valley. Another two miles further on, their
combined waters join the Vaigai and they arc no more heard of.
The Vaigai is now a deep and rapid stream flowing in a narrow
12
MADURA.
CHAP. I.
KlVM.S.
Soits.
channel. It soon chang-es its direction and runs cast-north-east-
wards under the northern slopes of the Aifdipatti hills and the
J^Iaganialai. In tliis part of its course it is met. hy the Varaha-
nidi ('boar river') and tlie Manjalar (' yellow river '). The
fo finer of these runs down from the Upper I'aluis through Teri-
jakulam town, where it unites with the Pambar, a stream well
kngwn at Kodaikanal and the falls of which are a prominent
object from the bridle-path leading to that station. The Manja-
lar (sometimes called ' the Yattilagionda river ') dashes down the
side ol' the Palnis just above Devadauapatti in a splendid cataract
200 feet high which is visible from the main road there, and
then races past A^'attilagundu, is joir ed by tl.e A yynmpalaijara river
from tie Lower Palnis and flows into the Vaigai. Immediately
afterwards, the latter turns and begi-^s the soutt-easterly
conr?o wluch it continues until it reaihes the st a. Just at the
point where it rims under the corresponding bend iu the Naga-
malai it is crossed by the important Peranai and Chittanai darns
referred to in Chapter IV, the former of which renders available
for irrigation the water of ti:e Periyar which has reached it
through the Suruli.
Before the advent of this water the Vaigai used to be in
heavy flood for a week or two and dry for almost all the rest of
the vear ; and its supply was so inadequate that in normal years
hardly any water escaped being diawn off by the channels which
lead off from either bank, so that at the point where it enters the
Bay of Bengal the stream was reduced to the merest trickle.
Now even below the two dam?, the flow is more considerable and
more constant.
The soils of Madura belong principally to the red ferruginous
series, the black varieties being
uncommon and the purely are-
naceous sorts entirely absent.
The marginal table shows the
percentage of the assessed area
of ryotwari and minor inam land
in each taluk wliich is covered
with black and red soils respect-
ively. It will be noticed that,
excluding the Palni hills, Tiru-
roangalam is the only taluk in
which the proportion of black
cotton-soil is considerable, and
tliat the other taluks are almost cntirel}' covered with red earths.
T:.luk.
l'prcentao;e.
^
o
"i
cS
a>
pq 1 HH
KcdaiVraTial
3G
ei
Palni
94
Dindigul
4
9;3
I*(i; lyjikulani
<)
91
Maf'iira
U
H)
M6Iiir
100
'i i.urjargriluni
Total .
61
15
3'J
8 J
PHYSICAL DESCKIPTION-.
13
CHAP. I.
Soils.
Climate.
Ruinfall,
The cotton-soil of Tiremangalain differs, however, from that of
the Deccan districts ; being- more friaWe, less retentive of mois-
ture and more suited to irrigation. It is, in fact, regularly
irrigated from both tanks and wells, and systematically irrigated
paddy may often be seen growdng side by side with cotton
cultivated as a dry crop.
The rainfall of the district is referred to in some detail on
p. 160 below. The average fall is 33"88 inches (half cf which is
received in the north-east niimsoon between October and Decem-
ber) and is lightest in Palni and Dindigal and heaviest (excluding
the Palni hills) in Madura and Melur.
The temperature is officially recorded at Madura ami Kodai- Temierature.
kanal, but figures for
the latter are avail-
able for only a short
period. The aver-
age maxima and
minima and the mean
for 'each month at
Madura are shown
in degrees Fahren-
heit in the margin,
and alongside is
given the daily velo-
city of the wind in
each month. These
figures do not, how-
ever, give an idea
of the extremes
which are sometimes
reached. The mer-
cury has been known, for example, to fall to 59*2° and to rise
to 105-5°.
The annual mean temperature is four degrees higher than in
the next recording station to the north, Coimbatore, and in every
month in the year the mean in Madura is in excess of the figure
at that station. Compared with its other next neighbours,
Trichinopoly and Tinnovclly, Madura will be found to be a degree
or two cooler than the latter in every month in the year, but
slightly hotter than the former in the four months November to
February. TJie worst part of the year is April, May and June,
and it is only in November, December anti January that tlie mean
temperature is below 80°. Dindigul, however, is considerably
Month.
Tempeiatur
-.
iii
« 2
tfc s
£ 3
a; .-
^ a
.Average
minimum.
o
°
^
January
87-5
68-6
78-1
129-G
February
020
09-5
80-8
120-0
March
i)Q-7
72-8
84-8
98-4
Apiil
99-.3
76-4.
fc-7 9
80 4
May
100- 1
77-5
J^8-8
88-8
June
98-2
77-1
87-7
115-2
July
97-2
76-4,
8G-8
110-4
August
9GG
7.' -8
86-2
88-8
September ...
95-;*.
7.'j-3
85-3
81-6
October
91-3
74-0
82 7
G9-6
November ...
87-3
72-5
799
912
December ...
The year
8G0
70-5
78-3
117 6
94-0
1 73-9
1
83-9
{ 99-8
i
Geology,
ll MADURA.
CHAP. I, cooler than Madura, and daring the south-west monsoon the heat
Climate. in the Xambam vallej is reduced V>y the pleasant breeze which
blows down it from the hills. In Madura town, as the figures
above show, the only 2:)eriods when the wind is at all strong are
after the north-east, and during the south-west, monsoon.
The annual mean humidity of Madura (70'2) is slightly less
than that of Tinne\elly and rather higher than that of Trichinopoly.
Of the five-day periods for which the Meteorological department
works out averages, the driest in the year (humidity 61"6) is
usually that from June 20th to 24th and the wettest (humidity
78-8) from November 7th to 11th.
Geologically, Madura is not interesting. Except a narrow
alluvial strip along the Yaigai valley (which generally consists of
a very sandy loam) the whole of the district is covered with
gneissic rocks. These have not yet been examined in any great
detail, especially in the north of the district, but in the centre
and south they may apparently be divided^ into the following six
groups :--
1. Lower granitoid gneiss — Tirumangalam group.
2. Lower granular quartz rock — Kokkulam group.
3. Middle granitoid gneiss — Skandamalai group.
4. Middle grauular quartz rock — Nagamalai group.
5. Upper granitoid gneiss — Melur group.
6. Upper granular quartz rock — Alagarmalai group.
The lowest of this series, the lower granitoid gneiss group,
is the set of beds which occur in the Tirumangalam taluk. The
next lowest, the lower granular quartz rock, forms a ridge about
two miles to the south of the Nagamalai and has been named
after the village of Kokkulam (off the Tirumangalam-Solavandan
road) which stands close by one portion of it. This can be
traced, despite some gaps, for many miles. Northwards from
Kokkulam the ridge runs parallel to the Nagamalai for a great
distance and to the south it extends beyond the Skandamalai (or
Tirupparankunram hill) before it disappears under the alluvium.
The middle granitoid gneiss group is well exemplified in the
Skandamalai and in some smaller hills to the north-west of this
near the Tirumangalam-Solavandan road. The fourth of the six
groups, the middle granular quartz rock, forms the Nagamalai
and its continuation the Pasumalai, and then disa^jpears south-
wards under the alluvium. The upper grauitoid gneiss group
^ See Mr. Bruce Foote'B description of them in the Memoirs of the Geol.
Sury. of India, xx, pt, Ij H ff-j from which the pi-eeent account is abstracted.
PHYSICAL DESCRIT'TION. 15
occupies tlie country to the nortli-west of Tirnvadur in the Meh'ir CHAP T.
taluk anrl stretches to the north-east as far as tlic alluvium of GKor.ooy.
the Palar and to the south-west down to the valley of the Yaigai.
The numerous hills which are ^formed of this rock in this tract
are conspicuous for their holdness of form and Leauty of colour.
Among- them is the curious Anaimalai referred to on p. 254,
below.
The uppermost of the six groups, the upper granular quartz
rock, appears prominently in the hold scarp of the south-east side
of the Alagarraalai.
In the west of the district charnockite is found, and the
Palnis consist entirely of this rock. In the Yarushanad hills are
hornblende schists and granulites, penetrated by veins of mica-
bearing pegmatite.
Minerals are extremely rare. At Tirumal, a village five miles Minerals,
north-east of Kalligudi railway-station in the Tirumangalam taluk,
is a broad band of white crystalline limestone which may be
traced nearly two miles to the eastward and has been much
quarried, and a little to the westward of Kokkulam (two miles
north of Tirumal) are two smaller limestone beds. This rock is
also scattered through other parts of the district. From the
Gopalasvami hill, in the extreme south of Tirumangalam near the
road to Srivilliputtur, red and white fragments of transparent
quartz are obtained. Short and small quartz veins also occur
on the western slope of the Sirumalais east and south-east of
Ammayanayakkanur railway-station. Perhaps the best building-
stone in the district is that quarried from the Skandamalai.
The iron ore found near Kottampatti in Melur taluk and the gold-
washing at Palakkaniittu in Dindigul are referred to in the
accounts of those places in Chapter XV (pp. 287 and 241) below.
In 1899 the Greological Survey of India acquired an interest-
ing meteorite which had been found near Kodaikanal. It is only
the second iron mctc.>vite which has been discovered in India and
weighed about 85 lbs. against the 10 lbs. of the other known
example, which fell in the Vizagapatam district in 18~0. It was
composed almost entirely of nickeliferous iron.'
Botanically, the most interesting parts of the district are the Flora.
Palni and Sirumalai Hills. Dr. Eobert Wight, the well-known
botanist, vi>ited a portion of the former in 1836 and recorded his
observations in the Madras Journal of Liferafure and Science for
' See the Survey's General Report for 1890-1900, 4, for moro particiilars
of it.
16 MADURA.
CHAP. 1. April 18^7 ; and in the sarno mngfizitiG for Jan nary-Marcli 1858
. Fr.oRA. is (Jolonol Bodiiomo's account of tho ' Flora of the Piilnej Hill'
whifli enumerates over 703 species of plants, exclusive of Compo-
sittT, Gra>nin(B and Cryplojams wliicli wore not determined.
Wight says : —
' The natural productions of the country are eufficiently varied to
give us reason to put a high estimate on its probable capahillties. In
the course of about 15 days I collected little short of 500 species of
plants, and without any attempt on my part to preserve specimens of
all the plants in flower or fruit at this season ; many being rejected
merely because 1 was not in want of specimens. It did not in bhort
occur to me at the time, which it has since, to compare the vegetable
productions of these hills with the recorded ones of the country generally.
Tliis I greatly regret, as I tnink, were a somewhat perfect collection
formed, it would be found to contain a number of species amounting to
from one-half to four-fifths of the whole peninsula flora, so far as we
are yet acquainted with it, and to present a vast number of species
peculiar to themselves. Among the European forms observed were
two species of Ranunculus; two oi Anemone ; three of Clematis; two
of Berberis ; a new Parnassia ; two of Drcsera (sun-dew) ; one Stellana,
and one Cerastium (chick-weed) ; a rose, very abundant ; three or four
kinds of rasps or brambles ; one Potennlhi ; one Circaa (enchanter's
night shade) ; a tree allied to the Bilberry {Thihaudt'a); one AnagalUs;
two oi Lysimichia, both allied to British species; the common dock,
very abundant about the vilbiges; and three kinds of rushes (Juncvs),
one very nearly allied to the common British rush {Jimcus rffasus).
Among the truly tropical forms, a species of Magnolia, the first I
believe that has been discovered in the peninsula, is the most interest-
ing; the RJiododendron ncbihs, very abundant; a very large and hand-
some Ilex (holly), but without the thorny leaves of the European pi int ;
a sj)Gcics of Gordonia, a tree resembling In its flowers the Car'ie'ia and
tea plant; a veiy remarkable s;k cies of fig, with a climbing stem,
bearing fruit of the size of large oranges, in clusters along the stems;
besides many other interesting trees which 1 fear it would be tedious
to mention. Four species o? palms are met with ou the higher
regions, name'}', the sago palm [Canjota urcns), a wild areca palm, the
Jien(ir,cl-ia co?idiipana, and an alpine species of date. The grasses aio
very numerous but the predominant tribe (Andro^'O^inex) are not those
best suited for pasturage, being generally of a coarse nature and
highly aromatic quality. Ferns, m- ss s, and lichens, abound : among
which, the moit conspicuous is a branching variety of the Tre^ fern
[Aldophila) very common in thick jungles ou moist banks of ttream=.'
Dr. A. G. Bourne, f.r.S., and Mrs. Bourne have since studied
the flora in the neighbourhood of Kodaikanal, and the former has
vorj kindly permitted the reproduction of the following extracts
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 17
from hia introductory note to tLe list of plants they observed in CIIAP. I.
that part : — Flora.
' I have been able to trace most of the plants mentioned by
Wight. Ranunculus reniforml>i, Wall, and B. Walh'c/nanus, W.
and A. are both very common. The two species of Anemone are
doubtless merged into A. rwularis, Ham, ; that at any rate is the
only species I find. The three Clematis are C. smilacifolia, Wall.,
C. GoiirianOy Eoxb. and C. Wiyhtiana, Wall. The two Berberids
are B. nepalensis, Spr. and B. aristata, DC. The new ' Parnassia '
is doubtless Parnassia nnjsorcnsis, Heyne. The Droseras are
B. Burmaimi, Valil. and D. peltata, Sm. The latter literally
clothes the banks in certain places. Stellaria media occurs and
is common in certain places only, while Cerastium indicum is
abundant in a few spots. Ros(\ LesehetiauUiana, AV. & A., the
only wild rose I found, is common in a few localities only. The
* three or four kinds of rasps or brambles ' resolve themselves into
Rubus molluccanus, L., R. ellipticus, Sm. and R. lasiocarpus, Sm.
The latter is doubtless Roxburgh's R. racemosus. Potentilla Les-
chenaultiana is very common. Wight's Girccea turns out to be C.
alpina. With regard to the ' tree allied to the Bilberry,' I have
three species of Vaccinium. Anagallis arvensis is very rare except
near Pumbarai. Lysimachia Leschenaultii, Duby and L. deltoides
both abound. Rumex nepalensis^ Spreng. is the only ' dock '
I found and there was not much of that. Juncus glaucus, Ehrh.
{J. effusus, Steud.) and J. prismatoca^'pus, Br. are both common.
With regard to the ' truly tropical forms ' the Magnolia
mentioned by Wight and subsequently by Beddome must be
Mtchelia champaca, and this is more frequently met with on the
Piimbarai side, which they chiefly explored, than near Kodaikanal ;
it also occurs on the Sirumalais, but in both places has been
doubtless planted, as it is not found far away from the villages.
Rhododendron arboreum, var. nilagirica, Ilex malabarica, I. Gard-
neriana and three other species, Gordonia obtusa, Ftcus macrocarpa,
with its ' fruit the size of large oranges,' all find a place in my list.
The soil on the hills varies in depth from a few inches to a
few feet, while in many places patches of fairly smooth bare rock
are exposed ; this is sometimes full of cracks and covered with
loose boulders. In such places, even where there is not sufficient
soil for grass, may be found Cyanoiis arachnoidea, Anisochilus,
Kalanchoe, Aneilema Koenigii, and here and there groups of
Osbeha Wightiana attaining from five to six feet in height,
all rooting in the crevices. Where there is a little soil, the
commonest grasses will be Andropogon contortus and A. lividus, the
3
18 MADURA.
CIIAP. I. spikes, stems, and (when mature) tlie leaves, of wliich form tlie
Flora. chief factor in giving the hill tops their purplish tinge. A little
lower down come great tufts of Pollmia quadrinervis var.
Wiyhtii, with its fascicles of rich brown spikes on stems generally-
several feet in height, of Ischcemum ciliare, with its pairs of thick
rich purple spikes, of ArundineUa villosa, with its solitary untidy-
looking spikes, and of Andropo(/on zeylanicus and A. Wiyhtiana,
both with long graceful panicles — the former mostly purplish in
colour with bright yellow anthers and rich purple styles, and the
latter a most beautiful grass, the outer glumes of the pedicelled
spikelets being salmon-coloured, the sessile spikelets leraon-yellow
(as are the anthers and styles) while the awns are over two inches
long and yellowish brown in colour. Among these tall species,
in addition to those above mentioned, occur Tripogon bromoides,
ArundineUa mesophylla (peculiar, so far as I know, to these hills)
and, keeping quite low on the ground, Eragrostis amabilis. At
rather lower elevations, say 5,000 feet downw^ards, one may come
across miniature forests of Andropogon Nardus and, though not
usually in the same localities, A. schoenanthus, the former readily
distinguishable here from the latter by the almost electric green
of its leaves. On the ghdt are some splendid clumps of
Andropogon halepemis and Garnotia.
To return to the high hills, almost everywhere are to be found
among the grass Brunella vulgaris, Knoxia mollis, Wahlenbergia
gracilis, Leucas hehanthemifolia, Indigofera pedicellata, Cyanotis
Wighiii (in better soil only, than C. arachnoidea will grow in — it
may generally be found at the bottom of the pits which have beeu
dug for planting trees in if they have been left empty for a year
or two), Poly gala sibirica and, frequently with it and closely
resembling it in leaf and habit, Crotalaria albida. The small-
leaved variety of C. rubiginosa is common in some places and
commoner stiU. is a Crotalaria which I cannot match. This occurs
in perfectly glabrous forms in some places ; it attains its largest
size where it grows in good soil on a road-side bank and its
branches hang down. Yery common also in similar situations
are two Valerians ( V. Hookeriana on the Kodaikanal side, V.
Beddomei on the Piimb^rai side), Striga lutea, Gentiana quadrifaria^
to see the azure blue of whose flowers one must go out in the
middle of the day, Micromeria bijlora^ the leaves of which are most
delicately aromatic, Bupleurum disticophyllum , Curculigo orchioides,
with its three or four leaves and single yellow flower coming up
out of the ground, and, sometimes in great patches making a whole
hill-side white, Anaphalis oblonga and A. brevi/olia.
PHYSICilL DBSCRIPTION, 19
A notable feature ol many of those liill-sicles is the number of CHAP. I.
small landslips whicli liave occurred owing- to the surface soil Flora
slipping- on the smooth rock. Sometimes they look like the foot-
steps of a gigantic animal wliich lias slipped in going up hill ; at
others they are on a larger scale and an entire liill-side appears to
be terraced with steps from tliree to four feet high and from five
to six feet Avide ; in some places they have occurred on a huge
scale and, as suggested hy Wight, the whole of the Pumbarai
â– valley with its numerous offshoots looks as though it had been
formed in this way. Going down the slopes to the' bottoms of
the valleys one constantly passes through masses of Strobikmt/ies
JCunthianus and below it bracken. At the bottom flourish Dipsacus
Leschenaultii and alas ! huge thistles — Cnicus WalUchii — and
Heradeum SprerKjeUamum and H. rigens. The streamlet at the
bottom runs as a rule between six and eight feet underground,
showing- itself here and there at the bottom of deep holes formed
by the falling in of the earth. In the tunnels live jackals and
the hill mongoose, Herpesies viiUcollis. The vertical, or even
under-cut, sides of the holes are covered with ferns, and here
one may constantly find Biumea hieracifolia, Parnassia mysorensis,
HydrocotyJe, Se^^picuJa indica and in some places the charming
little Circcea aJpina. Very few other plants grow in tliese holes,
into many of which very little light penetrates.
When there is a large damp area the ground is generally
bright with flowers — in contrast to most similar spots on the
Nilgiris. In such places grow Lysimachia Leschenaultii, FedicuJaris
zeylanica, Impatiens tenella, Osbekia cupuJaris, Exacum airopur-
pureum, Scdyrium nepalense, AnapJialis Wightiana, BanuncuJus
reniformis, Dipsacm Leschenaultii, Oommelina clavata, Eriocauhn,
Lenttbuhrtce, Xyris, Hypericum napoulense and H. j'aponicwn, and
Drosera. The commonest plants forming road-side hedges are the
species of Rubus and in some places Adenostemma. Scattered trees
are almost sure to be Photinia, Vaccinium, Eurya or Bhododendron,
Other plants which one is pretty sure to meet with hcte and
there in any walk are Artemisia, Polygonum Chineme^ Heradeum
Sprengelianum, Pimpinella, Coleus barbatus, Hedyoiis Sweriioides and
H. articularis, Sopubia irifida and S. Delphinifolia, Gaultheria
fragrantissima , Senedo zeylanica and S. LaranduJif alius , Anaphalis
artstata, Cnicus WalUchii, various species of Pledranthus, Campanula
fulgens, Emilia Sond/ifolia, Flemingia, etc., etc. Strobilanfhes Kun-
ihianus forms great patches here and there and even covers
whole hill-sides. The commonest ground orchids are Spiranthes
aushrdis, of wliich I have counted over fifty spikes while standing
in one spot, Habemria elliptica and H. Gakandra.'
20
MADURA.
CHAP. I. The flora of the Sirumalais has not yet "been examined in
Flora. detail, but Dr. Bourne's collectors found there a number of
plants which do not occur on the Palnis, and the range deserves
systematic study.
Fauna. The indigenous cattle of the district are small and of no
Cattle. special value, and the Kappiliyans of the upper part of the Kam-
bam valley (see belo^) are the only people who take any trouble
to improve the breed. In Melur and Tirumangalam ploughing
is even done (especially by the Kalians) with cows. In Dindigul
and Melur' the ryots import ani]nals from Manapdrai and
Marungdpuri in Trichinopoly, while Palni taluk is partly supplied
with Coimbatore {' Kongandd ') cattle. The richer ryots in Tiru-
mangalam also purchase Mysore bullocks for ploughing the
cotton-soil there, which requires strong animals, In many
villages cattle are specially raised for the j'allikats referred to
on p. 83 beloWj and these have been described' as being a
special breed.
The chief cattle market in the district is that held at Madura
on the occasion of the great Chittrai festival at the temple there.
As many as 30,000 head have been counted at this fair and it is
perhaps the largest in the southern districts. The majority of
the foreign animals brouglit to it are those reared round about
Manapdrai and in Coimbatore, but some Mysore cattle from
Salem are also offered for sale.
The number of ploughing-bullocks per cultivated acre is, as
elsewhere, smallest in the dry taluks and largest where wet lands
are most common. The supply is at present insufficient on the
land in Melur whicli is being newly irrigated with the Periyar
water. Here and there cholam is grown for fodder, being sown
very thickly so as to produce a thin stalk, and round Vedasandur
in Dindigul grass is cultivated on dry fields ; but otherwise no
special steps are taken to provide cattle food. Einderpest is not
uncommon and caused great loss in Periyakulam taluk in 1899.
The Kappiliyans of Kambam above alluded to are immigrants
from the Canarese country and speak that language. They
possess a herd of about 150 cattle of a distinctive breed (small,
active, round-barrelled animals, well known for their trotting
powers) which they say are the descendants of some cattle they
brought with them when they first came to these parts. These
deserve a note. They are called the devaru dvn in Canarese or in
Tamil the iambirdn mddu, both of which phrases mean ' the sacred
^ Bulletin No. 44, Vol. II, of the Madras Department of Land Eecords
and Agriculture.
PHYSICAL DESCBIPTION. 2l
herd.' The cows are never milked and are only used for breed- CHAP. I.
ing. Members of the herd which die are buried, and are not Fauna.
(as elsewhere) allowed to bo desecrated by the chuckler's skin-
ning-knife. The leader of the herd is called ' the king- bull '
(patfadu dvu), and when lio dies a successor is selected in a quaint
manner with elaborate and expensive ceremonial. On the
auspicious day fixed for the election the whole herd is assembled
and camphor, plantains, betel and nut and so forth are solemnly
offered to it. A bundle of sugar-cane is then placed before it,
and the attendant Kdppiliyans watch eagerly to see which of the
bulls of the herd will approach and eat this. The animal which
first does so is acclaimed as the new ' king bull ' and is formally
installed in his office by being daubed with saffron and kunku-
mam and garlanded with flowers. Thereafter he is treated by
the whole caste as a god, is given the holy name of Nandagopala-
svami, and is allotted, to watch over and worship him, a special
attendant who enjoys the inams which stand in his name and
is the custodian of the jewels and the copper grants which were
presented in days gone by to his predecessors. There are now
nine of these grants, but they do not state the Sakha year in
which they were drawn out and the names of the rulers who
conferred them are not identifiable. The king bulls are credited
with having performed many miracles, stories of which are stUl
eagerly related, and their opinion is still solicited on matters of
importance. The herd, for example, is not taken to the hills for
the hot weather until its king has signified his approval by
accepting some sugar and milk placed near him. His attendant
always belongs to a particular sub-division of the caste and
when he dies his successor is selected in as haphazard a fashion
as the king bull himself. Before t]:e assembled Kdppiliyans,
puja is offered to the sacred herd ; and then a }'oung boy is
seized with divine inspiration and points out the man who is to be
the new holder of the ofPce.
The herd receives recruits from outside, owing to the Hindus
round about dedicating to it all calves whicli are born on the first
day of Tai, but these are not treated as being quite of the elect.
The K^ppiliyans have recently raised Es. 11,000 by taxing all
members of the caste in the Periyakulam taluk for three years,
and have spent this sum in building roomy masonry quarters at
Kambam for the sacred herd. Tlieir chief grievance at present
is that the same grazing foes are levied on tlieir animals as ou
mere ordinary cattle, which, they urge, is equivalent to treating
gods as equals of men.
22
MADUKA.
Sheep and
goats.
CHAP. I. 'A'lie care tliey take of their animals suggests the possibility
Fauna, of improving the breed hj giving them a good Government bull.
This would need to be of one of the lighter breeds, as the cows
are all small.
In 1879 and the following years an experiment was made to
see how Amrat Mahal cattle would do on the Palnis. A small
herd of twelve animals was entrusted by Government to Mr.
Verc Levinge, who liad retired to Kodaikanal from the^Collector-
ship of Madura, and this was under his charge until his deatli
in 1885. It was then dispersed. While it was on the hills it
increased to twenty-six head and — except for one attack of foot
and mouth disease— flourished well. Mr. Levinge reported that a
mixed herd of his own, consisting of English, Australian, country-
bred and Aden cattle, also did well there on no other food than
tlie natural grass of the hills.
The sheep of the district are of two varieties ; namely, the
hairy, long-legged, red kind which is only useful as a manuring
agent and to be turned into mutton, and the black sort which
carries a fleece of inferior, wiry, wool. The coarse blankets which
are woven from this material by the Canarese-.speaking Kurubas
are referred to on p. 145 below, and the considerable trade which
is carried on in sheep and goat skins is mentioned on p. 151.
The goats of Madura are of the usual kind and, as elsewhere,
their numbers constitute one of the difficult problems in forest
conservancy.
Game. Madura is a poor place for small game. Snipe are the only
game-birds which can be said to be plentiful. The best spots
for these are the tanks round Solavandan which are periodically
filled with the Periyar water. Their foreshores abound with the
liorai grass which is the bird's favourite cover. Late in the
season the Tirupparankunram wet land is also a likely part.
Duck and teal are most easily obtained on the tanks in Tiru-
mangalam, which are smaller, as a rule, than those elsewhere.
The other usual game-birds are met with all over the district,
but in small numbers. Florican are occasionally seen, round
Andipatti are some sand-grouse, and on the Upper Palnis are
woodcock.
Large game is confined to the hill ranges. All the usual south
Indian species, from elephant and bison downwards, occur.
Elephants vrere formerly very numerous all over the Palui
range and the old records are full of accounts of the devastation
they caused, even as far east as Kannivadi zamindari, and of the
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. 23
steps taken to reduce tlieir numbers, Tliey are seldom seen on CHAP. T.
this range now, even on the upper parts of it. Lieutenant Jervis;, FArx*.
in his Narrative of a journey to the Falls of the Cauvery, speaks oi
a natural pass on the hills near Kamham, which those familiar
with that locality may be able to identify, where these animals
were regularly caught in pits. The place ended in a narrow
gorge between two rocks through which only one elephant could
pass at a time, and ihe herds were driven through this into a net-
work of pits dug on the other side of it in a hollow between two
hills. He speaks of 63 elephants being trapped or shot there
on one occasion in four hours. Mr. Robert Fischer of Madura
possesses a pair' of elephant tusks, obtained in the d^Atrict, of
which the larger is 72 inches long, 18| inches in greatest cjirth
and weighs 72^ lb. and the smaller measures GO iuches ii
length, 18^ inches in girth and weighs 06 lb.
Bison are fairly plentiful, and two small herds of poor
specimens still roam the Alagarmalais, These animals used
to be numerous on the Sirumalais, but (with every other sort of
large game) they have long since disappeared from there. The
Nilgiri ibex {Hemitrayus I/ylocrius) is also found in one or two
spots on the Upper Palnis. The other game animals present
no peculiarities.
'Hie monkeys of the district are numerous and impudent.
They used to be such a nuisance in Madura town that people had
to cover the roofs of their houses with thorns ; and at length they
were all caught and deported. An almost worse pest which has
taken their place is the notorious Madura mosquito — a venomous
and vindictive breed.
24 MADUBA.
CHAPTER 11.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
Prehistoric Pbotles — Palieolithic man — Kistvaens, etc. Earlt Histort — The
Pandya dynasty — Its anticjuity — Appears in early Tamil literature — Its first
mention in inscriptions — Its struggles with the Pallavas, 7th century-
Decline of the latter — The Ganga-Pallavas, 9th century — Pandya as-
cendancy — The Chola revival. 10th to 12tb centuries— Pandya rebellions —
Pdndya renaissance, 12th century — Struggle for the throne— Decline of the
Cholas, 13th century — Pandya rule thenceforth— Maravarman Sundura.
Pandya I, 1216-35 — Arrival of the Hoysalas — Jatavarman Sundara-Pandya
I, 1251-(il — End of the Hoysala and Clidla power — Maravarman Kulas6khara
I (1268-1308) and his successor — Splendour of the Pandya realm. Musai,-
MAN Invasion, 1310— Musalman dynasty at Madura. Vi.jayanagar Dominion,
1365— Its effects — King Achyuta's campaign, 1532. XXvakkan DyNA.sTY,
1559-1736 — Its origin — Visvauatha Nayakkan, 1559-63 — His immediate
successors — Fall of Vijayanagar kingdom, 1565 — Tirumala Nayakkan, 1623-
59 — He defies Vijayanagar — Calls the Muhammadans to his aid — And
becomes their feudatory — His wars with Mysore — His death — Eebellions
among his vassals — -A curious rumour — Tirnmala's capital — His public build-
ings— Muttu Alakadri, 1659-62— Chokkanatha (1662--82)— His troubles with
his neighbours — His conquest and loss of Taaj<n-e — Attacked by Mysore and
the Marathas — The latter seize his country— Ranga Krishna Muttu Yirappa
(1682-89)— Matters improve— Mangammal (1689-1704)— Her charities— Her
wars — Her tragic death — Yijaya Ranga Chokkanatha (170-J-3])— His feeble
rnle — Minakshi (1731-36) — Musalman interference — End of Kayakkan
dynasty — Character of its rule. Musalman Dominion- Chanda Sahib (1730-
40) — A Maratha interlude (1740-i3) — Musalman authority re-established,
1743 — The rival Musalman parties. English Period— Siege of Madura,
1751 — Col. Hei'on's expedition, 1755 — Mahfui Khan rents the country —
Muhammad Yusuf sent to quiet it — Mahfuz Khan rebels — Capt. Calliaud's
attacks on Madm-a, 1757 — Anarchy again prevails — Yusuf Khan again
despatched — He rebels and is hanged, 1764 — His character — Haidar Ali's
invasion, 1780 — Assignment of the revenue to the Company, 1781 — Col.
FuUarton's expedition, 1783 — Assignment of the revenue cancelled, 1785 —
Assumption of the revenue, 1790 — The Company collects the peshkash,
1792 — Story of the Dindigul country — Its cession in 1792 — Cession of the
rest of Madura, 1801.
CHAP. II. Of palseolithic or neolithic man, practically no traces have as yet
Prehistoeic "been found in the Madura district. Mr. Bruce Foote says ^ that
Peoplfs
" associated with the shingle which is mixed with the ferruginous
Palaeolithic gravel to the north of the tank of Tallakulam village (opposite
Madura town, across the Vaigai river) occur occasional flakes of
different coloured cherts of foreign origin, some of which seem
* Memoirs, Geol. Surv. India, xx, pt. 1, 4.9 and Records, xii, pfc. 3, 154.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 25
certainly to liave been trimmed for use as scrapers or knives. He CHAP. II.
thinks further search would probably reveal unquestionably PR«niaTOBic
recognizable specimens of chipped stone instruments, but as yet *
none seem to have been discovered.
Of the existence of those prehistoric peoples who buried their Kistvaena,
dead in stone kistvaens and dolmens there is, however, abundant
evidence. Instances of these erections are reported from places
as widely separated as Kaittiyankottai and its next neiglibour
Kalvarpatti in the north of the Dindigul taluk ; Eagalapuram
and Yiralippatti, not far from one another to tlie south-east of
Dindigul town ; Mullipallam in Nilakkottai taluk ; Karungalakudi
inMelur; Kalayamuttur, Chinnakalayamutttir (those at the two
latter places are regularly worshipped by the villagers ! ) and
Palni in Palni taluk ; and Kambam and Margaiyankottai in
Periyakulam. Pyriform earthen tombs have also been found near
Kulasekharankottai in Nilakkottai taluk, Paravaiand Anuppanadi
in Madura, and Senkulam in Tirumangalam. Some of these
many remains are referred to again in Chapter XV below, and in
the same place (pp. 247-8) are mentioned the most striking of all
the prehistoric antiquities of the district, the kistvaens and dolmens
of the Palni Hills.
When times which may be styled historical are first reached, Easlt
the greater part of the Madura country is found to be in the i^'^ioRv.^
possession of the Pandya dynasty, and the early chronicles of the
district are to a large extent the history of that line.
These Piindyas were the rulers of one of three great kingdoms The Pandj-a
which in the earliest times held sway over the land of the Tamils. <iy°a,3ty.
Tradition, inscriptions and ancient literature all agree in beginning
the history of south India witli the story of tlie three dynasties of
the Cheras, the Cholas and the Pandyas, whose eponymous ances-
tors are fabled to have been three brothers who resided together
at Korkai, near the mouth of the Tambraparni river in the
Tinnevelly countr) \ They are said to have eventually separated,
Pandyan remaining at home, while Cheran and Claolan went forth
to seek their fortunes and founded kingdoms in the north and the
west respectively. TVadition, which is supported by such history
as exists, states that the Cholas ruled in the country which now
forms tlie Tanjore and Trichinopoly districts, the Cheras in
Travancore, Malabar and Coimbatore, and the Pandyas in Madura
and Tinnevelly.
^ For assistance with tliis section of khis Chapter I am very greatly indebted to
Rai Bahadur V. Venkayya, m.a., Government Epigraphist. Mr. F. R. Hemingfway,
Assistant Superintendent of Gaietteer RoviKion, compiled most of the original
draf t np to tke end of the Nayakkan dynasty.
4
26 MADUBA.
OHAP. II. Tlie Pandya kiDgdom can "boast a respectable antiquity and
Eaely is referred to by the classical writers of Greece and Rome.^
History. Megasthenes (who was sent as ambassador by Seleucus Nicator,
Its antiquitj. one of Alexander the Great's successors, to the court of Chandra
Gupta, king of Pataliputra near Patna, about 302 B.C.) speaks
of a country called Pandaia after the name of the only daughter
of ' the Indian Hercules,' or Krishna. To this only daughter
Pandaia, says Megasthenes, Krishna ' assigned that portion of
India which lies to the southward and extends to the sea.' Pliny
(A.D. 77) mentions the Pandae, king Pandion, and the hitter's
' mediterranean emporium of Modoura.' That the Pandyas at
this period occupied no mean political position is to be inferred
from Dr. Caldwell's belief that it was they who sent to the Eoman
emperor Augustus the Indian embassy mentioned by Strabo (A.U.
20). Ptolemy (A.D. 140) mentions ' Modoura the kingdom of the
Pandion.' So many Roman coins have been found in and around
Madura that it has been suggested ^ that a Eoman colony must
once have existed there.
An interesting reference to the Pandyas is also found in an
inscription of Asoka,^ the emperor and militant evangelist of
the great Buddhist Mauryan empire of the north, who came to
the throne in 269 B.C. and prosecuted extensive conquests in
central India. This contains the boast that ' the conquest
through the sacred law extended in the south where the Chodas
(Cholas) and the Panidas (Pandyas) dwell, as far as Tamba-
panini' (the Tambraparni). This 'conquest' was clearly not
a subjugation by force of arms, and the phrase probably means
little more than that the Pandyas and Cholas permitted tlie
preaching of the Buddhist religion. Indeed, imtil the fourteenth
century of the present era the Pdndyas, the Cheras, and perhaps
the Cholas seem to have remained unmolested by the armies of
the great empires of the north which from time to time overran
the neighbouring country, and their political horizon seems to
have been largely limited by their wars among themselves, and
their conflicts with neighbouring- savage or jungle ^tribes and
with the Singhalese.
Appears in Early Tamil literature contains many references to the Pandya
early Tamil dynasty and country. The late Mr. V. Kanakasabhai Pillai in
literatnre. j j
^ See Bishop Caldwell's History of Tinnevelly (Madras, 1881), 15, 16.
^ Sewell's Lists of Antiquities, i, 291 and Tufnell's Hints to Coirt'CgUectois
(Madras Government Press, 1889), 27-9. A solidus of Zeno was found in 1839 in
the Tirnmangalam taluk (M.J.L.S., xiii, 215) and 63 gold coins of Augustus and
other emperors in a small pot in Kalayamuttiir (Palni taluk) in 185G (M.J.L.S..
xvii, 114)*
' Episraphia Indien, ii, 4-71 aad Indian Antiquary ^ xx, 240 ff.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
27
his recent work The Tamils eighteen hundred years ago ^ gives a
series of extracts from such poems as the Purandnnru, Pathipditu ,
Silappadigdrani and Manimcyalai which not only present a unique
and remarkably interesting- picture of the state of art, agriculture,
commerce, society and politics during the period when they were
written, which Mr. Kanakasabhai places in the first and second
centuries of the present era, but also contain a number of
historical facts. The value of these latter is discounted by the
uncertainty which must be considered to exist as to the dates of
the poems", and consequently of the events with which they
deal, but Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai has deduced from them the
following sequence of five Pandya kings, to whom he assigns the
dates affixed below to each : — (1) Nedun-che%an I (A.D. 50-75),
(2) Verri-ver-cheliyan (75-90), (3) Nedun-cheliyan 11 (90-128),
(4) Ugra-peru-valuti (128-140) and (5) Nan-maran (140-150).
Of the first of these rulers the poems relate that he bore a title
which may be taken to imply that he defeated an Aryan army
and say that he died suddenly, wliile sitting on his throne, in the
fojiOuing dramatic circumstances : He had ordered his guards,
r.ays the tale, to behead a man on suspicion that he had stolen
one of the queen's anklets. The man's wife appeared before him,
proved her husband's innocence, and taunted the king- with his
hastiness. In her country, the land of the Cholas, she exclaimed,
the kings were of different stuff : one had saved a dove 's life by
offering his own liesh to an eagle which pursued the bird, and
another had executed his own son for driving his chariot over a
calf. Stung with shame at the woman's taunts and filled with
remorse for his injustice, the king fell fainting from his throne
and expired shortly afterwards.
Tlie second of the five kings ruled only a short time and was
followed by his son. This latter, Nedun-cheliyan II, was a
soldier of much prowess. He repelled a Chola invasion of his
kingdom and afterwards carried the war into the enemy's country
and annexed one of their provinces. He was then confronted by
a confederacy of the Cholas, the Cheras and five minor chieftains,
but defeated them in a great battle which raged all day and in
which the flower of all the troops of the Tamil country were
engaged.
The fourth king, Ugra-pefu-valuti, was the monarcli at whose
court the Kural, the famous sacred poem of Tiruvalluvar, was
published in the presence of a brilliant assembly of 48 poets ; and
1 Higginbotliam & Co., Madras, 1904.
^ For the discussion on this point and Dr. Ilultisch's opinion regarding it see
South Indian Inscriptioits, ii, pt. 3, 378.
CHAP. II.
Eaelt
History.
History.
28 MADURA.
CHAP, ri . the well-known Tamil poetess Auvaiyar composed stanzas in Ms
Early honour. The poems say that he was friendly with the Chera and
Chola kings, having been present at a sacrifice performed by one
of the latter, and that lie took a great fortress believed to be
impregnable and called Kanapper, ' whose high walls seem to
reach the sky, whose battlements gleam like the stars, the ditch
surrounding which is deep and unfathomable as the sea, and the
jungle beyond it so dense that the sun's rays never penetrate it.*
According to these ancient poems, the capital of the Pandyas
was Nan-madak-kudal, ' the cluster of four towers,' which is the
modern Madura. It was called ' the Northern Madura ' to dis-
tinguish it from a previous capital of the same name, in the
extreme south of the Peninsula, which had been submerged, by
the sea.^ Another chief town which had shared the same fate was
also on the coast and was called Kapadapuram. Even modern
Madura was not always in exactly its present position. The
original city seems to have been about six miles to the south-east.
No vestige of it remains, but the tradition of its existence is
strong and the poet Nakkiran speaks of it as being east of Tirup-
parankunram. It possessed four gates surmounted by high
towers, outside its massive stone walls was a deep moat, and
surrounding this was a thick jungle of thorny trees. Two of
the ' Ten Tamil Idylls ' (the Nedunal-vadai by Nakkiran and the
Madurai-kanji of Mamkudi jMarutanar, abstracts of which are
given in the CIn-istian College Magazine, viii, 661 ff.) give most
vivid descriptions of the city and its inhabitants in these early
days. Korkai in Tinnevelly, which was well known to the
writer of the Periphis Marts 'Erythrcei (about A.D. 80j and to
Ptolemy, was another important town, and the Pandya king is
often referred to in ancient Tamil literature (as well as in inscrip-
tions) as Korkaiyali, or ' the Lord of Korkai.'
The Pandya royal emblem was a fish (that of the Cheras
was a bow and of the Ch61as a tiger) and it appears on their coins. ^
^ Qleanings fro<n ancient Tamil literature, by the Hon. V, Coomaraswami of
Ceylon.
* Captain Tufnell, in his Hints to Coin'col lectors in South India, points out
that Madura is a most prolific centre for ancient coins and especially for those
of the rand3'a8 and Ch61as. The best local collections have been those of the
late Mr. T. M. Scott, barrister at Madura (the pick of which was presented by him
to the Madras Museum) and of the Rev. J. E. Tracy of the American Mission.
Papers by the latter gentleman on Pandya and S^tupati coins will be found in
M.J.L.S. for 1887-88 and 1889-90 respectively, and coins in his possession have
thrown much light on the chronology of the Mnsalman rulers of ' Ma'bar ' (the
country facing Ceylou, of which Madura was the capital) between Hijra 737 and
779, who are otherwise only known to us from the narrative of Ibn Batdta (see
J.A.B.B., Ixiv, pt. 1, No. 1, 1895).
POLITICAL HISTORY. ^9
Their warriors wore garlands of margosa when they went to CHAP. If.
battle, in contradistinction to the chaplets of ' ar ' of the Cholas Early
and the palmyra leaves of the Cheras. H istor y.
Tlic prevailing religion in early times in their kingdom was
the Jain creed. The PeriyaPurdyiam, a Tamil work dealing with
the lives of the 63 devotees of Siva the veracity of which has been
established in several instances, says that the Pandya king
Nedumaran was converted to Saivism from the Jain faith by the
famous Saiva saint Tirugnana Sambandhar, who cured him
of a fever upon wliich none of his own priests could make any
impression.
Thus far does Tamil literature enligliten the darkness of the Its first
early days of the Pandyas. A wide unbridged gap follows, and ,™*'°*^'°^ '°
it is not until the end of the sixth century of tlie present era that
any continuous history of the line can be said to begin. Inscrip-
tions then take up the tale.
About that time the dynasty of the Pallavas (whose capital Its struggles
was at Kanchi, the modern Conieeveram) tried to extend their i^^!, ^^^
conquests southwards and fell foul of tlie Pandyas. Two of their seventh
kings, Simhavishnu and his grandson Narasimhavarman I, boast <^'"^°^J'
in their inscriptions that they conquered the Pandya kingdom.
Almost at once, however, pressure fi'om this quarter was Decline of
relieved by the sudden appearance of a new line of rulers wlio gave ^^^ latter,
the Pallavas sufficient employment in the north to divert their
attention from their southern neighbours . These wore the Cha-
lukyas of Badami, in the Bombay Presidency. By 615 A.D.
they had driven the Pallavas back to the walls of Conjeeveram,
and they even assert that they conquered the Cholas,' crossed the
Cauvery, and invaded the country of the Pandyas and Cheras.^
The latter boast is probably an empty one, since there are no
traces of Chalukyan conquest in the Chola or Pandya country at
this period ; but a claim which is much more likely to liave a
foundation in fact, and which is of greater interest for our present
purposes, is the statement of the Chalukyan king Pulakesin II
(A.D. GlO-34) that ho induced the Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras
to combine and overcome the Pallavas.^ He had nothing to gain
by recording false statements about the success of this combina-
tion, as it was due to no merit of his own.
For the next liundred years nothing certain is known of
the doings of the Pandyas, but they apparently retained their
^ Sewell's Lists of Antiquities, ii, 155.
* Bombay Gazetteer (Bombay, 189G), i, pt. 2, 188.
» Ind. Ant., riii, 245.
30
MADUKA.
CHAP. II.
Early
History.
The Ganga-
riiUavas,
niuth
century.
Pan-^ya
ascendancy,
Chola
revival, tenth
to twelfth
centuries.
independence. About 750 A.D. they again came into conflict
witli the Pallavas,for an inscription of Nandivarnian Pallavamalla,
wlio was probably about the last of the latter dynasty who held
any real power, states that his general, Udayachandra, gained a
victory over the Pandyas at ' Mannaiklcudi.' ^ But as tliis place
has not been identified it is not possible to say whicli of the two
combatants was the aggressor.
Shortly after this the power of the Pallavas declined, and
their place was taken, though perhaps not immediately, by the
Granga-Pallavas. These latter seem, like their predecessors, to
have had their capital at Conjeeveram ; and towards the end of the
ninth century they extended their rule for a few years into the
north of the Chola country."
They do not, as far as is yet known, make any claims to
victories over the Pandyas ; and apparently these latter were not
only independent, but powerful enough to control the Chola
country as well as their own for a considerable part of the ninth
century. For there are inscriptions near Taujore,^ in the heart
of the Chola realms, assignable to that century on paleeographic
grounds, which relate the acts of Piindya kings ; a record in
North Arcot mentions a victory of the Pandyas over the Gangas
(a Mysore dynasty who seem at this time to have been feuda-
tories of the Ganga-Pallavas) which occurred about the middle
of the same century in the very north of the Chola country,
at Tiruppirambiyam near Kumbakonam ; * and the Mahavamsa,
the Ceylon chronicle, says that the Pandyas made an entirely
unprovoked invasion of Ceylon in the time of king Sena I, who
reigned from 846 to 866.
Towards the latter part of this ninth century, however, the
Pandyas must haA^e been forced to retire from at any rate the
north of the Chola dominions before the advance of the Granga-
Pallavas ; and by the end of it the Cholas, who had been under a
temporary eclipse, again rose to power and began to lay the
foundations of an empire which continued supreme in south India,
with slight interruptions, for nearly three centuries.
It would seem to have been m the reign of the Chola king
Parautaka I (about 906-46) that the Pandyas for the first time
fell definitely under the Chola yokc.^ That monarch assumed
1 S. Ind. Inscr., ii, 364.
* Government Epigraphist's Annual Report for 1903-Oi, para. 12.
' Nos. 51 and 10 of the Government Epigraphist's collections for 1895 and
1899 respectively.
* S. Ind., Inscr. ii, 381.
^ Ep. Ind., V, i2 and S. Ind. Inscr., ii, 379.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
31
Early
HlSTOEY.
the title of ' conqueror of Madura/ his inscriptions range from CHAP. II.
Suchindrain near Cape Comorin to Kdlaliasti in Nortli Arcot, and
he also invaded Cejlon.
A chance of a bid for freedom was afforded the Pandyas
in 949 hj the crushing defeat of the Cholas in tliat year near
Arkonam Ly the Rashtrakutas of Malkhed ^in what is now the
Nizam's Dominions) who now occupied the country formerly held
i3y the Chalukyas of Badami. The Pandyas seem to have rebelled
successfully, and their ruler Vira-Pandya defeated the Chola king
Aditya Karikala and assumed the title of ' he who took the head
of the Chola.' But later they again succumbed, for the Chola
king Rajaraja I (985-1013) claims to have 'taken away their
splendour,' and the substantial foundation which existed for his
boast and the complete subjection of the Pandya country are
evidenced by the immense number of Chola inscriptions which
occur in the Madura and Tinnevelly districts, by the very
large number of copper coins of Eajaraja which are even now
found in the former of these/ and by the fact that the name of
the old Pandya capital of Korkai was changed to the Chola term
Cholendrasimha-chaturvedimangalam and that of the Pdndya
country itself to Eajaraja-Pandi-nadu.- The Pandya realms
became, in fact, a province of the Chola empire.
The position of this empire at this period is a matter which
belongs rather to the history of Tanjore and Trichinopoly ^ than
to that of Madura, and it is not necessary to refer to it here in
any detail. Edjaraja extended his rule throughout the Madras
Presidency and in some directions even beyond it : on the west his
sway reached as far as Quilon and Coorg ; on the north-east
to the borders of Orissa ; and his conquests included Ceylon and
the ' twelve thousand ancient islands of the sea.' Parts of
Burma and the Malay Archipelago were added to these domini-
ons by his immediate successors. Their conquests were least
secure in the north-west, and their most formidable rivals at this
period were the Western Chalukyas, a branch of the Chalukyas
of Badami above referred to, who had ousted the Eash-
trak{itas of Malkhed and returned to power with their capital at
Kalyani, in what is now Haidarabad territory.
At first, in the reigns of Rajaraja (985-1013) and his succes- pandya
sor Rcijendra Chola I (1011-33), the Pdndyas appear to have lebcllions
borne the Chola yoke quietly enough.
' Capt. Tufnell's Hi ids to Goin-eollectors, 11.
* Government Ei^igriiphist'e Annual Report for 1D03-0-4, para. 20.
^ See Chapter 11 in the Gateiteers of these districts.
32
MADURA.
IIlSTORT.
CHAP. II. During the rule of E^j^dliir^ja I (1018-53), however,
^Early trouble began, the Pandyas, the Cheras and the Singhalese
uniting to throw off the Ch61a yoke. The revolt was sternly
suppressed. The Singhalese king was killed in battle, the Chora
ruler captured and put to death, and the Pandya chief driven to
headlong iSight. The victor's inscription commemorating his
triumph' says that—
' Of the three allied kings of the south he cut off on the battle-fiel4
the beautiful head of I^Ianabharauan adorned witli great gems and
a golden crown; captured in fight Yira-Keralan of the wide ankle-
rings, and was pleased to have him trampled to death by his furious
elephant Attivarana ; and drove to the ancient river Mullaiyar ^ Sundara
Pandya of great and undying fame, who lost in the stress of battle his
royal white parasol, his fly-whisks of white yak's hair and his throne,
and fled, leaving his crown behind him, with dishevelled locks and
weary feet.'
The records of the next Chola king, E^jendra-Deva (1052-
63), do not refer to any trouble with the Pandyas, but his
successor, Vira-Eajendra I (1062-70) had to put down a fresh
rebelKon of theirs. He captured the Pandya chief and caused
him to be ' trampled to death by a furious 77iast elephant,^' and
he gave the Pandya country to his son Gangai-konda-Chola,
who took the title of Ch61a-Pandya.*
The death of this Yira-Eajendra was followed by a fierce
domestic contest for the Chola crowu,* and it was not apparently
till about 1074 that the next king, the great Kulottunga I, who
reigned till 1119, succeeded in establishing himself firmly on the
throne. His hands must have been too full during these four
years to allow him to keep a proper hold upon the outlying por-
tions of his empire, and a great part of them fell into disorder.
Ceylon appears to have cut itself adrift and the Pandyas and the
Cheras again united in rebellion. They were again suppressed.
An inscription of the fourteenth^year of Kulottunga records that
he put the ' five Pandyas' to flight and subdued the Gulf of
Manaar, ' the Podiyil mountain ' (Agastyamalai in Tinnevelly),
Cape Comorin and Kottaru (now in Travancore), the last of
which places he took by storm. He limited the boundaries of
the Pandya country and placed garrisons at Kottaru and other
strategically important places within it.^
1 S. Ind. Inser., iii, 56.
' Not identified,
s S. Ind. Inner., iii, 37.
* There is, however, evidence to show that the title is earlier than this,
and its origin is not wholly clear.
» See Chapter II of the Tanjore and Trichinopoly'Gazeifeers.
« See the Government Epigraphist's Annual Report for 1900-01, p. 9.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 33
Kings of tlie Cli61a-I*andya line above mentioned seem to CHAP. 11.
have gone on ruling the Pandya country till someVhere about Early
1136, but the history of both the Cholas and the Pandyas in the
next 35 years is at present obscure. During that period the Pandya
dominions of the former seem to have been considerably cur- t^^ift^^ '
tailed, but it is not possible to say exactly what was their posi- century,
tion iu the Pandya country. When at length (in the reign of
the Chola king Rajadhiraja II, about 1171-72) inscriptions again
begin to throw light upon the relations of the two peoples, a
struggle for the Pandya throne is found to be proceeding
between two Pandya princes who seem to have nothing to do
with the Chola-Pandya line, and the kings of the Ch61as and of
Ceylon are taking' opposite sides in the quarrel, What had
happened in the meantime to the Chola-Pandya dynasty it is
impossible to say.
The two rival claimants to the Pandya crown were Par^k- Struggle for
rama-Pandya and Kulasekhara-Pandya. How they were tlie t^^^'o^ie-
related, or how the strife arose, is not clear. Chapters 76 and 77
of the Singhalese chronicle Mahavamsa give, however, a fairly
detailed, though doubtless one-sided, account of the campaign.^
Parakrama was besieged by Kulasekhara in his capital
(Madura) and appealed for help to the king of Ceylon. The
latter despatched his general Lankapura-Dandandtha with orders
to suppress Kulasekhara and establish Parakrama on the throne ;
but before the Singhalese ai-my could embark, Kulasekhara had
captured Madura and put his rival, with his queen and some of
his children, to death. Lankapura was ordered by his master
to proceed noue the less, to recover the Pandya reabns, and to
hand them over to some relative of the murdered king. Ho
landed in India accordingly, and for some time his troops carried
everything before them. He sent for Yira-Pandya, the youngest
son of the dead Parakrama (who had escaped when Madura fell),
and set him up as claimant for the throne. Subsequently, with
the aid of reinforcements from Ceylon, he inflicted such crush-
ing defeats upon Kulasekhara that the latter fled to ' Tondamana,'
which is perhaps the Padukkottai country, and the Singhalese
troops occupied Madura town.
It was at this stage that the Cholas seem to have first given
Kulasekhara their support. With their help a stand was made
at ' Pon-Amaravati,' a place not yet identified, but the Singhalese
^ Government Epigraphiat's Report for 1898-99, paras. 23 ff.
5
34
MADUEA.
CHAP. II.
Early
HUTORY.
Deoline of
the Chdlas,
thirteenth
century.
Pandya rule
thenceforth.
•were onco more victorious and a space of three leagues was
covered with the corpses of the vanquished. Lankdpura returned
in triumph to Madura, placed Vira-Pandya on the throne and
celebrated the event with a great festival.
Supported by the ruler of Tondamana and certain other
Chola chiefs, Kulasekhara again took the field, but was again
defeated, this time at Palamcottah, and fled for refuge to the
Ch61a country. The Chola king then assisted him with a large
army, but he was yet again vanquished, and the Ceylon troops
advanced northwards and even burnt some villages in the
Tanjore country. After one more victory over the Pandya and
Chola troops the Singhalese returned to Ceylon, leaving Yira-
Pandya in possession of his kingdom.
The war did not end there, however. Inscriptions of the
Chola king Kul6ttunga III show that that ruler subsequently sup-
ported Kulasekhara's successor Vikrama-Pandya in an effort
against Vira-Pandya and his son, defeated the Marava army, drove
the Simhala (Singhalese) forces into the sea, captured Madura,
made over the Pandya crown to his protege Vikrama, and
assumed the title of 'conqueror of Madura and Ceylon.^
These stirring events occurred somewhere about the end of the
twelfth century. Early in the thirteenth, the power of the Cholas
began to decline. It was during the reign of Kajaraja III of that
dynasty (1216 to about 1239) that the first fatal blows were
received. This king's feudatories revolted on all sides, and one of
them, K6pperunjinga, a prince of some power in Tondaimanda-
1am, the present South Arcot, actually had the impudence to
kidnap his suzerain (1230-31) and refuse to release him.^ The
unfortunate Rajaraja was only rescued by the intervention of the
Hoysala Ballalas, a newly-risen dynasty which had recently sub-
verted the Western Ch^lukyas of 'Kstlyini and established their
capital at Halebid in Mysore.
The Chola demoralisation was the Pandyas' opportunity, and
they were not slow to avail themselves of it. Prom this time
forth they occupied the throne of Madura in a regular succession,
and from astronomical details appearing in inscriptions and
supplied by the Government Epigraphist, Professor Kielhorn has
fixed the dates of the following of their rulers — the latter year
in each case being, not necessarily the last of the king's reign,
^ For details of this exploit, see South Arcot Gazetteer, 33.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
35
Snndara-
Pand^-a I,
1216-35.
but the latest date as yet discovered which contains details CHAP, il.
admitting- of verification : — Earlt
Distort
1. Jatavarman Kulas^khara, 1190-1214.
2. Maravarmau Sundara-Pandya I, 1216-35.
3. Maravarman Sundara-Pandya II, 1238-51.
4. Jatavarman Sundara-Pandya I, 1251-61.
5. Yira-Pandya, 1252-67.
6. Mdravarman Kulasekhara I, 1208-1308.
7. Jatavarman Sundara-Pandya II, 1275-90.
8. Maravarman Kulasekhara II, 1314-21.
9. Mdravarman Parakrama-Pandya, 1334-52.
10. Jatavarman Parakrama-Pandya, 1357-72.
11. Jatilavarmau Parakrama-Pandya Arikesarideva, 1422-
61.
12. Jatilavarman Parakrama-Pandya Kulasekhara, 1479-99.
13. Jatilavarman Srivallabha, 1534-37.
14. Maravarman Sundara-P<4ndya III, 1531-55.
15. Jatilavarman Srivakabha Ativirarama, 1562-67.
The second of these rulers, Maravarman Sundara-Pandya I, Maravarman
who came to the throne in 1216, invaded the country of the old
enemies of his line and captured Tanjore and Uraiyur, a suburb
of Trichinopoly and a former Chola capital. He boasts that
he made himself master of the Chola realms and in the end
graciously returned them as a gift to their owner; ^ and that
this was not altogether mere bombast is shown by the frequency
of his inscriptions in the Tanjore and Trichinopoly districts ^
and by the fact that his coins bear the title ' ho who conquered
the Chola country/
But the collapse of the Cholas brought the Pandyas into toucli
with the Hoysalas, who about this time established themselves
near Srirangam in the Trichinopoly district in a new town which
the Hoysala king ' had built in order to amuse his mind in the
Chola country, which he had conquered by the power of his arm.'
As early as 1222 these Hoysalas were stated to be ' marcliing
against Eanga (t.e., Srirangam) in the south,' and to have ' cleft
open the rock that was the Ptindya,' and their king assumed the
title of ' the establisher of the Chola kingdom.' Whether he
actually came into conflict with the I'andyas it is impossible to
say ; but the latter seem to have left the Chola country, and do
not appear to have again interfered with it for some thirty years.
^ Government Epigrnphist'e Annual Report for 1899-1900, para. 12.
« Ef. Ind., vi, 303 ff.
Arrival ol tlio
Hoysalas.
36
MADURA.
CHAP. II.
Eahly
History.
Jatavarman
Suudara-
Pandya I,
1261-61.
End of the
Hoysala and
Chdla power.
Maravarman
Kulas^klinra
I (1268-1308)
and his sue-
Of the third of the Pandya kings in the above list, Maravar-
man Sundara-Pandya II (1238-51), very little is known; but
his successor, Jatdvarman Sundara-Pdndya I (1251-61), was a
mighty conqueror. He invaded Ceylon, carried off a great booty,
including the celebrated tooth-relic, and assumed in consequence
the titleof ' a second Earaa in plundering the island of Lanka ; ^ '
he covered the Srirangam temple with gold ; came into conBict
with the rapidly growing power of the Kakatiya kings of Waran-
gal in Haidarabad ; extended his conquests as far as Nellore,
where he had himself 'anointed as a hero;' and defeated the
Hoysala king Somesvara.
The Hoysalas bad also been previously worsted about this
time by the Cholas under Eajendra-Ohola III (1246 to about
1267), who assumed the title of 'the hostile rod of death to
his uncle Somesvara,' but they appear at Srirangam again in
1256, and their inscriptions and those of the Pandyas overlap and
alternate in the Trichinopoly district in a puzzling manner until
the end of the thirteenth century. The inference is that they
were not permanently weakened by the blows dealt them by the
Cholas and the Pandyas, but continued for some years as the
effective rivals of the latter in that part of the country.
Nor, apparently, were the Ch61a3 at once reduced to an
absolutely subordinate position. Though the Pandyas had pene-
trated into their territory as far as Nellore before 1261, Eaj^ndra-
Chola III seems to have retained some form of independence till
as late as 1267. It was the last flicker of their dying power.
After 1267 they seem to have dropped out of the race ; and that
part of their country which was not held by the Hoysalas was
occupied by the Pandyas.
The sixth and seventh of the Pandya rulers in the list above,
Maravarman Kulasekhara I and Jatavarman Sundara-Pandya II,
were kings of considerable power and are both known to history —
the former as the ' Kales Dewar ' of Muhammadan historians and
the latter as the ' Sender Bandi ' of Marco Polo.
As will be seen from the overlapping of the dates of the reigns
of these and others of the kings in the list, the chief power in the
Pandya realms was apparently often held jointly by several
members of the ruling family. The Mahavamsa says that the
expedition against Ceylon above mentioned was sent by ' the five
brethren who governed the Pandya kingdom^ and Marco Polo
also alludes to the ' five brothers.' More than one reference,
The Mahavamsa, however, putB this invasion at a later date.
POLITICAL HISTOHY. 37
however, shows that one member of ithe five was always held CHAP. II.
superior to the others. Early
Marco Polo, and the Muharamadan, Chinese and Singhalese
chronicles, and also the other authorities on the state of the Splendour of
Pandya realm at the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of realm. ° ^^
the fourteenth centuries ^ all agree in extolling its wealth and mag-
nificence. It stretched along the coast from Quilon to Nellore ;
it was called (according to Marco Polo) ' the greater India ;' was
the best of all the Indies and indeed ' the finest and noblest
province in the world;' its rulers sent an embassy, which is
described in the Chinese annals, to the Mongol emperor Kublai
Khan in 1286 ; were on terms of friendliness with the Muhamma-
dans who now begin to interfere in the affairs of southern India ;
and employed Muhammadan ministers — who, by the way, rose to
great influence and wealth. Their chief city was stiU Madura,
but Marco Polo describes with admiration, as a place of great
commercial importance, the town of Old Kayal, about a mile and
a half from the mouth of the Tambraparni and in the present
Tinnevelly district. This seems to have been the centre of a (for
those days) very largo sea-borne trade which the Pandya kings
actively encouraged and which made them widely known. Marco
Polo says that all the ships fromjthe west touched at Kayal, and
the contemporary Persian historian Wassaf states in a flowery
passage that all the products of India and China were constantly
arriving there, and that all the splendour of the west was derived
from the Pandya realm ' which is so situated as to be the key
of Hind.'
Early in the fourteenth century a dispute arose about the Musalman
succession to the Pandya throne and one of the claimants ^'^Toio'^'
appealed for help to the emperor Alla-ud-din of Delhi. Perhaps
in consequence, followed the great invasion of the south of India
by Malik Kaf ur, tlie famous general of that monarch, which took
place in 1310 and caused the most momentous changes in the
political configuration of central and southern India. Having
swept away the power of tlie rulers oE the Deccan, Malik Kafur
marched on triumphantly into the Carnatic, sacked Madura, and
made his way, it is said, as far as Eamesvaram, where he founded
a mosque.^
Mr. Nelson ^ gives a description, founded on native manu-
scripts, of the excesses of his troops in Madura to^Ti. Life and
^ Sec Caldwell's History of Tinnevelly, 32 ff. and _hi8 Grammar of the Dm-
vidian langriages (London, 1S75), 535 ff.
* Elpliinstone's Hinfory of India (Londoia, 1857), 2-10.
^ The Madura country, pt. 3, 81,
38
MADURA.
CHAP. II.
Mdsalman
Invasion.
Mnsalman
djmasty at
Madura.
VlJAYANAGAR
Dominion,
1365.
propcrtj were unsafe, trade and commerce were paralysed, private
liberty was so much at an end tliat one Hindu dared not even
converse witli another in the street, public worship was suppressed,
and the great temple was almost razed to the ground. Its outer
wall, with its fourteen towers, was pulled down ; the streets and
buildings which it protected were destroyed ; and nothing was
left of it but the two shrines of Sundaresvara and Minakshi and
the buildings which immediately surrounded them. Even these
apparently owed their escape less to any reverence for them in
the victor's breasts than to the outbreak of private dissensions
among these Vandals.
Malik Kafur returned almost at once to his own country,
but the Pandyas seem to have been prostrated by the in-
vasion. Never again, indeed, did they posifsess any considerable
independent power ; thougli their kings continued to rule in a
spasmodic fashion, with varying authority and over dominions of
varying size, for the next two and a half centuries. It is eloquent
evidence of the completeness of their collapse that a king of
the Cheras, a nation long sunk out of all importance in Indian
politics, was able to march right across the peninsula, defeat
their ruler, have himself crowned at Madura, and make his way in
1313 to Conjeeveram.^
This Chera occupation of the country must, however, have
been very transitory, for a Musalman dynasty was very shortly
afterwards established at Madura which existed for about the
next 48 years and ruled that district (witli Trichinopoly and
perhaps South Arcot) first as feudatories of the Delhi emperor
and subsequently as independent monarchs. Mr. Nelson ^ gives a
traditional list of its kings, eight in number.
It was overthrown about 1365 ^ by the power of the new
lEindu kingdom of Vijayanagar,* which had been founded at
Hampe in the Bellary district in 1335 and for the next two
centuries stemmed the tide of Muhammadan invasion from the
north. Kampana Udaiyar, a prince of this line, drove the
Musalmans out of Madura and set up there a little dynasty of his
own which was presumably and apparently subordinate to the
court of Vijayanagar.
^ Ep. Ind., iv, 146.
5 Ft. 3, 81.
3 Ep, Ind., vi, 324.
* For the history of this power, see A Forgotten Empire {Vijayanagar), bj
Mr. R. SewoU, late I.C.S., Swan Sonnengohein, 1900.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 39
Mr. Nelson's autliorities ^ give a vivid description of the CHAP. II.
instantaneous effect in Madura of this victory : — Vuayanagae
' Within a few days the temples of Siva and Vishnu had been
everywhere re-opened ; worship was performed once more with
extraordinary solemnity and fervour : and that nothing might be
wanting to restore confidence and energy to all classes of men, the
Brahman 8 contrived a great miracle significant of the i)leasure of the
god and of his perpetual regard for his faithful worshippers. Kampana
was taken on an appointed day to witness the re-opening of the great
Pagoda, and on his entering and approaching the shrine for the
purpose of looking upon the face of the god, lo ! and behold ! every-
thing was in precisely the same condition as when the temple was first
shut up just forty-eight years previously. The lamp that was lighted
on that day was still burning ; and the sandal-wood powder, the
garland of flowers and the ornaments usually placed before the idol on
the morning of a festival day wore now found to be exactly as it is
usual to find them on the evening of such a day.'
The list of the Pandya kings already given shows that not Its effects,
only during the Musalman occupation, but also throughout the
rule of Kampana Udaiydr and his successors, and even, see
below, through the time of the later Nayakkan dynasty and down
to the overthrow of the Vijayanagar kingdom in 1565, Pandya
chiefs remained always in authority in Madura. Dr. Caldwell^
considers that they probably at first assisted the Vijayanagar
forces to expel the Musalmans, and that thereafter they continued
in subordination to the power of Vijayanagar. He says that —
' Throughout the greater number of the reigns of these Pandya
kings of the later line (that is, those who nded after the expulsion of
the Musalmans), the kings of Vijayanagar appear to have exercised
supreme authorit}', but I think it may be assumed that they did
not interfere much in the internal atfairs of the country, and that
they contented themselves with receiving tribute and occasionally
military help.'
Kampana Udaiydr's dynasty only lasted (if we are to credit
the vernacular manuscripts on which Mr. Nelson has based his
account of theui) down to about 1404, and tliereafter the admin-
istration of the country — subject, no douljt, to the suzerainty
of the kings of Vijayanagar — continued for many years in the
hands of a number of chieftains, of whom tlie greater number
bore Telugu names and titles (such as Nayakkan) and were
apparently the nominees of the suzerain.^
^ Pt. 3, 82.
^ History of Ti7ineveUy, 52.
^ Their names appear in Mr. Nelson's Madura Country, pt, 3, 88 ff. and Mr,
Sowell's Lists af Antiquities, ii, 223.
40
MADURA.
CHAP. II.
VlJAYAXAGAR
Dominion.
King
Acliyuta's
campaign,
1532.
NiYAKKAN
Dynasty,
1559-1736.
The earliest Vijajanagar inscription (other than those of
Kampana Udaiy^r) as yet discovered in the Pandya country is one
of the time of king- Deva Raya II of that line and is dated 1438-
39. King Krishna Eaya (1509-30), the greatest of the dynasty,
perhaps exercised a closer control over this part of his posses-
sions. Little of note appears, however, to have taken place there
until the second quarter of the sixteenth century.
About 1532, however, stirring events occurred. The king
of Travancore became aggressive, overran a large part of the
Pandya country, and defied the authority of Vijayanagar. To
reduce him to submission, and also to defend the Pandya king
from the encroachments of two Telugu chieftains (perhaps local
governors sent from Vijayanagar who had endeavoured to assume
independence) Achyuta, king of Vijayanagar from 1530 to 1542,
organised a great expedition into the extreme south of India.
If we are to trust his own inscriptions,^ he was eminently
successful in the campaign. He planted a pillar of victory in the
Tambraparni river, exacted tribute from the king of Travancore,
suppressed the two troublesome chieftains and married the
daughter of the Pandya king. Thenceforth the Pandya country
was held more firmly and directly by the representatives of the
Vijayanagar empire. The native chronicles, indeed, continue to
confuse the authority of these suzerains, their Telugu governors,
and the Pandya rulers, treating each in turn as though they were
supreme, but there is evidence ^ to show that between 1547 and
1558 the Madura country was in fact ruled by one Vitthala Raja,
who was a prince of the Vijayanagar line and invaded Travancore
a second time in 1543.
lln 1559 was founded the famous Nayakkan dynasty of
Madura, which held the country for nearly two centuries until
the Musalmans took it in 1736. The origin and early doings of
this line are recounted neither in inscriptions nor in really reliable
histories, and for light upon both we are driven to depend
mainly upon the vernacular manuscripts in the three volumes
of the Eev. W. Taylor's Catalogue Baisonne of Oriental MSS.
(Madras, 1857), in the same author's Oriental Hktorical MSS.
(Madras, 1835) and in the collections of manuscripts by Colonel
Mackenzie which are now in the Oonnemara Library. These (in
the judgment of so eminent an authority as Bishop Caldwell)
are of very doubtful veracity, but happily they are frequently
illumined by the letters and periodical reports of the priests of
' See Government EpigrapList'e Annual Eeporfc for 1899-1900, paras. 70 £E.
* Ibid., para. 78, and Sewell's Lists of Aiitiquitiee, ii, 224.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 41
the well-known Tesuit Mission at Madura^, which (though CHAP. II.
unfortunately incomplete) have been collected and published in N^yakkan
four volumes under the title of La Mission da Madure. Mr. Dynasty.
Nelson has collated all these authorities with much care in his
book, aflid the ensuing- narrative follows closely (though, owing to
the exigencies of space, very briefly) his account of this period.
It seems, then, that at about the close of Vitthala Raja's Its origin,
administration the then Ohola ruler invaded the Madura country
and dispossessed the Pandya king. AVhereupon the latter appealed
to the court of Vijayanagar and an expedition under a certain
Nagama Nayakkan was accordingly sent to his aid. Nagama
easily suppressed the Chola king and possessed himself of Madura,
but he then suddenly threw off his allegiance and, declining
to help the Pandya, assumed the position of an independent
ruler. The Vijayanagar emperor was furious at his defection,
summoned a council, laid the matter before his most faithful
officers, and cried out to the assemblage ' Where amongst you all
is he who will bring me that rebel's head? ' To the astonishment
of every one present, Nagama's own son, A^isvandtha, volunteered
to do so, and after some natural hesitation the king despatched
him with a large force against the rebel. Visvanatha defeated
his father in a pitched battle, placed him in confinement, and at
length procured for him the unconditional pardon wliich had
doubtless been from the first the object of his action.
He so far obeyed the orders of the Vijayanagar king as
nominally to place the Pdndya on the throne, but sound policy
and his own interests alike deterred him from handing over the
entire government of the country to the old feeble dynasty, and
he set out to rule on his own account. This was in 1559. Doubt-
less he held a wide commission as governor from the Vijayanagar
court, and perhaps there was little difference between tlie powers
he exercised and those wielded, for example, by Vitthala Raja.
But the peculiar characteristic of the new regime was that,
whether by accident or design, it developed first into a governor-
ship which became hereditary and then into what was practically
an hereditary monarchy. The Nayakkans never, it is true,
assumed the insignia or titles of royalty, and were content with
the position of lieutenants under Vijayanagar even after they had
ceased to pay tribute to that pov/cr ; but in essentials their sway
was practically absolute and the Pandyas disappear in effect
henceforth from history.
^ See Chapter III, p. 75, b«Iow.
42
MADURA.
CHAP. II.
NXtakkan
Dynastt.
Visvanatha
Nayakkant
1559-63.
Visvanatha, tlien, became the first of the Nayakkan dynasty.
The names and dates of its rulers may be conveniently given in
tabular form here at once. They were —
Visvanatha .. .. .. ,. .. 1559
Kumara Krishnappa .. .. .. ., 1563
Krishnappa, alias Perij'a Virappa . . . . 1 i c7q
Visvanatha II . . . . . . . , . . j
Lingayya alia» Kumara Krishnappa Visvappa
alias Visvanatha III . . . . . . . . 1595
Muttu Krishnappa .. .. .i .. 1602
Muttu Virappa 1609
Tirumala . .. 1623
Muttu Alakadri alias Muttu Virappa . . . . 1659
Chokkanatha flfes Chokkalinga .. .. 1662
Ranga Krishna Muttu Virappa . . . . 1682
Mangaramal (Queen-Regent) .. .. 1689
Vijaya Ranga Chokkanatha .. .. .. J 704
Mmak^hi (Queen-Regent) .. .. ..1731—36
Visvanatha is said to have immediately set himself to
strengthen his capital and improve the administration of his
dominions. He demolished the Pdndya rampart and ditch
which at that time surrounded merely the walls of the great
temple, and erected in their place an extensive double-walled
fortress defended by 72 bastions ;^ and he led channels from
the upper waters of the Vaigai — perhaps the Peranai and
Chittanai ^ dams owe their origin to him— to water the country,
founding villages in the tracts commanded by them.
In his administrative improvements he was ably seconded by
his prime minister Arya Nayakka Mudali ( or, as he is still com-
monly called, Arya Natha , a man born of peasant Velldla parents
who had won his way by sheer ability to a high position in the
Vijayanagar court. This officer is supposed to have been the
founder of ' the poligar system, ' under which the ATadura country
was apportioned among 72 chieftains — some of them local men and
others Telugu leaders of the detachments which had accompanied
Visvanatha from Vijayanagar — who were each placed in charge of
one of the 72 bastions of the new Madura fortifications, were
responsible for the immediate control of their estates, paid a fixed
tribute to the Nayakkans, and kept up a certain quota of troops
ready for immediate service. Unless their family traditions are
uniformly false, these men did much for the country in those
days, founding villages, building dams, constructing tanks and
^ See p. 205 and the map attached.
3 Sm pp. 124, I9,h And 128.
POLITICAL HISTOKY.
43
erecting temples. Many of them bore the title of Nayakkan, CHAP. II.
and hence the commonaess of ' -nayakkanur ' as a termination to NIyakkan
the names of places in this district. They also brought with them J
the gods of the Deccan, and thus we find in Madura many shrines
to Ahobilam and other deities wlio are rarely worshipped in the
Tamil country. Their successors, the present zamindars of the
district, still look upon Arya Natha as a sort of patron saint.
This man is also credited with having constructed the great
thousand-pillared mantapam in the Madura temple, and he is
still kept in mind by the equestrian statue of him which Hanks
one side of the entrance of this, and is even now periodically
crowned with garlands by the hero-worshipjDers of to day He
lived till 1600 and had great influence upon the fate of the
Nayakkan dynasty until his death.
Visvanatha also added the fort of Trichinopoly to his posses-
sions. The Vijayanagar viceroy who governed the Tanjore
country had failed to properly police the pilgrim roads which ran
through Trichinopoly to the shrines at Srirangam and Eames-
varam, and devotees were afraid to visit those holy places. Visva-
natha accordingly arranged to exchange that town for the fort of
Vallam (in 'J'anjore), which was his at that time, lie is said to
have then vastly improved the fortifications and town of Trichi-
nopoly and the temple of Srirangam, and to have cleared the
banks of the Cauvery of robbers.
He had some difficulty with 'the five Pandyas,' who resisted
the introduction of his authority into Tinnevelly, but he
vanquished them at length (in circumstances set out with much
poetic detail in the manuscripts) and then greatly improved the
town and district of Tinnevelly. He is also credited with an
expedition to subdue a local chieftain at Kambam (in the Teriya-
kulam taluk) near the Travancore border.
Visvanatha died full of years and honour in 1563. His name
is still affectionately remembered as that of a great benefactor of
his country.
He was succeeded by his son Kumara Krishnappa (15o3-73), His
who is represented as a brave and politic ruler. A revolt occurred l?,!.°?!?!^*f
among the poligars daring his reign, but its leadei-, Tumbichi
Nayakkan, was captured while holding the fort of Paramagudi
in the Eamnad zamindari, and was beheaded ; and the trouble
was quenched. Krishnappa is also declared to have conquered
Ceylon — an exploit of which heroic details are given in the manu-
scripts, but of which, in view of the silence of the usually candid
annals of that island, the very existence may well be doubted.
44
MADUBA.
Fall of
Vijayanagar
kingdom,
1565.
.en A P. II. He was succeeded in 1573 by his two sons, who ruled jointly
Nayakkan and uneventfully till 1595 ; and they by their two sons, one of
DYNASTY. ^j^^^ ^^^^^ ^.^ jg^.^^
These were followed by Muttu Krishnappa (1602-09). He
is credited with the foundation of the dynasty of the Setupatis of
Eamnad, the ancestors of the present Rdja of that place, who
were given a considerable slice of territory in the Marava country
on condition that they suppressed crime and protected pilgrims
journeying to Ramesvaram through that wild and inhospitable
region. Mr. Nelson's book (Pt. 3, 109-14 and elsewhere) deals
at length with this transaction and other events in the history
of the Setupatis, but these relate to the Ramnad zamindari
and the present volume is not concerned with them.
Muttu Krishnappa was succeeded by Muttu Virappa
(1609-23), a hardly more distinct figure.
Meanwhile, in ] 565, the power of the rulers of Vijayanagar,
the suzerains of the Nayakkans,had been dealt an irreparable blow
by the combined Musalman kings of the Deccan at the memo-
rable battle of Talikota, one of the great landmarks in the
history of south India. They were forced to abandon a large
part of the districts of Bellary and Anantapur to the victorious
Muhammadans, to flee hastily from Vijayanagar, and to establish
their capital successively at Penukonda in Anantapur and at
Chandragiri and Vellore in North Arcot. Their governors at
Madura and Tanjore still paid them the usual tribute and marks
of resppct, but in the years which now follow traces begin to appear
of the weakness of the suzerain, and of contempt and finally
rebellion on the part of his feudatories.
Muttu Virappa mentioned above was succeeded by the great
Tirumala Nayakkan, the most powerful and the best known
of his dynasty, who ruled for thirty-six eventful years.' He
was called upon to play his part in much more stirring times
than his predecessors. The peace imposed upon the south by the
sway of Vijayanagar had beeu dissolved by the downfall of that
power, and the Pandya country was torn by the mutual quar-
rels of the once feudatory governors (' Najakkans ') of Madura,
Tanjore, Gingee and Mysore ; by the unavailing attempts of the
last rulers of the dying empire to reassert their failing authority ;
and finally by the incursions of the Muhammadan kings of the
Deccan, who now began to press southwards to reap the real
fruits of their victory at Talikota. An added trouble lay in the
Tirumala
Nayakkan,
1623-59.
For an inscription giving his genealogy, see Ep. Ind., iii, 2S9.
FbLITIOAL'^HliTOKY. 4§
insubordination of the Setupatis of Ramnad, who took advan- CHAP. il.
tage of the embarra8sment3 of the rulers of Madura to disobey Nayakkan
their commands and [finally' to assume independence Tlio last- ^^y^y-
named danger^ was not experienced l)y Tirumala himself, but
was reserved to'perplex his successors.
Almost the first act of his reign was to witlihold the tribute He doUca
due to the king of Vijajanagar. Tlie letters of the Jesuit priests ^''Jayanagar.
already mentioned showi-'d that he anticipated troubh? in conse-
quence, and accordingly massed large bodies of troops in Trichi-
nopoly and strengthened its fortifications. He none the less still
sent_annual:complimentary messages and presents to his suzerain,
and this sufficed for some time to appease the resentment of tho
incapable representatives of that ancient line. But about 1 6HS
king Eanga, a more resolute prince, succeeded to the throne of
Chandragiri ; and he soon resolved to put an end to the contumacy
of Tirumala and prepared to marcli south with a large and for-
midable forcp. Tirumala had meanwhile persuaded tlie V^ijaya-
nagar governors of Tanjore and Gingee (in South Arcot) to join
him in his defiance of their mutual suzerain, and thus Eanga was
left with only Mysore, of all his tributaries, to support him. He
however continued his preparations, with the result that the
governor of Tanjore eventually grew alarmed, sent in his sub-
mission, and betrayed the designs of the confederates.
Ranga advanced upon Gingee, but his plans were frustrated v&Uh iho
by a desperate move on the part of Tirumala, who, reckless of the ^"ham-
claims of a larger patriotism, succeeded in inducing the Muham- his aid,
madan Sultan of Golconda (one of the confederacy who had been
victorious at Talikota in 1 565) to invade the Vijayanagar king-
dom from the north.
Eanga was obliged to retrace his steps to protect his posses-
sions, was defeated by Golconda, and was forced to march soutli
again to implore the help of his rebellious governors against tlieir
common foe, the Musalman. They refused, however, to aid him;
and in the end Eanga Hcd, powerless and almost without a
friend, to the protection of his only faithful vassal, the viceroy
of Mysore.
The Sultan of Golconda was satisfied for some time to consolidate
his conquests in the north of the Vijayanagar country, but shortly
afterwards (perhaps about 1044) he marched south to subdue its
three rebellious governors and advanced upon the great fortress
of Gingee. The Ndyakkan of Tanjore at once submitted to him,
but Tirumala approached a rival Muhammadan, the Sultan of
46
MAonmA.
CHAP. II.
NiYAKKAN
Dyn'astt.
And becomes
their
feudatory.
His wars
with
Mysore.
Bijdpur, wlio sent a force to his assistance. These allies marched
to the relief of Gingee, but hardly had they arrived there when the
Bijdpur troops went over to the enemy, and joined in the siege of
the fort thej had been sent to deliver. The Golconda king,
however, was soon recalled by trouble in other parts of his new
conquests, and Tirumala threw himself into the Gringee fortress.
Owing to dissensions between his troops and those of the former
garrison, however, the gates were opened not long afterwards to
the troops of Bijapur and the town fell into the possession of the
Musalmans.
Tirumala retreated in dismay to Madura, and the Muham-
marlans advanced triumphantly southwards, exacted submission
from the governor of Tanjore, and proceeded to lay waste the
Madura country. Tirumala then submitted, apparently without
striking a blow, paid a large sum to the invaders, and agreed to
send an annual tribute to the Sultan of Bijapur. Thus, after an
interval of nearly 300 years, the Muhammadans were once again
recognised as supreme in the district.
Tirumala's next conflict was with Mysore. In the early years
of his reign, before his troubles with the king of Vijayanagar
and the Muhammadans, he had been involved in a short war with
that kingdom. His territories had been invaded by the Mysore
troops and Dindigul had been besieged, but the enemy had been
eventually driven out and their country successfully invaded in
revenge by a general of Tirumala's. Since then, as already noted,
the Vijayanagar ruler had taken refuge with the king of Mysore,
and now these two monarchs combined to endeavour to recover
those portions of the former's territories which had recently been
captured by Golconda. They were at first successful; but, whether
actuated by jealousy or fear, Tirumala intervened and invited the
I^Iuhammadans to attack Mysore from the south, throwing open
the passes in his own country for the purpose.
His proposal was accepted, Mysore was invaded, and a gen-
eral war ensued which resulted in the final extinction of the power
of Vijayanagar and the humbling of Mysore. Bat when return-
ing in triumph from that country, the victorious Muhammadans
came down to Madura and levied an enormous tribute from their
humble friend Tirumala ; and, moving on to Tanjore, treated its
Nayakkan in a like manner. So Tirumala profited little from
this new treachery to the cause of Hinduism.
It is not clear exactly when these events happened, but they
appear to constitute the last interference of the Muhammadans
in Madura affairs. Tirumala's only other external war occurred
POLITICAL HISTORY.
47
NiYAKKA.N
Dtsabtt.
towards the close of Ins reign and was with Mysore. In this he CHAP. II
is represented to have Leen altogether snccossful.
The campaign "began with, an invasion of Coimbatore by the
Mysore king — apparently in revenge for Tirumala's contribution
to his recent humiliation at the hands of the Muhammadans.
That district was occupied by the enemy with ease, and then
Madura itself was threatened. The Mysore troops were however
beaten off from the town (chieliy by the loyal assistance of the
Setupati of Eamnad) defeated again iu the open, and driven in
disorder up the ghdts into Mysore. I'he campaign was known as
the ' hunt for noises ' owing to the fact that under the orders of the
Mysore king the invaders cut off the noses of all their prisoners
(men, women and children) and spnt them in sacks to Seringa-
patam as glorious trophies.
A counter invasion of Mysore was undertaken ^ll')l•tly after-
wards under the command of Kumdra Muttu, the younger
brother of Tirumala, and was crowned with complete success.
The king of Mysore was captured and his nose was cut ofp and
sent to IMadura.
Tirumala died before his victorious brother's return. He was
between sixty-five and seventy years of age at the time and had
reigned for thirty-six eventful years.
His territories at his death comprised the present districts of
Madura (including the zamindaris of Eamnad and Sivagauga),
Tinnevelly, Coimbatore, Salem and Trichinopoly, with Puduk-
k6ttai and part of Travancore. Native tradition is persistent in
declaring that he met his death by violence. Several stories are
current, but two of them are more widely repeated than the others .
The first of these says that he so nearly became converted to
Christianity that he stopped his expenditure on the temples of the
Hindu gods. This roused the Brahmans, and some of them,
headed by a Bhattan (officiating priest of the great temple),
enticed him to the temple under the pretence that they had found
a great hidden treasure iij a vault there, induced him to enter the
vault and then shut down its stone trap-door upon hiin, and gave
out that the goddess Minakshi had translated her favourite to
heaven. The second story avers that he had an intrigue with the
wife of a Bhattan and^that^ as he wasjreturning from visiting her
one dark night he fell into a well and was killed. Tlic Bhattan
was so scared when he found what had happened that he at once
filled in the well,; but afterwards told the Brahmans what he
had done.
His death.
48
MADURA.
CHAP. II.
NiTAKKAN
Dynasty.
Ketellious
among his
Tassais.
A carious
riiinonr.
Tinimala's character is summed up, probably with justice, in
a letter written by one of the Jesuit priests just after his death
and dated Trichinopoly, 1659 —
* It is impossible to refuse him credit for great qualities, but he
tarnished his glory at the end of his life by follies and vices which
nothing could j ustify. He was called to render account to God for
the evils which his i)olitical treachery had brought upon his own
people and the neighbouring kingdoms. His reign was rendered
illustrious by works of really royal magnificence. Among these are
the pagoda of Madura, several public buildings, and above all the
ro3'al palace the colossal proportions and a«tonishing boldness of
which recall the ancient monuments of Thebes. He loved and pro-
tected the Christian religion, tho excf-llence of which he recognised ;
but he never had the courage to accept the consequences of his con-
viction. The chief obstacle to his conversion came from his 200 wives,
of whom the most distinguished were burnt on his pyre. '
During his reign, two rebellions occurred among his vassals.
Tlie first was raised by the Setupati ot Kamnad. It was due to
an unjust order of Tirumala's regarding the succession to the
C'hiefship of that country in 1035, which was resisted by the
rightful claimant and by the Maravans themselves. Tirumala was
successful in placing his nominee on the throne and in imprison-
ing the rival aspirant, but he was ultimately compelled to allow
the latter to succeed. He was rewarded by the loyalty of Eamnad
in his last war with Mysore.
The other rebellion was raised by a confederacy of poligars
headed by the powerful chief of Ettaiyapuram in the Tinnevelly
district. Its cause is not clear. The Setupati of Btimnad, as
chief of all the poligars, was entrusted with the duty of quelling
it, and performed this undertaking satisfactorily. The leader was
I'Ut to death and the others suitably punished ; and peace was
restored in a few months.
The letters of the Jesuits relate a carious event which took
jilace in the Madura country about 1C53. The whole territory
was thrown into a state of great nervous excitement by the
spreading in every direction of one of those mysterious and extra-
ordinary rumours which spring up now and again in India, no
one knows where or how. An infant emperor of divine birth,
it was declared, would sliortly appear from the'north and usher in
a millennium of peace and plenty. The story obtained universal
credence, and large sums of money were collected for the use of the
deliverer when he should arrive. But he never did arrive. A
woman and child were brought to Bangalore by the perpetrators
of the rumour, and vast multitudes flocked thither to pay their
J»OLITI0AL HISTORY. 49
respects and offer presents to the supposed emperor; bat after CHAP. II.
squeezing all that was possible out of the pi-etenders, the Musal- NIyakkan
man rulers of that town cut off their heads and ordered their
followers to disperse immediately.
Dynasty.
Tirumala's capital was Madura. The royal residence had Tirumala's
been reuioved thence to Trichinopoly by his predecessor, but ^^P'**'-
Tirumala moved it back again, notwithstanding the fact that
Trichinopoly, with its almost impregnable rock, its never-
failing Cauvery river and its healthy climate, was by nature
far superior to Aiadura, where the fort was on level ground, the
Yaigai was usually dry and fever was almost endemic. The
reason given in the old manuscripts for the change is that
Tirumala was afflicted with a grievous long-standing catarrh
wliicli none of the V^aishnavite gods of Trichinopoly could (or
would) cure. One day when he was halting at Dindigul on his
way to Madura, Sundaresvara and Minakshi, the Saivite deities of
the latter place, appeared to him in a dream and promised him
that if he would reside permanently in their town they would cure
him. He vowed that he would do so and would spend five lakhs
of pons on sacred works. Immediately afterwards, as he was
cleaning his teeth in the early morning, the disease left him ;
and thenceforth he devoted himself to the cult of Saivism and
the improvement of Madura. None the less, he resided a good
deal at Trichinopoly, and his successors (though they went to
Madura to be crowned) generally dwelt there permanently.
It is, however, by his many splendid public buildings in His jiublio
Madura that he is best remembered at the present time. They """""'e'-
are referred to in some detail in the account of the place on pp.
257-78 below. The largest and most magnificent of them was the
great palace which still goes by his name. Much of this was
removed to Trichino})oly in later years by his grandson Chokka-
ndtha, but none the less the portions of it which survive were
thouglit by Bishop Caldwell to constitute the grandest building
of its kind in southern India.'
The beautiful Teppakulam at Madura, the Fudu maniapam
and the unfinished tower called the Rdya (jopuram belonging to
the great temple there (and doubtless other additions to that
building), and (perhaps) the Tamakam, the curious building in
which the Collector now resides, were also due to his taste for the
magnificent.
' History of TiHnevully, 01.
50
MADUBA.
CHAP. II.
NiYAKKAN
Dynasty.
Mnttu Alaka-
dii, lGoy-62.
Chokkan^tha
(1G62-82).
His troubles
wit.h his
neighbours.
Tirumala was succeeded "by his son Muttu Alak^dri. It is
perhaps surprising that Tirumala's brother — who, as has been seen,
had just returned to Madura from Mysore at the head of a
victorious army — should not have attempted to seize the crown;
but he was prevailed upon to accept the governorship of Sivakasi
in Tinnevelly district.
Almost the first act of the new king was an attempt to
shake off the liated Muhammadan yoke. He tried to induce
the Nayakkan of Tanjore to join the enterprise, but only succeed-
ed in involving him in the punishment which the Musalmana
meted out when his efforts ended in failure. For though the
Tanjore ruler disclaimed all connection with his neighbour's
aspirations and attempted to conciliate the Musalmans, the
latter none the less marched into his country, took Tanjore
and Vallam and drove the Nayakkan to fly into tlie jungle. The
invaders then moved against Trichinopoly and Madura, spreading
havoc far and wide, while Muttu Alakadri remained inactive
behind the walls of the former of these forts. Fortunately for
him, the enemy soon had to retire, for their cruel devastations
produced a local famine and pestilence from which they themselves
suffered terribly. They accordingly made a half-hearted attempt
on Trichinopoly and then permitted tliemselves to be bought off
for a very moderate sum. Muttu Alakadri did not long survive
their departure, but gave himself up to debauchery with an
abandon which soon brought him to a dishonoured grave.
He was succeeded by his son Chokkan^tha (1662-82), a
promising boy of sixteen. This young ruler began his reign with
a second ill-considered attempt to drive out the Musalman troops,
despatching a large army against the Gingee fortress. His
general, however, sold himself to the enemy and wasted time and
money in a long and unprofitable campaign which was little but
pretence. Chokkanatha was also harassed by a domestic con-
spiracy (in which the same unfaithful general took a prominent
part) and though he detected and quashed this, the general went
over openly to the Muhammadans and induced them to join in an
assault upon Trichinopoly in which they had the countenance (if
not the practical assistance) of the Nayakkan of Tanjore. The
officers whom Chokkanatha entrusted with the duty of repelling
the attack were again disloyal, and it was not until he himself at
length took command of the army that the invaders were driven
back to Tanjore and eventually to Gingee.
So far things had not gone so badly, but in tlie next or the
following year (1663 or 1664) Chokkanatha paid a heavy price for
POLITICAL HISTOBY. 51
his temporary success. The Muliainmadans burst into the CHAP. ll.
Trichinopoly and Madura districts and devastated tlie country NXyakkan
with almost incredible cruelty. They again besieged Tricliino- Dy-^'^sty.
poly, and this time Chokkanatha had to buy them off with a
large sum. He consoled himself by punisliing the Nayakkan of
Tanjore for assisting them, and he attempted similar reprisals on
the Setupati of Eamnad, who had failed to help him in repelling
them. This latter enterprise was unsuccessful, for though
Chokkanatha succeeded in taking several forts in the Marava
country, he was baffled by the guerilla tactics of his adversary,
and had to retire without obtaining that cliief's submission. The
campaign marks a new epoch in the relations of Ramnad and
Madura : from thenceforth the Setupati aspired to an independent
kingdom.
Chokkanatha's next war was with Tanjore, and it resulted in His oonqneat
the capture of that ancient city and the extinction of its Nayakkan xanio^r^e °
dynasty. Unluckily the Jesuit letters of the years 1666 to 1673
have been lost, and the only authority upon these exciting events
is a vernacular manuscript. This has been abstracted at length
by Mr. Nelson, but space forbids more than the merest summary
of its contents.
The casus J>elH, says this authority, was tlie refusal of the
Tanjore Nayakkan to give his beautiful and gifted daughter in
marriage to Chokkanatha. The latter determined to fetch the
maiden by force. His troops invaded the Tanjore country, drove
its forces back into their capital, and successfully stormed tliat
place. But they did not get the p)rincess : her father placed her
and all the other ladies of the palace in one room, blew this up
with gunpowder and then, with his son and his body-guard,
charged furiously into the thickest of the enemy, was captured
after a desperate resistance, and was beheaded.
Chokkanatha placed his foster-brother Alagiri in cliarge of
the government of Tanjore, but within a year the latter threw off
his allegiance, and Chokkanatha was now so given up to self-
indulgence and so ill served by his disloyal officers that, after an
outburst of indignation which ended in notliing, he was forced to
acquiesce in the independence of Tanjore.
Alagiri, however, was not long permitted to enjoy his ill-
gotten kingdom. A sou or grandson of the last Tanjore Nayakkan
had escaped to the Mus.ilman court of Bijapur and had induced
that power to help to place him on the throne of his fathers. In
1674 the Sultan of Bijapur sent a force commanded by the
Mar^tha general Venkaji {alias Ekoji) to turn out the Madura
52
MADURA.
CHAP. II.
NiiYJKKAN
Dynastt.
Attacked by
Mysore and
the Marathas.
usurper and reinstate the scion of the old line. Yenk^ji ventured
little until the occurrence of the rupture between Chokkandtha
and Alagiri; but he then defeated the latter with ease, and
occupied Tanjore. He did not, however, place his protege on
the throne, though he treated him kindly enough, but seized
the kingdom for himself. So the outcome of CJhokkanatha's
feebleness was that a Maratha, instead of a Nayakkan, sat upon
tlie throne of Tanjore.
Vonkaji shortly afterwards became embroiled with his famous
half-brother Sivaji, and Chokkanatha attempted to take advan-
tage of the circumstance to regain his hold on Tanjore. But he
was dilatory in the field and in his negotiations, and Venk^ji
succeeded in buying off the hostility of Santoji (the son of Sivaji,
whom tlie latter had despatched against him) before Chokkanatha
could effect anything. This was in lb'77-78.
Soon afterwards, Chokkanatha was forced to turn from aggres-
sion to the defence of his own kingdom. The famous Chikka
Deva Eaya, king of Mysore from 1672 to 1704, had for some time
been massing troops on his frontier, and now burst upon Coim-
batore and spread havoc far and wide. Chokkanatha did little
to repel him, the country was moreover visited with famine and
pestilence, and in despair the ministers of the state deposed their
incompetent I'uler in favour of his brother.
The change was not for the better, and the parlous state
of Madura and its territories in 1678 may be gathered from
the following passage iu a letter written by one of the Jesuit
missionaries in that year : —
' The capital, formerly bo flonrishing, is no longer recognizable.
Its palaces, onre so gorgeous and majestic, are deserted and falling
to ruin. Madura resembles less a town than a brigand's haunt. The
new Nayakkan is essentially a do-; otliing king. He sleeps- all niglit,
he sleeps all day ; and his neighbours, who do not sleep, snatch from
him each moment some fragment of his territories. Nations who
would profit from a change of rulers do not trouble to repel invaders,
and everything foretells that this kingdom, 60 powerful twenty years
back, will soon be the prey of its enemies, or rather the victim of the
insane policy of its own government.'
Chokkanatha was replaced on his tottering throne about 1678
by a Muhammadan adventurer who during the next two years
usurped the whole of his authority (and even the ladies of his and
his fallen brother's harems) and at last was slain by Chokkanatha
himself and a few of his friends. But the Nayakkan^s position
was still far from enviable. In 1682 his capital was besieged by
MyBore ; was shadowed by forces belonging to the Marathas,
POLITICAL HISTORY. 53
who, while pretending to be on his side, were only waiting for CHAP. IT.
a chance to seize his territory for themselves ; and was threatened N^yakkan
by a body of Maravans who noniin'-iUy had hurried to his ^^nast^.
assistance, but in reality had only come to share in the booty
which the sack of Trichinopoly was expected to yield.
While Chokkanatha thus sat helpless behind his defences, Tho latter
matters were taken out of his hands by the more virile actors upon ^^^^^ ^^"^
this curious scene. The Marathas, who were now established in
Gingee as well as in Tanjure, inflicted a crushing defeat on the
Mysore troops and drove them out of almost every corner of the
Madura and Trichinopoly districts. Madura itself they were
unable to capture, for the Maravans, regarding the men of
Mysore as on the whole more eligible neighbours than the
Marathas, helped the former to hold that fortress. The latter
then turned against Chokkandtha, whose friends they had
pretended to be, and laid siege to Trichinopoly itself. In despair
at their treachery, Chokkandtha died of a broken heart in lb82.
His successor was his son Eanga Krishna Muttu Yirappa, a Raiiga
boy of fifteen, who ruled for seven years. Little enough of his ^r'^'fJ^^*^
territories remained to him to rule. The greater part of them ViVappa
was held by Mysore, some by the Maravans, some by the (l*'^2-89).
Marathas of Gingee and some by the Marathas of ^J'anjore. The
country was a prey to complete anarchy and universal pillage,
foreign enemies occupying all the forts and robber-chiefs being
masters of the rural areas and carrying on their brigandage with
impunity.
Matters, however, slowly improved. Mysore was soon dis- Matters
tracted by a war with the Marathas of Gingee, and both the '™l'*°^'*'-
Setupatis of Eamnad and the Marathas of Tanjore were occupied
by domestic outbreaks in their own countries. A new disturb-
ing factor in south Indian politics had also appeared on the scene
in the person of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who in 1686-87
conquered the kingdoms of Madura's old enemies, Golconda and
Bijdpur, and was for many years engaged in a war with its foes
the Marathas which was most exhausting to both parties. More-
over the young Nayakkan of Madura, though imbued witli a
boyish love of fun and adventure which endeared him to his
courtiers, had also a stock of sound ability and spirit which
moved the admiration of his ministers, and he took advantage
of his improving prospects. He recovered his capital about 1685,
and though he failed in an attempt to reduce the Setupati in
1 686, he gradually reconquered large parts of the uncient kingdom
of his forefatheits and succeeded in restoring the power of the
54
MADURA.
CHAP. ir.
NiYAKKAN
Dtnasty.
Mangrammal
(1689-1704).
Her charities.
Her ware.
N^yakkans of Madura to a position which, though not to be
compared with that held by it at the beginning of his father's
reign, was still far above that which it occupied at the end of that
period. He unfortunately died of small-pox ia 1689 at the early
age of 22. The story goes that his young widow Muttammdl
(the only woman, strange to say, whom he had married) was
inconsolable at his loss and, though she was far advanced in
pregnancy, insisted upon committing sati on his funeral pyre.
Her husband's mother, Mangammdl, with great difficulty per-
suaded her to wait until her child should have been born, solemnly
swearing that she should then have her way. When at length
the cLild (a son) arrived, she was put off day after day with
various excuses until, despairing of being allowed her desire, she
put an end to her life.
Mangammal, the mother of the late Nayakkan, acted
for the next fifteen years as Queen- Regent on behalf of his
posthumous son.
She was a popular administrator and is still widely remembered
by Hindus as a maker of roads and avenues, and a builder of
temples, tanks and choultries. Popular belief unhesitatingly
ascribes to her every fine old avenue in Madura and Tinnevelly.
Native writers assign a curious reason for her passion for
charitable acts. One day, th(^y say, she inadvertently put betel
into her mouth with her left (instead of her right) hand, and
was warned by the Brahmans that this offence against manners
must be expiated by expenditure of this kind. Mr. Taylor has
suggested that this story hides her repentance for some amorous
escapade.
She was an able woman as well as a charitable, and under her
firm guidance Madura apparently all but regained the proud
position it had held in the days of Tirumala Nayakkan.
Unluckily, the Jesuit letters from 1687 to 169M, both inclusive,
have again been lost and the events of her regency cannot be
given with any fullness.
She was less frequently engaged in war than her predecessors,
but she did not escape the usual conflicts with her neighbours.
In her reign the kingdom of Madura first came into direct touch
with the Mughal empire of Delhi, since Zulfikar Khan, the
general who was sent by Auraugzeb to attack the Maratha
stronghold of Gingee, exacted tribute both from Trichinopoly and
Tanjore in 1693, though he did not succeed in taking Gingee till
five years later. Trichinopoly was besieged (according to Wilks)
POLITICAL HISTORY.
55
by Mysore in 1695, but relieved owing to pressure on the CHAP. II.
invader's country from tlie north. NXyakkan
Dynasty.
In 1698 Mangammdl had to subdue a rebellion in Travancore.
The ruler of that country had of recent years been very remiss in
sending his tribute to Madura, and it had been necessary on
several occasions to send an army to collect the arrears. In 1697
a force despatched for this purpose was taken oil' its guard and
almost cut to pieces. A punitive expedition was organized in the
following year, and after hard fighting Travancore was subdued
and an immense booty was brought home. Part uf this consisted
of many cannon, and these were mounted, says one of the ver-
nacular manuscripts, on the ramparts of Trichinopoly and Madura.
Mr. Nelson made many enquiries about these latter, but failed to
unearth any tradition regarding their ultimate fate.
In 1700 a desultory war, the origin and course of whicli are
alike obscure, was carried on between Madura and the Marathas
of Tanjore. In the following year the latter were crushingly
defeated near their capital, and were glad enough to buy oif the
invading army with an enormous bribe.
In 170<J Tanjore and Madura united to reduce Ramnad.
Strange to relate, they were quite unsuccessful, and the ablest
general of the Madura army was killed in battle.
In 1704-05 Mangammal's grandson came of age. Tradition Hertraijio
says that she refused to make way for him and that she was <*®at.h.
supported in her intention by her chief minister, a man with whom
she was on terms of undue intimacy. A strong party formed
against her, seized her and confined her in the building in Madura
which is still called ' Mangammal's palace,' was once the District
Jail and is now occupied by the taluk cutcherry and other public
offices. There, goes the story, she was slowly starved to death,
her sufferings being aggravated, with horrible cruelty, by the
periodical placing cf food outside her prison bars in such a position
that she could see and smell, but not reach, it. Some slight
confirmation of the tradition is derived from the facts that in tlie
little chapel built by Mangammal on the west side of ' the folden
lily tank ' in the Madura temple is a statue of a young man who
is declared to be her minister and paramour, and that in a picture
on the ceiling of the chapel is a portrait of the same person
opposite to one of the queen, who (be it noted) is dressed, not as
an orthodox Hindu widow should be, but in jewels and finery
appropriate only to a married woman.
66
MADURA .
His feeble
rule.
CHAP. II. Uer grandson Vijaya Eanga Chokkanatha (1704-31) enjoyed
NXyakkan a long" but apparently dull reign of 26 years. It is unfortunate
D ynast y. ^-^^^ ^^^^ Jesuit letters wbicli so greatly illumine previous
Vijaya fianga periods of Madura history now cease altogether, and from this
^1^04-31^ * time forth we are driven to rely almost entirely upon native
manuscripts and the secondary evidence afforded by English
historians. And, curiously enough, the nearer we approach the
period of the beginning of Hritish ascendancy in the south, the
more meagre and unsatisfactory does our information become.
Judging from such material as is available, it seems that the
new ruler of Madura was vain and weak-minded, and unfit to
govern either himself or others. His reign was distinguished by
the ill-regulated and extraordinary munificence of his gifts to
Brahmans and religious institutions. Every other year he used,
it is said, to travel to one or other of the famous shrines within
his territories, and on these occasions he lavished gifts on all who
could gain access to him. The injustice of his rule caused a
serious riot in Madura, the mutiny of the whole of his troops, and
incessant internal commotions. It must have been owing solely
to their own embarrassments that his neighbours did not attempt
to despoil his kingdom.
The only warfare in which he seems to have been engaged
was connected with the succession to the throne of Bamnad in
1725. Of the two claimants to that position, one was supported
by Tanjore and the other by Madura and the Tondaman of
Tudukkottai. The Tanjore troops won a decisive victory and
placed their protege on the throne, A year or two later, however,
the Tanjore king himself deposed this very piotege, and divided
the Eamnad kingdom into the two separate divisions of Eamnad
and Sivaganga, which henceforth remained iudependent Marava
powers.
Yijaya Ranga Chokkanatha died in 1731, and was succeeded
by his widow Minakslii, who acted as Queen-Eegent on behalf of
a young boy she had adopted as the heir of her dead husband.
She had only ruled a year or two when an insurrection was raised
against her by Vangaru Tirumala, the father of her adopted son,
who pretended to have claims of his own to the throne of Madura.
At this juncture the representatives of the Mughals appeared on
the scene and took an important part in the struggle.
It must be remembered that ever since 1693 Madura had
been nominally the feudatory of the emperor of Delhi, and that
Binoe 1698 the Carnatic north of the Coleroon river had been
Minakshi
(1731-36).
linaalman
interference.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 57
under direct MnhamiTiadan rnle. The local representative of CIIAf. IT.
the Mughal was tlie Nav.ah of Arcot, and an intermediate Nayakkan
autlioritj was held hy the Nizam of Ifaidarahad, who was in J_^
theory the subordinate of the emperor, and the suiierior of the
Nawab.
How regidarly the kings of Tanjore and Madura paid their
tribute is not clear, but in 1734 — about the time, in fact, that
Minakshi and Vangaru Tirumala were fighting for the crown —
an expedition was sent by the then Xawab of Arcot to exact
tribute and submission from the kingdoms of the south. The
leaders of tliis were the Nawab's son, Safdar Ali Khan, and his
nephew and confidential adviser, the well-known Chanda Sahib,
The invaders took Tanjore by storm and, leaving the strong-
hold of Trichinopoly unattemptcd, swept across Madura and
Tinnevelly and into Travancore, carrying all before them. It
was apparently on their return from this expedition that they
took part in the quarrel between Minakshi and Vangaru
Tirumala. The latter ♦approached Safdar Ali Khan with an
offer of three million rupees if he would oust the queen in favour
of himself. Unwilling to attack Trichinopoly, the ^lusalman
prince contented himself with solemnly declaring \'angdru
Tirumala to be king and taking a bond for the three millions.
He then marched away, leaving Chanda Sahib to enforce his
award as best as he could. The queen, alarmed at the turn
affairs had now taken, approached Chanda Sdhib with counter
inducements to take her side ; and had little difficulty in persuad-
ing that facile politician to accept her bond for a crore of rupees
and to declare her duly entitled to the throne, ^linakshi, says
Wilks, required him to swear on the Koran that he would adhere
faithfully to his engagement, and he accordingly took an oath on
a brick wrapped up in the splendid covering usually reserved for
that holy book. lie was admitted into the Trichinopoly fort and
Vangaru Tirumala — apparently with the goodwill of the queen,
who, strangely enough, does not seem to have wished him
any harm — went off to Madura, to rule over that country and
Tinnevelly.
Chanda Sahib accepted an earnest of the payment of the
crore of rupees and departed to Arcot. Two years later (1780)
he returned, was again admitted into the fort and proceeded to
make himself master of the kingdom. Mindkshi was soon little
but a puppet. Orme, indeed, suggests that she had fallen in
love with Chanda Sdhib and so let him have his own way
unhindered,
8
58
MADURA,
CHAP. II.
NXyakkan
Dynastv.
End of
Kayakkan
dynast jr.
Character cf
its rule.
musalman
Dominion.
Chanda S.-ihib
(173G-40).
A Maratiia
intei-lude,
17i0-43.
The latter eventually marched against Vang^ru Tirumala, who
was still ruling in the south, defeated him at Ammayanayakkanur
and Pindigul, drove him to take refuge in ."^ivaganga, and
occupied the southern provinces of the Madura kingdom, leaving
now made himself master of all of the unfortunate Minakshi's
realms he threw off the mask, ceased to treat her with the
consideration he had hitherto extended to her, locked her up in
her palace and proclaimed himself ruler of her kingdom. The
hapless lady took poison shortly afterwards.
With her reign, came to an end the ancient dynasty of the
Nayakkans of Madura. The unprejudiced evidence of the Jesuit
missionaries already several times referred to enables us to form a
more accurate estimate of their administration than is usually
possible in such cases. Bishop Caldwell, in summing this up,
sardonically remarks that it is unfortunate for their reputation
that so much more is known about them and their proceedings
than about their Chola and Pandya predecessors. He concludes
by saying^ that —
* Judged not merely by modern European standards of i ight and
wrong, but even by the standards furnished by Hindu and Muham-
madan books of authority, the Nayakkans must be decided to have
fallen far short of their duty as rulers. Their reigns record little more
than a disgraceful catalogue of debaucheries, treacheries, plunderings,
oppressions, murders and civil commotions, relieved only by the facti-
tious splendour of gifts to temples, idols and priests, by mrans of
which they apparently succeeded in getting the Brahmans and poets
to speak well of them, and thus in keeping ihe mass of the people
patient uuder their misrule.'
For a time, Chanda Sahib had everything his own way. His
success was indeed regarded with suspicion and even hostility by
the Nawab of Arcot ; but family reasons prevented a rupture,
and Chanda Sahib was left undisturbed while he strengthened
the fortifications of Trichinopoly and appointed his two brothers
as go^ernors of the strongholds of Dindigul and Madura. It was
at this period that he subjugated the king o^' T'anjore (though he
did not annex his territory), and compelled him to cede Kctraikkal
to the French.
Unable to help themselves, the king of Tanjore and Vangaru
Tirumala determined to call in the assistance of the Marathas
of Satara in Bombay. These people had their own grievance
against the Muhammadans of Arcot (with whom Chanda Sahib
was still identified) because the latter had long delayed payment
^ ffisiory of Tiw^evelly, 62.
I'OLITICAL HISTORY. 59
of the chouth, or one- fourth of the revenues, which tlicy had pro- CHAP. II.
miseJ iu return for the withdrawal of the Marathas from the Musalma.x
country, and the discontinuance of their usual predatory incursions. "___ " '
They were also encouraged to attempt reprisals by the Nizam of
Haidarahad, who, jealous of the increasing- power of the Nawdb
and careless of the loyalty due to co-religionists, would gladly
have seen his dangerous subordinate brought to the ground.
Early in 1740, therefore, the Marathas appeared with avast
array in the south and defeated and killed the Nawab of A root in
the pass of Damalcheruvu in North Arcot. They then came to an
understanding wuth his son, the Safdar Ali mentioned above,
recognised him as Nawab, and retired for a time.
Chanda Sahib had made a faint pretence at helping the
Nawab to resist the Marathas, and he now came to offer his
submission to Safdar Ali. The princes parted with apparent
amity, but at the end of the same year the Marathas (at the
secret invitation of Safdar Ali) suddenly reappeared and made
straight for Trichinopoly. Iheir temporary withdrawal had been
designed to put Chanda Sahib off his guard ; and it so far
succeeded that Trichinopoly was very poorly provisioned. They
invested the town closely, defeated and killed the two brothers
of Chanda Sabib above mentioned as they advanced to his help
from their provinces of Madura and Dindigul, and, after a siege
of three months, compelled the surrender of Trichinopoly. Thoy
took Chanda captive to Satara, and, disregarding the claims of
Vangaru Tirumala, appointed a Maratha, the well-known Morari
Rao of Gooty, as their governor of the conquered kingdom.
Morari Eao remained there fur two years (it is not clearly Musalman
known what he did or how far his authority extended) and he a^^honty ro-
„ . ,. -in^oin • T r'i-i-».T. established,
nnaliy retired m 174o beiore the invading army or the Nizam, 174.3.
who marched south in that year, re-established bis weakened
authority in the Carnatic, and in 1 744 appointed Anwar-ud-din as
Nawab of Arcot,
Tne whole of the Madura kingdom now fell under the rule of
this latter potentate. There is reason to believe that he governed
it through his sons Mahfuz Khan and Muhammad Ali, both soon
to play an important part in the history of these districts. It is
said that the Nizam ordered that Vangaru Tirumala should to
appointed king of Madura; but, if sucli an order was ever made,
it was disregarded; and that feeble individual sotm disappeared
finally from the scene, poisoned, some say, Ijy Aiiwai--ud-(.liii.
As late as 1820, a descendant of his, bearing tlie same name,
was in Madras endeavouring to obtain pecuniary assistance from
GO
MADURA.
CHAP. IT.
musalman
Dominion.
The rival
Miisalman
parties.
English
Period.
Siege of
Madura,
1751.
Government. lie and Lis family lived at Yellaikr.riclii in ite
K^ivaganga zamin.lari and their c'lildren were there until quite
recently. It is said that tlioy still kept up the old form of having
recited, o'.i the first day of Chittrai in each year, a long account
of their pedigree and the boundaries of the great kingdom of
which their forebears were rulers.
In 171-8, however, Chanda Sahib regained his liberty and
marched south in company with a pretender to the position of
Nizam of Ilaidarabad. Tbe allies were successful, Anwar-ud-
din wa3 slain at the great battle of Arablir in North Arcot, and
Chanda Sahib succeeded him. One of his sons, Muhammad Ali,
fled however to Trichinop )ly and proclaimed himself Nawab there,
and soon most of the south of India was involved in tbe struggle
between these rivals. Tho French anl the English (who had
recently been fighting among themselves, were now nominally at
peace, and consequently both had more soldiers than they knew
wdiat to do with) took sides in the conflict (tho former taking' the
part of Chanda Sahib and the latter that of Muhammad Ali) and the
campaigns which followed were in reality a disguised struggle
for the mastery of south India by these two European nations.
It is not in any way necessary to follow the fortunes of the
â– war ill detail, as they are concerned less with Madura than with
other districts further north, and we may confine ourselves to
some account of the events which directly affected the present
Madura country. In these the French hal little share. Their
energies were chic-fly confined to the country further north.
The English, however, obtuiced each year henceforth a more and
more predominant share in the government of Madura and
Tinucveily, and the history of these tracts becomes a chronicle of
the East India Company's dealings v/ith them.
In 1751, after several startling turns of Fortune's wheel,
Chanda Saliib was very generally recognised as Nawab of Arcot.
Muhammad Ali, however, had many adherents in Tinnevelly and
Madura.
In this same year 1751, occurred the first siege of tho Madura
fort of which any account survives. One Alam Khan, a soldier
of fortune who had formerly been in Chanda Sahib's employ came,
says Ormo —
'To Madura, where his roputatioii .as au excellent officer soou
gained liini iufiiieuce and respect, which he oinplo3''ed to corrupt the
garrison, and sncceede I so well, lli:it the troops created him governor,
and consented to maintain the ci*y under his authority for Chanda
SaheVi, whom he ackf-iowledgod as his sovereign .... The lofls
POLITICAL HI8T0KY. 61
of tliis place, by cutting elf the commnnication between Tritcbinopoly CIIAP. II.
jind the countries of Tinivellr, deprived Mahomed-ally of more than English
one half of the dominions which at this time remained under hig Tkriod.
jurisdiction. On receiving the news, Captain Cope offered his
service to ret;il<e it. His detachment Mas ill-eqni])ped fur a siege,
for they had brocglit no battering cannon from Fort St. David,
and there were but two serviceable pieces in the cit}' : \\ith one
of these, three fi^'ld pieces, two cohorus, and 150 Europeans, he
marched away, accompanied by tOO of the Nabob's [_t.e., Na^ab's]
cavalry, commanded by another of his brothers Abdul-wahab Kiuin ;
and on the day that they arrived in sight of ^Madura, they were
joined by the army retarniug from Tinivelly. There were several
large brearihes in the outward wall ; the gun fired through one of
them on the inward wall, and in two days demolished a part of it,
although not sufficient to make the breach accessible without the
help of fascines. Difficult as it was, it was necessary either to ttorm
it im.mediately, or to relinquish the siege, for all the shot of tlie
great gun were expeuded. The sepoys, encouraged by a distribution
of some money, and a ju-omise of mucli more if the place shotld be
taken, went to the attack with as much spirit as the Europeans. The
first wall was passed without resistance, and at the foot of the breach
in the second appeared three champions, one of them a very bulky
man in compleat armour, who fought manfully with their swords, and
wounded several of the forlorn hope, but were at last witli difHculty
killed. Whilst the troops were mounting the breach, they were
severely annoyed by arrows, stones, and the fire of matchlocks;
notwithstanding whicli they gained the parapet, where the enemy had
on each side of the entrance raised a mouud of earih, on which they had
laid horizontally some palm trees sepai-ated from each other, and
through these intervals they thrust their pilces. At the bottom of the
rampart within the wall, they had made a strong retrenchment, with
a ditch; and three or four thousand men appeared ready to defend
this work with all kinds of arms. The troops, wounded by the pikes
as fast as they mounted, were not able to keep possession of the para-
pet, and after fightiog until ninety men were disabled, relinquished
the attack. Four Europeans were killed : the sepoys suffered more,
and four of their captains were desperately wounded. The next day
Captain Cope prepared to return to Tritchiuopoly, and blew the
cannon to pieces, for vr ant of means to carry it away. The troops of
Mahomed-ally, encouraged by tliis repulse, no longer, concealed their
disaffection, and 500 horse, with 1,000 peons, vrent over to Allnm
Khan before the English broke up their camp, and two or three days
after, near '2,000 more horsemen deserted likewise to the enemy.'
After ruling- Madura for a year, Alani Kliau went to Triclii-
nopoly to take part in the fighting which was going on there, and
was killed in 1752. Before leaving Madura lie appointed one
Mayana; a relation, to be governor of Madura, and one Nabi Khdn
62
MAi)UKA.
CHAP. II.
English
Period.
Col. Heron's
expedition,
1755.
I/Iahfuz Khan
rents the
country.
Muhammad
YdsuflTsent
to quiet it.
to command Tinnevelly. These two men and Muhammad Barki,
son-in-law of the latter of them, were the signatories to a paper
which Muhammad Ali afterwards produced as evidence of his
title to the sovereignty of Madura and Tinnevelly.
At the beginning of l7o5 Muhammad Ali sent another expedi-
tion to reduce these two districts to obedience. It consisted of
600 Europeans and 2,000 sepoys furnished by his ally the English
East India Company and commanded by Colonel Heron, and of
1,000 horse led by Mahfuz Kh;in, Muhammad All's elder brother.
The 2,000 sepoys were in charge of Muhammad Yusuf Khan,
a distinguished native officer of the Company whom we shall
meet again.
This force took Madura without any opposition (Mayana had
neglected its fortifications and depleted its garrison) and then
seized the temple of Kovilkudi, east of the town, where Mayana
had taken refuge. From this building the English soldiers un-
thinkingly carried off those little metal images of the gods of the
Kalians which brought them so much trouble in the Nattam pass
(see the account of this place on p. 289) on their way back.
Before Colonel Heron left, Mahfuz Khdn — having, according
to Orm.e, ' contrived every means to make the state of the province
appear less advantageous than it really was ' — obtained from him
a lease of the Madura and Tinnevelly districts at an annual rental
of 15 lakhs of rupees. Colonel Heron's consent to the arrange-
ment is declared to have been hastened by the offer of a consider-
able present.
Mahfuz Khan's administration was a total failure, and in 1756
the Company saw that the time for more decisive action had come.
Not being able to spare any Europeans, they despatched to the
south the Muhammad Yusuf already mentioned, the commandant
of all their sepoys. He was sent with some 1,400 men and given
orders to combine them with the troops of Mahfuz Khan and the
Nawdb and take command of the whole.
He passed through Madura, on his way to the Tinnevelly
country, in April 1756, and the following passage from Orme
aptly illustrates the reasons which had led to his being sent to the
south and the difficulties with which he had to contend : —
' During this progress Mahomed Issoof had not been able to
collect any money from the revenues, for the maintenance of his troops ;
because the ravages of the Polygars had ruined most of the villages
and cultivated lands of the country through which he passed; and the
real detriment of these devastationa was increased by the pretences
they furnished the land-holders to falsify their accounts, and plead
POLITICAL HISTORY.
63
exemptions for more than tlif-y had lost. Up found Mapliuzo Cawn CHAP. II.
in greater distress than himself, unahle either to fulfil the stipulations Knci.iph
at which he had reut<".] the country froni Colonel ITeron, or to sii])]ilv PKRion.
the pay of the Company's sepoys left with him under the eommand of
Jemaul Saheb, or even to furnish enough, exclusive of long arrears,
for the daily subsistence of his own troops. This distress naturally
deprived him of the necessary authority over the Jemmadars, or officers
of his cavalry, who in Indostan, as the ancient mercenary captains of
Italy, hire out their hands, and gain not a little by the bargain.
Every kind of disorder likewise prevailed in all the other departments
of his administration, at the same time that the indolence and irreso-
lution of his own character confirmed all the evils which had been
introduced into his government.'
T5y July of the same year, the country was to all appearance Mahfu« Khfin
tranquil, and the two leaders separated — Muhammad Yusuf going-
to Tinnevelly town and Mahfuz Khan to Madura. As soon as the
latter had arrived 'at that place, his cavalry (2.000 picked men) *
surrounded liis house, headed by the governor of the town, and
declared that they would not move until they were given their
arrears of pay — some seven lakhs of rupees. At the same time
three companies of Madras sepoys who were in Madura were dis-
armed and turned out ; and the brother of the Muliammad Barki
already mentioned above entered the fort with 2,000 Kalians
whom he had collected in the Nattam country. Tlie standard of
revolt was then openly raised and invitations were issued to all tlie
poligars to assist in re-establishing tlie government of Mahfuz
Kh4n.
These steps were doubtless taken with the knowledge and
approval of Mahfuz Khdn and were inspired by the fact that in
July the Company had farmed out the Tinnevelly country for
eleven lakhs of rupees to a certain Mudali, tliis man being granted
plenary civil and criminal jorif-diction within it and being bound
to maintain not less than 1 ,000 of the Company's sepoys.
Hearing what had liappened, Muhammad Yusuf marched at Capfain
once on Madura, and on the lOtli August camped near Tirur>]\^ran- S".^^'!',"'^''^
kunram, wjuch was strongly held by tjie rebels. Jlis whole Madura,
force was only 1,500 sepoys and six field-pieces, so, seeing that it ^'^'*
would be useless to attempt to storm the place, lie sent for
instructions to Captain Calliand, who was at Tricliinopoly. Tliat
officer came over and attempted to negotiate with the rebels, liis
efforts were vain and a desultory war began whicli ravaged the
whole district.
In May 1757 Captain Calliaud made a gallant endeavour to
carry the Madura fortress by a night surprise, but was repulsed
rKKion.
64 Madura .
CHAP. ir. with lo?s. Onno gives the following account of the affair, which
KsGi.isir is of interest as containiricf a description of fortifications which
have now utterly disappeared. A reference to tlio map of the
tosvn in 1757 facing- p. 'ZG') will make tliis clearer, and it will be
seen that the assault was delivered near where the present
maternity hospital stands.
' The inward wall of Madara is 22 feet high, including the parapet,
which rises six above the rampart : at the distance of every 100 yards
or less 'for exact symmetry has not been observed) are square towers.
'J"he fausse-bray is 30 feet broad, above which the outward wall rises
only five feet, but descending to the bottom of the ditch is II on the
outside. Midway between every two towers of the inward wall, is a
similar projection in the outward, with loop-holes whivh command the
ditch, and flank the intermediate part of the v/all, in which are none :
but the whole parapet of the inward wall has loop-holes, so liave some
of its towers, and the rest embrasures for cannon. The spot chosen to
be attacked was the first tower on the left hand of the western gate-
way, being the only part "where the fausse-bray was clear of the thick
thorny bushes, which had not injudiciously been suffered to overrun
it in every other ; but the garrison, trusting to this defence, had
entirely neglected the ditch, which, by continual drifts after rain, was
almost choke 1 up to the level of the plain. The party allotted to the
attack were 100 Europeans, and 200 sepoys; the rest of the troops
remained in the watercourse [see the map], ready to support the event.
Calliaud led the party himself, to whom the method of attack was care-
fully explained, and strict silence enjoined. The foremost men carried
the sis shorter ladders intended for the outward wall; the next, the six
longer, for the inward ; as soon as twenty of the party had got into
the fausse-bray, it was intended that thej should immediately take
over the longer ladders, which they were to plant, as received, against
the tower, but not a man was to mount, until all the six ladders were
fixed, and then no more than three at a time on each ladder.
' The first ladders were planted, and Calliaud, with the first 20 men,
had got ijito the fausse-bray. had taken over one of the longer ladders,
and had planned it against the tower, when their hopes were inter-
jupted by one of those accidents which from their tri\iality escape
the most attentive precaution. A dog, accustomed to get his mfals at
the messes of some of the soldiers, had accomjianied theoi all the way
from Secundermally [Tirupparanknnram] into the ditch, and, probably
from anxiety at not being able to follow his masters into the fausse-
bray, began to bark; which was soon answered by the barking of
another dog on the rampart, and the yelps of both awakened the
nearest centinal, who, crying out " The enemy", roused the guard at
the gateway, which repaired immediat'-dy to the tower. The soldiers
in the fausse-bray, finding the alarm taken, instead of continuing to
get over the rest of the ladders, endeavoured to mount on that already
planted, but crowded on it 60 many together, that it crushed uuder
POLITICAL TTISTORT.
65
Pekioi).
them. This communicated the confusion to those in the ditch, and no CHAP. 11.
one any longer did what he ought. In tlio meantime, tlie garri.son English
increasing on the ram]vart hung out Mue liglits of enlnhur, and dis-
covering the \\hu\o. |>arty began to shower on them, arrows, Btones,
lances, and the shot of fire-arms. On which Caliiaud ordered the
retreat, which was elfecteJ with httle loss, only one man being killed,
and another wounded; both were sepoys, standing on the glacis.'
In July he made another attempt at the same spot, which was
again unsuccessful. Orrae describes it as under : —
' Tho gabions, fascines, and platforms, werepreparcd in the camp ;
and as soon as all were ready, the troops allotted marched on the 9th
at night to the watercourse which runs to the west of the city, and
raised the battery against the curtain between the gateway and the
tower which had beou attempted bj^ escalade of the 1st of May. It
mounted two eighteen-po.mders, with four field-pieces, was finished
before the morning, and at daj'-break began to fire. The parajiet of the
fausse-bray was soon beaten dov/n, and theiu's^ard wall, although
strong, was by noon shaken so much, that the parapet of this likewise
fell entirely, and the wall itself was sufficiently shattered, to permit a
a man to clamber to the top : but, in this short time, the garrison had
staked the rampart behind with tho trunks of Palmeira trees set on
end : a few shot knocked down some, nor could any of them have been
firmly fixeJ^ and to leave the enemy no more time to prepare farther
defences, Caliiaud resolved to storm immediately. Of the Europeans,
only the artiilery-men were left at the battery : all the battalion-men,
who were 120, marched, followed by the Company of Coffrecs and
they by -100 sepoys. Caliiaud led the Europeans, and ^Mahomed
Issoof the sepoys. The garrison had disciplined 300 of their match-
lockmen as sepoys ; who, although much inferior to these troops, were
improved far beyond their former state; these were posted on the
western gateway, which projecting beyond the fausie-bray into the
ditch, flanked the tower attacked ; and a multitude were crowded on
the ramparts behind and on each side of the breach. The troops,
although galled, advanced resolutely through the ditch and fausse-
bray, and four of the most active scrambled up the breach to the
rampart, but w^ere immediately tumbled down dead, or mortally
wounded. This repressed the ardour of those who were following :
an officer threw out imprudent words, and the infirmity visibly caught
the whole line, notwithstanding tlie exhortations and activity of
Caliiaud, who was in the fausse-bray directing the assault. Whoso-
ever mounted afterwards came down without getting to tho top,
pretending the impossibility, although the danger was as great in the
fausse-bray below; for, besides the shower of other annoyances,
the enemy had prepared bags and pipkins filled with mere powder,
to which they set fire as they tossed them down on the heads of
the assailants, and the scorch of the explosion was inevitable and
intolerable. Nevertheless, Caliiaud continued the assault half au
9
66
Madura.
CHAT. II.
English
Period.
Anarchy
agaia
prevails.
Yusuf Khin
agaia
despatched.
He rebels and
is hanged,
1704.
hour; when finding that no command wa.s any longer obeyed, and that
niudi loss had been sustained, he ordered the retreat. Four of the
bravest Serjeants were killed, and as many wounded, and 20 other
Euro2ioans wore either killed or desperato'y wounded ; of the Cof^'rccs
10, of the sepoys 100 were disabled, but few of this body were killed,
and fewer died afterwards of their wounds.'
Eventually the place was given up to Captain Calliaud on his
paying the rebels Rs. 1,70,000.
The results were small. Disturbances still prevailed every-
where ; the Kalians ravaged the country in every direction ; the
great Haidar Ali, the soldier of fortune who was soon to usurp
the throne of Mysore, invaded the country round Madura and
was with difficulty beaten off ; and no revenue worth mentioning
could be collected. The Company tried in vain to induce the
Nawab of Arcot to recall his brother, Malifuz Khan, who was
undoubtedly the cavise of all the trouble, and soon afterwards
their needs elsewhere compelled them to withdraw Muhammad
Yusuf.
His departure was the signal for wilder anarchy than ever.
The Company's garrison in Madura could only just collect, from
the country directly under its walls, enough revenue to support
themselves; on the north the Kalians, and on the west the
poligars, ravaged unchecked ; and in the south Mahfuz Khan had
thrown himself into the arms of the principal poligars and was
beyond the reach of argument or reason.
The Company accordingly sent back Muhammad Yusuf to the
country, renting both Madura and Tinnevelly to him for the very
moderate sum of five lakhs annually. He returned in the spring
of 17'j9 and began by teaching the Kalians a wholesome lesson.
Cutting avenues through their woods, he shot them down without
mercy as they fled, or executed as malefactors any who were
taken prisoners. He went on to reduce the rest of the country
to order, and soon had sobered all the poligars and made himself
extremely powerful. He even had the audacity to make war on
the king of Travancore without the knowledge or consent of the
Company. In 1761, and again in 1762, he offered to lease Tinne-
velly and Madura for four years more at seven lakhs per annum.
His offer was refused, and — whether he was enraged at this, oi
whether he thought himself powerful enough to defy his masters —
he shortly afterwards threw off his allegiance and began to
collect troops.
In 1763, therefore, a strong force was sent against him and
he was besieged in Madura in September. His friends nearly
all deserted him, but he held out until October 1764 with great
rOLITICAL HISTORY. 67
energy and skill, renovating- and strengthening the fort at great CIIAI'. ir.
expense — he is said to have ' entirely repaired ' its east face and ENiii.isu
constantly employed 8,000 labourers about it — and repelling the Pekiod.
chief assault with a loss of 120 Europeans (including nine oflBcers)
killed and wounded. At tlie end of tliat time little real progress
against him liad been made, except that the place was now
rigorously blockaded, but he was treacherously seized by one
Marchaud, the officer in charge of the French contingent, and
handed over to Major Charles Campbell, who commanded the
English among the besiegers.^ Ife was ignominiously hanged
near the camp, about two miles to the west of Madura, and his
body was buried at the spot. A small square mosque was after-
wards erected over his tomb. It is still in existence — to the left
of the road toDindiLnil, a little be} ond the toll-gate — and is known
as ' Khdn ^â– ^â– dhih' s pillmtscd.'
Tradition lias many stories to tell oF this remarkable man, iiischaiacVr.
who is commonly known in Madura as Kluinsa, an abbreviation
for Xhcin Saliib. lie was born in the Ramnad country and was
originally a Hindu of the Vellala caste. He ran away from his
home, took service under a European for three years in Pondi-
cherry, was dismissed, served under anotlier European (who
educated him) , went to the Nawab's court, rose rapidly in the
army, married a Parangi woman and eventually, as lias been seen,
became Commandant of all the Company's sepoys. His executive
ability is sufficiently indicated in the report (see below) from
Colonel Fullarton — dated March, 1785 and entitled ' A view of
the English interests in India' — which was republished in
Madras in 18G7. This says that in Tinnevelly and Madura
* his whole administration denoted vigour and effect. His justice
was unquestioned, his word unalterable; his measures were
happily combined and firmly executed, the guilty had no refuge
from punishment.' It concludes by saying that his example
shows that ' wisdom, vigour and integrity are of no climate or
complexion.'
After Muhammad Yusuf's death, the revenue administration Tfaidar Ali'a
of Madura was entrusted to one Abiral Kluin Saliib, who con- '1^!^'°"'-
duoted it uneventfully for some six years. He had no military
power, and the country was commanded by British officers. The
terms of office of his numerous successors were equally devoid of
' Vibart's History of Madras En jiiif ers {W. 11. AWi^u, ISSl), S'.K This work
gives a detailed account of the operutions. Caldwell {History of Tinnevelly, 12;^)
seems to giro incorrectly the natnes of both tho Frencli and Knglish commani-
ing officers.
G8 MADUKA.
CHAP. II. episode, and it was not nntil 1780 tliat any cliange of note
English occurred. In that year Haidar Ali (wlio had by now made hini-
ff;^"' self king- of Mysore) perpetrated his famous invasion of the
Carnatic — pillaging, burning and slaying until the country was
one blackened waste.
Assignment Ij^ the next year the Nawab Muhammad Ali^ assigned to the
of the revenue Company 1 the revenues of the Carnatic to defray the cost of the
panj, 1781. war with Haidar Ali, and a ' Committee of Assigned Eevenue,'
consisting of six officials, was appointed to administer them.
Under this body, in each of the districts concerned, was a
' Receiver of Assigned Kevenue.' The first so sent to Madura —
virtually its first Collector — was Mr. George Proctor. His
administration vfas not successful, and he was (apparently)
followed in 1783 by Mr. Eyles Irwin.'
Colonel ^ But the country required quieting before it could be success -
expedition f'^l^^J administered, and in the same year the Colonel Fullarton
1783, who has already been mentioned was sent into it with a strong
force. His report above cited affords ample evidence of the
necessity for this step. It says that —
' Nearly one hnudred thousand Poligars and Colleries [«>., Kalians]
were in arms throughout the southern provinces, and, being considered
hostile to Government, looked to public confusion as their safeguard
against punishment. Your southern force was inadequate to repress
these outrages and to retrieve your affairs. The treasury was drained,
the country depopulated, the revenues exacted by the enemy, the
troops undisciplined, ill-paid, poorly fed and unsuccessfully com-
manded. During the course of these proceedings, your southern
provinces remained in their former confusion. The Poligars,
Colleries, and other tributaries, ever since the commencement of
the war [with Haidar Ab] had thrown off all appearance of alle-
giance. No civil arrangement could be attempted without a military
force, and nothing less than the whole army seemed adequate to their
reduction. While such a considerable portion o £ the southern provinces
remained in defiance of the Company's Government, it was vain to
think of supporting the current charges of the establishment, far
less could we hope to reduce the arrears, and to 2:»repare for important
operations, in the probable event of a recommencement of hostilities.
It became indispensable, therefore, to restore the tranquillity of those
provinces by vigorous military measures as tlie only means to
render them protective of revenue.'
Colonel Fullarton subdued the poligars of Melur and Siva-
ganga and then passed southwards ; and liis principal fighting
was in Tinnevelly.
^ See Aitcliisou's Trealies, eic. (1892), viii, Si.
* Eiahry of TinneveUu, 144, 146.
POLITICAL HISTORY. 69
In Jrine 1785, in consequonce of orders f lom superior authority. cLl \P ] I
tlie assignment of the revenues was surrendered to the Nawab of English
Arcot, the Committee of Assigned lievenue was dissolved, and Period.
the civil administration of tlio Company, u'ith all its numerous
advantages, ceased for seven years.
In August 171 the Madras Government, finding it impossible Assumrtion
to induce tlie Nawab either to contribute his share of the expenses °^ ^^^
of the alliance with tlie Company or to re-introduce the assign- 1790. '
ment of the revenues, took possession of the country by procla-
mation, without treaty. A Board of Assumed Ecvenue, M-hich
was a department of the Board of Revenue established in 178G,
was constituted to administer the territories, and Collectors were
appointed to the vaiious districts. Mr. Alexander I^IcLeod was
sent down in 1790 as Collector of Dindigul.
In July 1792 the Nawab and the Company entered into a new tIio Corn-
treaty ' by wliich the latter undertook to collect at their own V^^i' collocia
expense and risk the whole of the pesh leash, or tribute, due from kash 1792.
the poligars and with the exception of a few districts — among
which were Madura proper and Tinnevelly, which were to remain
in the Company's hands till the revenue equalled the arrears
which had accrued — the rest of the country was to be restored to
the management of the Nawab on certain conditions.
In the same } ear (1792) the province of Dindigul came formally Story of the
into the possession of the Company. The fate of this area had ^>°^^g"l
differed for some years from that of the rest of the Madura
country. It has been seen above (p. '!8) that when Chanda
Sahib seized the latter, he placed one of his bi'others in command
of Dindigul. About 1742, Birld Venkata Eao, the officer in
command of the forces in the adjoining territories of Mysore,
invaded the province. The commandant of the Dindigul fort,
Mir Imam Ulla, handed it over to him without resistance, and
the king of Mysore appointed Birki V^enkata Eao as manager
of tjie newly acquired province. It contained a number of
palaiyams, or feudal estates, and its history for the next few years
consists largely of the alternate resumption and restoration of
these, and of changes in its managers. In 1748 Madur, one of
the palaiyams, was sequestrated for arrears ; and Venlcata Eao
was recalled and followed l.iy one Venkatappa. He in liis turn
was succeeded in 1751 Ijy one Namagiri lui ja ; but in tlie same
year Vcnkata[>pa w^as restored and given charge of the palaiyams,
while Srinivasa Eao (son of Birki Venkata Eao) was given
control of the Government land. In 1755 Venkatap}ia reported
' For lliy text of it, sec Aiu-liisun'* Trfiaii^it, «tc. (lyi^2), Tiii, 17.
Period.
I!b MADU lU.
CHAP, II. that the poiigars were very contumacious, and Haidar Ali aceord-
Englisii ingly made a memorable incursion into the country and brought
these chiefs to their knees one after the other with extraordinary
rapidity, although lie had only 1,700 men against the 30,000
whom they might, if they had united, have put into the field to
meet him. When he entered the country, only two of the
poligars' estates were under resumption ; namely, l\Iadur and
Vadakarai ; by the time he left it he had resumed all the others
except five ; namely, Ammayanayakkanur, Idaiyankottai, Kombai
Nilakkottai and Mambarai.
Srinivasa Eao was now removed for incompetence, and
^ . Venkatappa appointed to the charge
Emakkaiapuram. of both the estates and the Govern-
Erasakkanayakkanur. ment land. He was shortly afterwards
Gantamanayakkan6r. succeeded by one Surya Narayana
^ ""^ ^' . Mudali, who for some reason restored
six * of the disj^ossessed poligars.
In 1772 the country was granted to Mir Sahib, husband of
Haidar's wife's sister and a well-remembered individual, ou
military tenure. In 1773 and 1774 he resumed seven t of the
palaiyams and restored two more
+ Ambaturai. ^ (Tevaram and Sandaiyiir M to their
Ei-asakkaTmyakkannr. ^ t at ttcq j • xi
Gantamanayakkaimr. owners. In May 17bc!, durmg the
Kombai. First Mysore War, Dindigul surren-
Maruu^ttu. dered to the division under Colonel
la o ai. Lang and all the dispossessed poligars
Tavasimadai. *=" -A •
were reinstated. But the province
was restored in the next year by the treaty of Mangalore ' to Tipu
Sultan, Haidar All's son and successor, and he granted it to Saiyad
Sahib, who is said to have been a nephew of Mir Sahib, on much
the same terms as those the latter had enjoyed. In 1785 and
1786 Saiyad Sahib resumed five t of the palaiyams, and in 1788
Tipu himself came to Dindigul and
X Eriyodn. sequestrated fourteen others for arrears,
^^*^^^'- leaving only three of them (Idaiyan-
„'^ ^^'. . kottai, Kombai and Mambarai) not
Sandaiyur. ^ p ,
Sakkampatti. under attachment. Ihese fourteen
were taken away from the Dindigul
country and attached to the province of Sankaridrug in Salem.
In 1790 Sandaiyur was given back to its owner.
1 In the present Nilakkottai taluk ; not the existing zauiindaii of tbc same
name in Tirumaugalam.
* Aitoliisou's Trmties, stc, viii, 4^o.
POLITTOAL HISTORY. 71
In August 1790, during the Second Mysore "War against Tipu, CHAP. IT.
Colonp] .Tames Stuart took the Diiidigul fort and dislrict in the Exgluh
manner doscriltod on ]). 257 helow, and all t]ie dispossessed 1'^•RI0D.
poligars wore onee more restored to tlioir estates. In 1792, Itscossirn
by the treaty w]iio]i concluded that war.' tlio province was ced^d '" ^'^^^'
to the Company, Tlie disturLances in it wliich the various
poligars' raised in the years immediately following are referred to
in Chapter XI helow.
The rest of Madura came finally into the hands of tlie Eno-Hsh CcBsion of
in 1801, under the following circumstances : When, in 1790 tjie ^^^ '^^''^ °^
Third Mysore War ended with the fall of Seringapatam and the I80l!^'^'
death of Tipu Sultan^ papers found in the fallen city showed that
tlie tlien Nawah of Arcot and his fatlier (the Muhammad Ali
already several times mentioned above) had been engaged in
treasonable correspondence with Tipu. An enquiry was held, but
while it was progressing the Nawab died. His heir declined to
give the security w^iich in the circumstances the Government con-
sidered necessary, and the Naw^abship was consequently conferred
on a junior member of the family, with whom in 1801 ^ an agree-
ment was concluded by which he handed over to the Company in
perpetuity ' the sole and exclusive administration of the civil and
military governments of all the territories and dependencies of the
Carnatic'
Madura thus passed, with the rest of the Carnatic, under tlie
British, and tasted for the first time for very many years the
blessings of settled peace.
' Aitchison's Treaties, etc., viii, 400.
' Ibia., 56.
72
MADUBA.
CHAPTER III.
THE PEOPLE.
CRAP. III.
General
Character-
istics.
Density of
the popula-
tion.
Its growth.
Gen'Kral Characteristics — Density of the population— Its growth— Parent-
tongue — Education— Occupations —Eeligiona. The Jaixs. The Christians
— Eoman Catholic Blis^ion — American Mission — Leipzig Evangelical
Lutheran Mission. The Musat.mans — Ravntans — Relations with Hindus.
The Hindus — Villages — Houses — Dress — Food — Amusements — Religious
life — 'Brahman influence small — Popular deities : Karu^ipan — Aiyan/ir —
Madurai Viran— Others — Vows — Devils. Principal Castes— Kalians —
Idaiyans — Valaiyans— Kammalans — Nattnkottai Chettis — Vannans — Kusa-
vans — Parivarams — Kunnuvans — Pulaiyans-Paliyans — Tottiyaus — Kappili-
yans — Annppans — Patnulkarans.
The district is not thickly peopled. Except in the head-quarter
taluk, where the population of Madura town raises the figure, the
density of the inhabitants is nowhere as much as 400 to the square
mile. Details will "be found in the separate Appendix to this
volume. Excluding Madura again, the density is highest in Palni
taluk, and l)indigul comes next. It is lowest in Periyakulam,
but the apparent sparseness of the population in that talak is
largely due to the existence within it of large areas of uninhabitable
hill and jungle. Where the land is culturable, the density is
probably well up to the average.
In the district as a whole, the increase in the population in the
thirty years ending with 1901 was 29 per cent,, that is, consider-
ably more than the averages for the southern districts (21 "2 per
cent.) or the Presidency generally (22' 1 per cent.). In the decade
1871-81, owing to the great famine of 1876-78, a decline of
5 per cent, occurred ; in the next ten years the rebound usual after
scarcity took place and the advance was as much as 22 per cent. ;
while in the period 1891-1901 the growth was 11 per cent., or
again considerably more than the Presidency average (7 "2 per
cent.). It would have been larger but for 'the emigration which
took place to Ceylon. Statistics show that in tliis decade the net
result of emigration to, and immigration from, that island was a
loss to the district of nearly 80,000 persons On the other hand,
the balance of the movement of the population between Madura
and the other districts'in the Presidency is slightly in its favour, a
certain amount of immigration having taken place to the land
newly brought under wet cultivation with the water of the Periyar
irrigation project.
THE PEOPLE. 73
Tlie increase in tlio decade 1891-1001 was highest (21-G per CHAP. IIT.
cent.) in Periyalculam taliilc, wliicli lias benefited considerably from Ginkrat.
the Periyar water and the opening;- up to the cultivation of toa and istics
coffee of the Kannan Devan hills in Travancore to the west of it.
It was next highest in Madura and in Palni and Dindigul. The
advance was smallest in Meliir and Tirumangalam. The former
of these two taluks will prohably do better in f ature, as soon as
the effect of the Periyar water begins to be felt in earnest ; but
Tirumangalam has hardly any irrigation tanks or channels and but
few wells, is more at the mercy of adverse seasons than any other
part of the district, and is not likely to exhibit any marked
advance. The population there has increased by only 10 per cent,
in the last 30 years, against 47 per cent, in Perijakulam and 33
per cent, in both Madura and Dindigul.
The parent-tongue of four-fifths of the people is Tamil. The Parent.
language is spoken with less purity than in Tanjore, but without ^^^S^^-
that frequent admixture of foreig:n words which is met with in
Chingleput and North Arcot. The Madura people pronounce it
with a peculiar jerkiness and a nasal twang which makes it difficult
for a man from farther north to understand them. They also
have a curious trick of inverting consonants, saying, for example,
huridai for kudirai, Marudai for Madurai, and so on. Fourteen
per cent, of the Madura people speak Telugu, and this language
is the home-speech of at least a fifth of the population of four
taluks — Dindigul, Kodaikanal, Palpi and Periyakulam. These
areas are largely peopled by the descendants of the followers of
the poligar chiefs who migrated to Madura from the Deccan, in
the train of the armies from Vijayanagar which overran the
country in the sixteenth century in the circumstances set out in
the last chapter.
As many as four per cent, of the people speak Canarese.
These are chiefly the weaver communities called Sedans and
Seniyans and the cattle-breeding and shepherd castes of the
Anuppans, Kappiliyans and Kurubas, all of whom are commonest
in the west of the district. No tradition seems to survive regard-
ing the inducements which led these people to immigrate hither
from their own distant country, but since authenticated instances
are on record of rulers of other parts having, by offers of special
privileges, persuaded bodies of artisans and craftsmen to come
and settle in their dominions, it is perhaps legitimate to conjecture
that the Nayakkan dynasty, finding among the Tamils neither
weavers nor herdsmen of talent, induced bodies of these people to
come and settle under their protection.
10
74
MADUBA.
LTTAP. III.
General
CllARACTKR-
I8TICS.
Education,
Occupation?,
Religions.
The jAiKg,
Fifteen in every thousand of tlie population (a liig'Taer
proportion t]ian in any other district) speak Patnuli or Khatri, a
dialect of Gujarati. T]iese are the Patnulkaran silk-weavers,
referred to later on in this ehajjtcr, who are so numei-ous in
Madura and Dindig-ul towns.
The education of the people is dealt with more particularly in
Chapter X below, from which it will be seen that in this matter
they are rather below the average of the southern districts as
a whole. The inhabitants of Madura and Periyakulam taluks
are the most advanced and tliose of TiruDiangalam the most
backward.
The means of subsistence of the population are discussed in
Chapter VI, where it is sliown that the proportion of them who
live by agriculture and the tending of flocks and herds is even
higher than usual.
By religion, 9<1 in every hundred of the inhabitants are Hindus,
four are Musalmans and three are Christians.
At the census of 1901, not a single Jain was found in the
whole of the district, but ample evidence exists to show that in
days gone by the followers of this faith were an influential
community in Madura. Legends preserved in the slhala purdna
of the great temple at Madura say that the town had three narrow
escapes from destruction by a huge elephant, a vast cow and an
enormous snake, which were created by the magic arts of the Jains
and sent against it, but by the grace of Siva were converted into
the three hills in the neighbourhood now known as the Anaimalai,
Pasumalai and Nagamalai. These stories, though wildly apocry-
phal in details, seem clearly to enshrine the fact that the Jains
were once powerful enough to cause the Saivites considerable
uneasiuess, if not to place their existence in peril. In the account
of the village of Tiruvedagam on p. 297 below, is given the
traditional embroidered version of a contest between the Jains and
the Saivite saint Tirugnana Sambandhar which also is almost
certainly an historical fact. Tlie persecutions which the Jains
underwent are moreover still referred to in local chronicles, and
it is stated that at one of the festivals connected with the
Madui-a temple an image representing a Jain impaled on a stak3
is carried in the procession. Finally the district contains a
number of sculptures and inscriptions which are certainly of Jain
origin. References to some of these will be found in the accounts
in Chapter XV of Anaimalai and Tirupparankunram in Madura
taluk, Aivarraalai in Palni, Uttamapalaiyam in Periyakulam, and
56vil^nkulam and Kuppalanattam in Tirumangalara.
THE PEOPLE.
75
On the little granite hills of the district are often found level,
rectangular spaces, usually six or sevea feet long and two or three
feet wide, which have Leen chipped out on the surface of some
flat piece of rock- Thoj look as though the granite had Leen
smoothed to make a sleeping-place, and some of them have a kind
of rock pillow at one end, two or three inches higher than the rest
of the excavation. The ryots call them Panc/ia Pdnckva paduJikat,
or ' beds of the five Pcindavas.' They are sometimes found close
to images of undouLted Jain origin cut on the rocks, and they
perhaps mark the sites of tlie dwellings of Jain hermits.
The Christians in Madura numbered at the last census nearly
three per cent, of its inhabitants, a figure somewhat below the
average for the southern districts as a whole. Relatively to the
total population they were most numerous in the taluks of
Dindigul (7 per cent.), Kodaikanal (5'8), Periyakulam (2*4) and
Madura (2'1) and least so in Tirumangalam ('7 per cent.), Melur
(•7) and Palni ("G). Nearly the whole of them, as usual, were
natives. An overwhelming proportion belonged to the Koman
Catholic Church ; next in numbers came the nonconformist
adherents of the American Mission ; and a few were followers of
the Lutheran sect.
The Roman Catholic Mission is by far the oldest in the district,
and dates from as long back as the beginning of the seventeenth
century. Considerations of space prohibit the inclusion here of
any detailed account of its doings, but the letters of its priests
to their ecclesiastical superiors, which have been collected and
published in French in four volumes under the title of La Mission
du Madwe, depict in a most vivid fashion their struggles and
achievements and, incidentally, the p^olitical and social conditions
of the country at the time.
The earliest missionary to visit Madura was a Portuguese
named Father Fernandez, and his congregation consisted largely
of Paravas (fishermen) whose forefathers had been converted by
Francis Xavier. The first Jesuit was Robert d<d' Nobili, an Italian
of good birth (related to two popes and a caidinal, and the nephew
of auother cardinal), who began work in 160G under the control
of the Archbishop of Cranganore. Knowing that Fernandez
was hopelessly handicapped by the fact that he was one of the
detested ' Parangis ' (^Portuguese") — a race whicli was known to all
natives to eat beef and consort witli the lowest of Purai) ans — de'
Nobili (with tlie concurrence of his superiors) ussumed a native
name {Tatva Bodagar, ' the teacher of philosopliy ') presented
himself as a sanydai from Rome, and adopted the characteristic
dress and meagre diet of the ascetic class.
CDAP, III.
The Jains.
Thr
C'hi;istiaxs.
Conian
Catholio
Mission.
76
MADURA.
CHAP. III.
The
Christians.
His fame soon spread abroad, and tliose wlioni he admitted to
an interview (lie discouraged visitors at first) wore charmed with
his polished manners, astonished at the purity of his Tamil and
captivated by his oriental learning and versatile intellect. Later,
he built a church and presbytery and took to the active preaching
of the Gospel, and at the beginning scores of persons, including
members of all the upper classes, were converted with marvellous
rapidity. But the Hindu gurus and priests soon succeeded in
stemming the tide, and persecutions followed. Moreover Father
Fernandez complained to the authorities of his methods — and
especially of his practice of permitting his converts to retain
Hindu customs, such as the wearing of the kudumi (top-knot) and
the thread, and the use of sandal-paste on their foreheads — and in
1G13 he v.-as censured and eventually recalled to Groa. It was not
until ten years later that the controversy which thus arose was
decided in a manner which permitted him to resume his work on
the old methods.
In Madura itself he seems never again to have been as
successful as he was at the beginning. In 1623 he set out on a
long journey through the Salem district and to Trichinopoly,
where the converts w^ere chiefly of low castes, and much of his
energy was thereafter devoted to the work in this latter town.
Persecution, hardship and insults were his daily lot there, and he
was even imprisoned. In 1648, after 42 years of labour, he left
Madura, utterly broken in constitution and all but blind, and not
long afterwards he died at Mylapore.
Two other famous men who belonged to the ' Madura Mission '
which he thus started were de Britto and Beschi. The former
was martyred in the most revolting manner in the Eamnad
country in 1693. The latter, who was famous for his Tamil
poems, which rival those of the best native authors, died in 1746.
Thereafter the Jesuit Mission appears to have languished, and
in 1773 it was entirely suppressed by the Pope. In the years
which followed much of its work was undone, converts relapsing
to Hinduism. The authorities at Pome accordingly appealed to
the Society of Foreign Missions, which iu 1783 had succeeded the
Jesuits in tlie ' Carnatic (or Pondicherry) Mission,' and in 1795
Monsignor Champenois, Vicar Apostolic of that body, visited the
Madura Chri^stians.^ But difficulties occurred with the priests
of the Goanese church, and it was not until 1830 that the then
Yicac Apostolic was able to send into the country a first
' For the account of the fortunes of the mission after 1773, I am indebted to
the courtesy of the Key. J. Pages, s..i., now in charge at Madura.
TUK PEOPLE. 77
detacliment of tliree missionaries, Fathers Meliay, James and cllAr. ill.
Mousset. In July 1836 Pope Gregory XVI created the Vicariate Tiik
Apostolic of the Coromandel Coast, which included the Madura <^"»^^tiaxs.
country, and in December of tlie same year the Madura Mission
was detached therefrom and formed into a separate organization
under the Jesuits.
Four missionaries from the Society of Jesus reached Madura '
in 1838. In 1842 one of them, Father Gamier, built the church
there near Tirumala Nayakkan's palace. He died in the town
the next year.
In 1838, the year these four arrived, Pope Gregory XVI, by
his Bull Multa prceclare, had put an end to the jurisdiction of the
Archbishop of Goa over the mission, but many of the Christians
refused to accept the new state of things. Up to 1847, the mission
was permitted to remain under the jurisdiction of Pondicherry,
but in that year its first Vicar Apostolic, Bishop A. Canoz, was
appointed. In 1857 a Concordat was signed between Home and
Portugal whereby the Archbishop of Goa was granted authority
over the Goanese Christians in the mission's field, and thence
arose a double jurisdiction within it. This continued until 1886
when, by another Concordat, the difficulty was ended by the
re-establishment of the Bishopric of Mylapore and the grant to it
of that part of the Madara Vicariate Apostolic which lay within
the Tanjore district. By a subsequent agreement tlie cliurch of
Our Lady of Dolours at Dindigul (built in 1729) and of Our Lady
of the Eosary facing the Perumal Teppakulam at Madura (erected
]770) were left in the hands of the authorities of Goa, who still
possess a few adherents in the district. In this same year 1886,
by the Bull Humance Salutis, Pope Leo XIII established the
Catholic hierarchy in India and the Madura Vicariate Apostolic
was formed into the Bishopric of Trichinopoly, under the juris-
diction of which its missions are at present conducted.
Tlie largest Eoman Catholic congregations are now those in
Madura and Dindigul, but there are 36 churches in other places
in the district, the mission employs sixteen European priests,
keeps up orphanages for boys and for girls at Madura, and is
about to establish a nunnery of Europeans in tliat town to take
charge of its girls' schools and dispensaries. Its funds arc
received principally from France,
Tlie American Madura Mission was established in 1834 as an American
off-shoot of the Jaffna Mission in Ceylon.^ The first workers to **iss'°''
^ Fur the materials lor tho uccount which follows, I urn indobied lo the
ller. J. S. Chandler of the American Mission,
78
MADUKA.
CHAP. III.
The
Christians.
arrive in Madura were Mr. and Mrs. Todd and Mr. Hoisington.
Stations were subsequently established in Dindigul (1835),
Tirumang-alam (1838), Pasumalai (1845), Periyakulam (1848),
Vattilagundu (1857), Melur (1857) and Palni (1862). Tlie East
Gate Church at Madura was begun on part of the glacis of the old
fort (see p. 266) in 1843 and finished in 1845.
For several years the policy of the mission was to endeavour
to introduce a knowledge of Christianity among the people by
means of free schools for native boys, with Hindus as teachers,
and boarding-schools with Christian teachers, and its educational
institutions were a very prominent part of its work. In 1847,
however, great defections were caused by efforts to abolish caste
distinctions among the converts, and in 1855 the visit to Madura
of a deputation of two members of the American Board resulted
in a considerable reversal of the original policy. English education
was abandoned, changes were made in the seminary which had
been established at Pasumalai (p. 176), the large English school at
Madura was closed, and nearly all the boarding-schools except
that for girls at Madura were abolished.
Gradually, however, it was realised that this change had
not been for the better^ and little by little the schools were re-
established. The more important of those which the mission now
maintains are referred to below in Chapter X.
Another noticeable feature in the policy of the mission has
been the combination of medical aid to the natives with its
evangelistic work, several of its members being trained medical
men. The leader of this branch of its operations was the late
Eev. E. Chester, for many years resident in Dindigul. The first
lady physician, Miss Root, m.d.j arrived in 1885 and her
efforts eventually resulted in the erection of the mission hospital
for women in Madura. This and the other medical institutions
kept up by the mission are referred to in Chapter IX below. The
share which the mission took in the foundation of the sanitarium
of Kodaikanal on the Palni Hills is mentioned in the account of
that place on p. 250.
Its members now include twelve ordained Europeans and a
number of missionary ladies, and it possesses 27 churches. Among
the best-remembered of its ministers are the Rev. W. Tracy,
D.D., for 25 years in charge of the Pasumalai seminary (whose
son, the Eev. J. E. Tracy, is still with the mission) and the Rev.
J. E. Chandler, whose son is also still working at Madura. The
expenditure of the mission is some Rs. 80,000 annually, almost
all of which comes from America.
THE PEOPLE.
79
CHAP. III.
Christians,
Evangelical
Lutherau
The
MrSALMANS,
The Liitlieran cliureli first began work in the district in tlie
second lialf of tlie eighteenth century, in the time of tlie flourisli-
ing Danish Lutheran Missions at Tranqnehar anrl Tanjore.
Catechists wore sent to Dindigiil and otlier places and succeeded
in establishing congregations. The care of all tliese was eventu-
ally, however, transferred to tlie Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel and nothing more was done for many years.
It was not until 1875 that the Leipzig Lutheran Mission began
its work in the district. In that year it sent its first European
missionary to Madura.' In 1882 a second was despatched, and
since 1889 he has been living at Dindigul. Three years after-
wards another was sent to Madura, but in 1903 he was transferred
to Yirudupatti in the Tinnevelly district. Two missionary ladies
are now working at Madura. The mission possesses eight
churches and two more are under construction. It also maintains
a number of schools, but none of these are above the primary
grade.
The Musalmans in the district number four per cent, of the
population, a figure about equal to the average of the southern
districts. They are proportionately most numerous in the Mel6r
and Palni taluks, and least so in Tirumangalam.
The very great majority of them belong to the community E^vutans,
locally known as Ravutans, who are probably the descendants
either of Hindus of this part of the world who in former times
were forcibly converted to Islam, or of Musalman fathers by the
women of this country. They are a pushing and frugal (not to
say parsimonious) class. Far from following others of their
co-religionist? in thinking much of the past, less of the present and
least of the future, they conduct the important trade in leather
which the district possesses, grow much betel and do a great deal
of the commerce of the country, both wholesale and retail. They
seldom marry with the Musalmans of pure descent, although there
is no religious bar to such alliances, and they often (as in Dindigul
town) live in separate streets away from them. They speak Tamil,
and not Hindustani like the Musalmans proper. They also
observe, at weddings and similar ceremonies, several customs
which are clearly Hindu in origin, such as the use of music and
the tying of a tali. 1'he dress and ornaments of both men and
women strongly resemble those of Hindus, the men being often
only distinguishable by the tartan patterns of their waist-cloths,
their beards and their shaven heads, and the w^omen only by tlieir
having a loose jacket (instead of a tight bodice) and wearing a
^ The particulars wliicli follow wcro kiudly furnished by the Rev. Tjtl,
Bloomstraud, in charge of the inisBion's affairs at Madura.
80
MABURA.
CHAP. IIT.
Thh
MirSALMAXs.
Relations
with Hindus.
series of small rings on the outer edge of the ear. At deaths,
they often divide property in accordance with Hindu, and not
Mnhammadan, law.
They are grouped into a nuuihcr of sub-divisions which are
endogamous in character and usually territorial in origin.
Instances of these ai'e the Puliyankudiyar, the men of PuliyankucU
in Tinnevelly ; the Elaiyankudiyar, the men of Elaiyankudi in
Ramnad zamindari ; the Musiriyar, the men of Musiri in Trichi-
nopoly ; the Vaigakaraiyar, the men of the Yaigai banks ; and
the Eruttuk^rar, ' buUock-men/ tliose who used to trade with
pack-bullocks.
The Musalmans live on amicable terms with their Hindu
neighbours. They are permitted (see p. o07) to go to the great
Hindu temple of Subrahmanya at Palni to make their offerings
there, and Hindus flock to the famous tomb of the Musalman
fakir on the top of the hill at Tiruj^parankunram. The followers
of the two faiths join in the celebration of the fire-walking
which in this district very often follows the Mohurrum.
The Hindus. It remains to refer to the Hindus, the most numerous of the
religious communities of the district. A few words may be said
about their social and religious ways, and then some account will
be given of the castes among them which are found in particular
strength in this part of the country.
Villages. The villages of the district are built in the scattered fashion
common in the south. The three polluting castes, the Pallans,
Paraiyans and Telugu Cliakkiliyans, always live in separate cheris^
or hamlets, outside them. 'The other communities are more
particular about residing together than is usually the case. Even
if the Brahman houses number only two or three, they will
generally be found side by side, and the other castes similarly try
to collect together, each in their own street. There are usually
three wells, one for Brdhmans, one for Sudras and Musalmans,
and the third for the polluting castes.
Old records show that in the troubled period before the
Company acquired the country almost every village was fortified
in some fashion. A mud rampart was the usual defence, and
where this was beyond the means of the community a strong live
hedge of thorny plants and trees was planted round the village site
and provided with a single entrance which was closed at night w^ith
a strong gate. In many villages the stone posts which formerly
flanked these gateways may still be seen. They are called
vddivdsal and when the village deities are worshipped they often
come in for some share of the oblations and offerings which are
going. Almost every village has a mandai, or piece of open
THI PEOPLB. 8f
ground, in the middle of it and in this is nearly always a chdvadi, CHAP. III.
half clul) and half court-house, which is kept up at the common The Hinduu.
expense and is used as a meeting--place for gossip in the mornings
and evenings, as a spot in which to loaf away the long days in
the hot weather when cultivation is at a standstill, or as a court
for the hearing of disputes or caste questions. In the Mellir
taluk these chavadis are often intimately connected with the
worship of Karuppan, the favourite deity of the Kalians. In big
villages there are often several of them for the use of the different
castes. If the villagers cannot afford a regular building for a
chdvadi they will at least put up a masonry platform under some
shady tree to serve the same purposes.
The strong corporate feeling which enables these places to be
built and kept up also exhibits itself in the common {s/imuddz/aoi)
funds which exist in so many villages. These are formed from
the proceeds of land and fruit trees held on common patta, or
from the sum paid for the right to collect a tax imposed by
common consent on articles of certain classes bought or sold in
the bazaars. The funds are spent for the common benefit on such
objects as repairs to drinking-water sources, ceremonies at the
temples, dramatic performances and so on. In Bcklindyakkanur,
a school is maintained. Sometimes the members of a particular
caste in a village organize similar funds by taxing themselves for
the benefit of their community 'I'he Shandns and the Patntilkarans
are especially fond of doing this.
Houses are much the same as elsewhere. AVhere the Kalians Houses.
are most numerous, the fear of incendiarism induces people to try
to afford a tiled or terraced roof instead of being content with
thatch. But as a rule the ryots seem to believe in the poetess
Auvaiyar's saying ' Build small and prosper greatly,' and outside
the towns the stranger is struck with the meanness of the average
type of house. The cattle are always tied up in the houses at
night. Fear of the Kalians prevents them from beiug left in the
fields, and they may be seen coming into the villages every even-
ing in scores, choking every one with the dust they kick up, and
polluting the village site (instead oE manuring the land) for twelve
hours out of every twenty-four. Buffaloes are tied up outside the
houses. Kalians do not care to steal tliem, as they are of little
value, are very troublesome when a stranger tries to handle them,
and cannot travel fast or far enough to be out of reach of detection
by daybreak.
In the Palni taluk there are fewer Kalians and the ryots are
much keener farmers than elsewliere in the district, and there the
cattle are very usually penned in the fields at night. People who
U
S2
MADURA.
CHAP. III. have a well generally have a house next it, in addition to tlieir
Thb Hin dub. ordinary dwelling in the village site, and thus they can stay out
on their land at night to watch over the cattle penned on it.
^rean. The dress of the people does not differ greatly from that in
other southern districts. The prevailing colour of the garrmmts
of the women of the poorer classes is red. Three becoming items
in their attire which are less common further north are the heavy
silver bracelets (iol kdppu) worn just above the elbow ; the fashion
of tying a bunch of white flowers to the centre of the tali necklet,
just under the chin ; and the trick of allowing the embroidered
end of their cloths to hang squarely down behind from their
waists, like a sort of dress-improver. The lowest classes spend
more on their dress than is usual in the south — the fine, handsome
Pallan women of the Palni taluk being conspicuous in this respect.
The ravikhat, or tight-fitting bodice, is seldom worn by non-
Brahmans. Indeed the women of the Kalians work in the fields
with their bodies above the waist quite bare, and in the west of
Tirumangnlam taluk they never cover theiv breasts at all excej)t
when going into a town. The Kalians say that an unmarrie(i
girl of their castu once used her upper cloth to conceal the fact
that she was with child, and that the garment was accordingly
tabooed in consequence. The women among the Patuulkarans
of Madura are taking to tying their cloths in the fashion followed
by Br^hmans, bunching them up in front and passing one end
between their legs and tucking it into the waist behind.
The women of practically alt non-Brahman castes except those
of Telugu origin practise the fashion of stretching the lobes of their
ears. The Kalian girls are especially noticeable in this respect,
their lobes sometimes reaching even to their shoulders. In
quarrels between women of the lower castes these long ears form
a favourite object of attack, and ' lf)bo-tearing cases ' figure
frequently in police records. The boring of the ear is done by
Kuravan women as early as tlie eighth day after birth, and
thereafter the stretching is continued by hanging leaden rings
from the hole. The ear becomes finally the most bejewelled
part of a woman's person. No account of the various ornaments
suspended from it by the different castes would be intelligible
without illustrations. Some description of the prevalent fasliious
will be found in Mr. TTavell's paper in the Journal of Indian Art,
V. 32 ff. .
Tattooing is as common as elsewhere. Kuravan andDomban
women do it. Roman Catholics frequently have a cross done
between the eye-brows, on the spot where the sect-mark of the
Hindu is usually put.
THB PEOPLE. 88
TLe footl of t.lie mass of the jioople consists of cholam, ragi CHAP. III.
and cambn, wbicb rank in public estimation in tins order. The Hindus.
Varag'u and Siimai are considered inferior. Kiee is eaten only by p ^
the wealthier classes. Chntneys and vegetables of the usual
kinds are employed to render more p;ilatabl.) the various pre-
parations made from these grains.
The people have fewer amusements than usual. In the di-y Amusements.
weather, when cultivation is at a standstill and every one has
plenty of leisure, Dombans, Kuravans and (to a les-:! extent)
•"allans are invited to the villages to act some of the usual plays,
but except those professional com})anies no one ge^s up dramatic
lierformances. Cock-fighting is common, especially on *he Melur
side, and is practised by many different castes.
A game which is peculiar to this district and the country immed
lately to the north of it, and is one of the very few manly sports
which survive in southern India, is the jallikat or jellicut. The
word jn/Ukatiu literally means ' tying of ornaments.' On a day
fixed and advertised by bent of drum at the adjacent weekly markets
a number of cattle, to the horns of which cloths and handkerchiefs
have been tied, are loosed one after the other, in quick succession,
from a large pen or other enclosure amid a furious tom-tomniing
and loud shouts from the crowd of assembled spectators. The
animals have first to run the gauntlet down along lane formed of
country carts, and then gallop off wildly iu every direction ; the
game consists in endeavouring to capture the cloths tied to their
horns. To do this requires lleetness of foot and considerable pluck,
and those who are successful are the heroes of the hour. Cuts and
bruises are the reward of those who are less skilful , and now and
again some of the excited cattle charge into the onlookers and send
a few of them flying. The sport has in consequence been prohi-
bited on more than one occasion ; but, seeing that no one need run
any risks unless he chooses, existing official opinion inclines to the
view that it is a pity to discourage a manly amusement which is
not really more dangerous than football, steeple chasing or fox-
Imnting. The keenness of the more virile sections of the com-
munity (especially tlie Kalians) in this game is extraordinary, and
in many villages cattle are bred and reared specially for it. The
best jallikats arc to be seen in the Kalian country in Tiruman-
galam, and next come those in Melur and Madura taluks.
The sport can boast a very respectable antiquity. A j^oet of
the early years of the present era quoted by Mr. Kanakasabhai
Filial in The Tamils eighteen hundred years ago describes in vivid
fashion the jallikat practised by tlu^ shepherd caste in those days.
84
MADURA.
Religious
life:
Bralimau
influence
â– mall.
CHAF. III. The bulls had sharpened horns and the competitors were required
The Hindus, to actually capture and hold them. Serious wounds were the
order of the day and the young men who most distinguished them-
selves were awarded the hands of the fairest of the girls of the
caste, who watched the game from a kind of elevated grand stand.
It is said that even nowadays the swain who would win the favour
of a Kalian maiden must first prove himself worthy of her choice
by prowess at the jallikat.
Though Madura town itself is a well-known centre of Brah-
manism, the district as a whole is as purely Dravidian in religious
sentiment as any in the south. Brahmans number only 18 in
every 1 ,000 of the population (or fewer than anywhere in the
south except Coimbatore, South Arcot and Salem) and their
influence upon the religious and social life of the community is
small. The famous Brahmanical temples at Madura, Tirupparan-
kunram, Palni, Alagarkovil and one or two other places attract
attention and create the impression that the people must be
generally devoted to the worship of the orthodox gods, but a closer
examination shows that there are large areas devoid of any large
shrine in the honour of these deities and given over to the cult of
the lesser Dravidian godlings. In Dindigul taluk, for example,
the Vaishnavite temples at Tadikkombu and Vadamadura are
almost the only orthodox institutions to be found.
Saivism is the prevalent form of belief. The rulers of Yijaya-
nagar were of Vaishnavite sympathies, and the poligars who fol-
lowed their armies into the district brought their own Vaishnavite
deities with them and established frequent shrines to them which
are still in existence. But the Nayakkan kings were catholic-
minded rulers, and their gifts and additions to the Saivite shrines
in and around Madura town show how free they were from all
narrow bigotry.
One reason why the Brahmans have been unable to impose
their rites to any large extent upon the people of the district is
the fact that large sections of the community regard it as in no
way necessary that their marriages should be performed, or their
funerals attended, by any kind of professional priest. In the
accounts of the castes which follow below, it will be seen that the
tali is frequently tied, not by a priest, but by the bridegroom's
sister. Where custom requires that a priest should do it, this
man very usually belongs to the caste himself, and is rather a
social, than a religious, leader. Thus the Brahmans have not the
opportunities of impressing their beliefs and rites upon the
people which are in some districts afforded by the in dispensability
of their presence at domestic ceremonies.
THB PEOPLE. 85
The non-Brahmanical deities, as elsewhere, are legion, and CHAF. ill.
space onl^ permits of a reference to one or two of tliem which arc Thk Hindus.
especially characteristic of the district.
Of all of them, Karuppan is the most prominent, lie is essen- popuim-
tially the god of the Kalians, especially of the Kalians of the il^^ities:
Meliir side. In those parts his shrine is usually the Kalians' ^* PP^**^'
chdvndi. Ho is said to liave been brought 'â– from the nortli ' and
worship to hini is done with the face turned in tliat direction.
One of his most famous shrines is that at Manaparai inthc Trichi-
nopoly district. Tie delights in the sacrifice of goats "'and sheep.
His priests are usually Kalians or Kusavans. He has many differ-
ent names : if his image be large, he will be called Periya (big)
Karuppan; if small, Chinna Karuppan; if his dwelling is in the
piece of open ground belonging to the village, he will be known
as Mandai Karuppan. In the Melur taluk his shrine may usually
be known by the hundreds of iron chains hung outside it which have
been presented to the god in performance of vows. The deity is
said to be fond of bedecking himself witli chains, and these offerings
are usually suspended from a kind of ' horizontal bar,' made of
two tall stone uprights supporting a slah of stone placed horizon-
tally upon the top of them. Ho is also fond jf presents of clubs
and swords. The curious collection of these weapons at liis shrine
at the main door of the Alagarkovil is mentioned in the account of
that temple on p 284 below. Bells are also welcome, and in Tiru-
mangalam taluk these are often hung in numbers to the trees
round his abode. On the Palni side, Karuppan's shrine is often
furnished with little swings for the delectation of tlie god, and with
terracotta elephants, horses and other animals so that he may be
able to perambulate the village at night to see that all is well.
Elsewhere, these images are the sign of a temple to Aiyanar. . •
The biggest examples of them in the whole district are perhaps
the brick and mortar erections outside the shrine to that god at
Madakkulam near Madura. Some account of tliis deity has been
given in tlie Gazetteer of South Arcot, in which district he is even
more popular, and the description there is generally applicable to
Madura and need not be repeated.
Anotlier god (or demon) who is common to both districts is Maduiai
Madurai Viran. Curiously enougli, this personage, wliose lustory ^'I'^i"-
is also given in that Gaztftccr, is held in much less honour in this,
his own, country than in South Arcot. His little shrine just soutli
of the eastern entrance to the great temple at Madura is Jield in
considerable repute and children are often named after him and
nis famous wife Bommi, but in the villages lie is less known.
8«
MADUKA..
CHAP. III.
Thf Hindis
Other*.
Voffn.
Aiiotlier male deity is Saltan, who is said to reside iu trees.
Bits of rags are liung" on the branches of his dwelling. Several
trees covered in this mannej* may be seen by the road through the
Andipatti pass.
Tlie other minor deities are all of the other sex. The com-
monest is Mariamman,!the well-known goddess of sraall-pox. The
personalities, attributes and likes and dislikes of the others are ill-
defined. They go by various flattering names, such as Ponnam-
mal (' golden lady "). Muttammal {' pearl lady ') and so forth, and
are propitiated at irregular intervals and in varying methods.
Several of them require buffaloes to be offered up. ^Tho sacrifice of
these animals at the festival to Yandikaliamma at Attur is referred
to in the account of that place on p. 230 below, and similar
rites on a smaller scale are performed at numerous other
goddess' shrines — those, for example, at Paraipatti in the Kanni-
vadi zamindari, at Padiyur in Dindigul taluk, at JDindigul itself
and at tlip two shrines to Alagia-nachiamma in Palni town. The
Sapta Kannimar, or seven virgins, are common objects of adora-
tion and their images are very often to be seen in the shrines of
the other village goddesses.
Tows to these deities are unusually common, and sometimes
take unusual forms. In the north of Melur taluk, it is credibly-
stated, women who are anxious for offspring vow that if they
attain their wish they will go and have a cocoanut broken on their
lieads by the pujari of the temple at vSendurai. In many shrines
hang ex voto cradles and small painted clay babies placed there by
women who have at length been blessed with children. Silvered'
voto images of parts of the body which have recovered from disease
are often presented to the larger temples, such as those at Palni,
Tirupparankunram and Alagarkovil. The mouth-lock vows which
are performed at Palni are referred to in the account of that
])lace on p. 307 below. Alagarkovil is such a favourite place
for carrying out the first shaving of the heads of children that the
right to the locks presented to the shrine is annually sold by
auction ! When cattle or sheep are sick, people vow that if they
recover they will go and do puja on the top of one or other of
several little hills which are thought to be very efficacious in such
cases. Gopinathasvami hill in Kannivadi zamindari is one of
these, and others are those at Vadipatti in Nilakkottai taluk and
Settinayakkanpatti near Dindigul. Fire-walking is often per-
formed at Draupadi shrines. In Palni there is an annual feast
at the Mariamman temple at which people carry in their bare
hands, in performance of vows, earthen pots with a bright fire
THE PEOPLE. 87
blazing inside thera. Thoy are said to escape bnrng by the favour CHAP. m.
of the goddess, but it is whispered that immunitj is sometimes The Hindis.
rendered doubly sure by putting- sand or paddy husk at the bottom
of the pot.
Devils are unusually numerous. Sometimes they haunt land Devils.
and render it unlucky, and such fields (pisdsu pidiclicha, ni'lam, as
the}'' are called) are unsaleable. Generally, however, they take up
their abode in a woman. Women thus possessed may be seen at
tlie great temple at Madura every Navaratri, waiting for release.
There are many professional exorcists, who are often the pujaris
at the local goddess' shrine. Their methods have a family resem-
blance. At dead of night they question the evil spirit and ask him
who he is, w^hy he lias conu^ there and what he wants to induce him
to go away. He answers through the mouth of the u'oman, who
works herself up into a frenzy and throws herst-lf about wildly.
If he will not answer, the woman is whipped with the rattan which
the exorcist carries, or with a bunch of margosa twigs. W'jien he
replies, his requests for offerings of certain kinds ai-e complied
with. When lie is satisfied and agrees to leave, a stone is placed
on the woman's head and she is let go and dashes off into the
darkness. The place at which the stone drops to the ground is
supposed to be the place where the evil spirit is content to remain,
and to keep him there a lock of the woman's hair is nailed with an
iron nail (Madura devils, like those of other parts, dislike iron)
to the nearest tree.
Short accounts v.ull now be given of certain castes which occur rRi.xnpAL
in greater strength in this district than in others. These notes will t'Asrrs.
clearly show how slight is the influence of the Bra'hmans in social
matters. Neither at weddings nor at funerals is their presence
usually required. 'I lie various castes employ either priests of tlicic
own community or none at all. Certain oth^r resemblances run
through the customs of all these communities. Kntloganious
subdivisions are usual and exogarnous septs common ; the easte
organization is generally complete and powerful ; the ceremonies
performed when a girl artains maturity are elaljorate ; at weddin<J-s
a bride-price is paid and the tali is tied Ity the bridegroom's
sister ; and the rule ti:at a man can claim the hand of his paternal
aunt's daughter in marriage is enforced with a rigour which
sometimes leads to curious complications.
The idea underlying tliis last custom appears to be the feeling
that a woman is bound to i-ej^lace the loss to her fatlior's family
occasioned by her marrying out of it, by returning one of her
daughters to that family. The simplest way oi' making th«
Castes.
Kalians.
88 ifAsnxA.
CHAP. III. restoration is to marry her daughter to her "brother's son. But
Prinxipal if the brother ]ias no son he can still demand that the girl be
restored to his side of the family and can require that she shall
marry some other boy belonging thereto. This latter alternative
is adopted in some castes where the age of the girl is much
greater than that of the mother's brother's son ; but in others
custom requires that the latter shall marry her however old she
may be, and the result is naturally the subversion of all the
(n-dinary rules of morality.
Though slightly inferior in numbers to the Velldlans and
Pallana, the Kalians are quite the most prominent of all the caste.s
of the district. They number 218,000 and are in greater strength
in Madura (especially in the MeKir and Tirutcangalam taluks) than
in any other Collectorate.
They are the ' fierce Colleries ' of Orme's history and have
always borne a reputation for independence- —not to say truculenco.
In the time of the Ndyakkan dynasty of ]\Iaduia they steadily
refused to pay any tribute ^, arguing always that tlie heavens
supplied the necessary rain, their own cattle did the ploughing
and they themselves carried out the rest of the cultivation oper-
ations, so there was no possible reason why they should be charged
anything. Their conduct at this period was generally so aggres-
sive that bodies of troops marching between Trichinopoly and
Madnra found it advisable to avoid the Melur country and proceed
by circuitous routes.
When Vijaya Raghundtha was Setupati of Ramnad (1710-20)
the Kalians raided his territory and carried off 2,000 head of
cattle. He forthwith established nine fortresses in their country,
lulled them into secarity by various promises, and then massacred
a number of them. They thei-eafter pnid him their respects
annually, but they continued to flout the authorities at Madura
until 1772. In 1755 they cut up Colonel Heron's expedition in
the Nattaui pass (see the account of that affair on p. 289 below)
and Orme is always referring to their lawlessness.
When Muhammad Yusuf Khan was in charge of the Madura
country (17.56-64) he established forts at Melur and V^ellalapatti
(about midway between Melur and A lagarkovil) to overawe them,
but be never attempted to collect tribute from them and kept
them quiet chiefly by fomenting jealousies among their leaders.
He liowever made one attack against the Nattam Kalians which,
* This and one or two other passages below aie taken from Mr. Tnrnbnll's
notice of the caste, dated 1817, which is prefixed to Vol. Ill of Captain Ward's
Account (1821) of the Survey of Madnra and Dindignh This was printed at the
Madura CoUeotorate Prftss in 1895,
THE PEOPLE.
89
says Orme, ' appeared more like one of the g-eneral huntings
peculiar to Asia, than a military expedition. Avenues were out
into the forest and the inhabitants shot as they fled.'
After Yusuf Khan was hanged, as a rebel in 1764 the Melur
Kalians gave so much trouble that the Company sent against them
five battalions of sepoys and 1,500 cavalry under (^aptain Rumley.
The force encamped at Melur and summoned the Kalian headmen
to attend. But they * would not appear and continued to manifest
their licentious character and contemptuously slighted the Detach-
ment.' Captain Rumley accordingly surrounded Velldlapatti and
called on its leaders to surrender. Instead of obeying, ' the whole
of the CoUeries persevered and were preparing for hostility, using
insulting language and brandishing their weapons within the
hedge that surrounded the village.' Captain Rumley then fired
the hedge, the village was soon in flames also, and as the people
ruslied away from the conflagration his troops set upon them and
slew, it is said, about 3,000 of them. The other villages then
' submissively made homage ' and formally agreed to pay tribute.
The Kalians greatly respected the man who had thus brought
them to their knees and called him * Rumleysvdmi.' Renewed
instances of contumacy however occurred — ten survey peons, for
example, being murdered — and Rumley had to put 2,000 more
Kalians to the sword. The country was then surveyed without
further opposition.
The war with Haidar AH in 1781, however, gave the Kalians
another chance and tliey once more got completely out of hand,
raiding up to the very walls of Madura and slaying, in an affray
outside the fortifications, the officer commanding the town, one
Mallari Rao. In 1784 Captain Oliver arrived at Melur with
another detachment and collected the arrears of tribute by force.
A battalion of native infantry continued to be stationed in that
town for some years thereafter.
Open rebellion has long since ceased, but the Kalians' invete-
rate addiction to dacoity and theft (' Kalian ' means ' thief ' in
Tamil) renders the caste to this day a thorn in the flesh of the
authorities. A very large proportion of the thefts committed in
the district are attributable to them. Nor are they ashamed of
the fact. One of them defended his clan by urging that every
other class stole — the official by taking bribes, the vakil by fostering
animosities and so pocketing fees, the merchant by watering the
arrack and sanding the sugar, and so on and so forth — and that
the Kalians differed from these only in the directness of their
methods.
18
CHAP. III.
Principal
Castks.
90
MADURA.
CHAP. III.
Principal
Castes.
Dacoity of travellers at night used to be their favourite pastime,
and their favourite haunts the various roads leading" out of Madura
and that from Auimayandyakkanur to I'eriyakulam. The method
adopted consisted in threatening- the driver of the cart and then
turning the vehicle into the ditch so that it upset. The unfortu-
nate travellers were then forced by some of the gang to sit at the
side of the road with their backs to the cart and their faces to
the ground wliile their baggage was searched for valuables by the
remainder. The gangs which frequented these roads have been
now broken up and the caste has practically quitted road dacoity
— which was not always profitable and conviction for which meant
a long sentence— for the simpler, more paying and less risky
business of stealing oiRcials' office-boxes and ryots' cattle. The
Kalians have not the courage of such races as the Maravans, and
prefer an occupation which needs only slinking cunning to one
which requires dash and boldness.
Cattle-theft is now the most popular calling among them.
They are clever at handling animals, and probably the popularity
of the jallikats already mentioned has its origin in the demands
of a life which always included much cattle-lifting. The stolen
animals are driven great distances (as much as 20 or 30 miles)
on the night of the theft and are then hidden for the day either in
a friend's house or among hills and jungles. The next night they
are taken still further and again hidden. Pursuit is by this time
hopeless, as the owner has no idea even in which direction to
search. He therefore proceeds to the nearest Kalian go-between
(these individuals are well-known to every one) and offers him a
reward if ht will bring back the cattle. This rewai'd is called
tu/)pu-knlt, or ' payment for clues,' and is very usually as much as
half the value of the animals stolen. The Kalian undertakes to
search for the lost bullocks, returns soon and states that he has
found them, receives his tuppu-kiili, and then tells the owner of
the property that if he will go to a spot named, which is usually
in some lonely neighbourhood, he will find his cattle tied up
there. This information is always correct. If, on the other hand,
the owner 'reports the theft to the police, no Kalian will help him
recover his animals, and these are eventually sold in other districts
or Travancore, or even sent across from Tuticorin to Ceylon.
Consequently hardly any cattle-thefts are ever reported to the
police.
The Kallaii is also an adept at the more ordinary forms of
house-breaking and theft. In pursuit of this calling he travels
great distances, even as far as Chingleput and Mysore. He does
THE rEOPLB. 91
not take Lis womenkmd with Lim on these expeditions, but is CHAP. III.
usually accompanied by a JCaaimdlan (goldsmith) to melt down J'rincipal
and sell the loot. C^'-
In the month of Adi (July-Aogust) it is the custom for the
Kalians' married daughters (especially newly-wedded girls) to
go with their husbands to stay a few days with their parents.
The extra hov.se-keeping expenses thus incurred by the latter"*
necessitate extra efforts in the way of theft, and the Kalians
playfully call the-e the Adi-vettai or ' Adi hunting.'
Another important source of income to the Kalian is the kudi-
kdval fees which he levies on other castes. To almost every village
or group of villages the Kalians have appointed a kdvalgdr, or
watchman, who is remunerated by the villagers in various ways,
sucli as by fees on each plou;^h, proportions of the crop at harvest
and so on. In big villages and towns fees of this kind are also
paid by each householder of importance, whether he owns land or
not. In Madura town, for example, fees are paid to the Kalians
of the adjacent village of Kilkudi. In return for these emolu-
ments the Kalians undertake to protect the village or person from
thefts by their fellow castemen and to get back any property
which may be stolen. In some cases they have even executed a
written agreement to do this, and suits have actually been filed
for non-performance of the contract !
The fees thus demanded are undisguised blackmail. If any
one hesitates or refuses to pay them, lie is warned by ihe Kalian
that he must take th-- consequences and in due course finds his
standing crops taken from his field, his straw-stack or his house
on fire, or his best pair of bullocks missing. The terrorism thu.s
organised is also used wlien necessary to obtain meals gratis or to
induce jurors and witne^^ses to help to acquit an accused Kalian.
This state of things has naturally attracted the attention of
the authorities and many and various methods of suppressing it
have been suggested. It was at one time hoped tliat the
reorganization of the village establishments would give a death-
blow to the .system by providing in each village a paid'watchman
who might be substituted for the Kalian kdvaJgdr. It has since
been suggested, among other remedies, that Uovernment should
recognise and projierly organize the system ; sliould provide the
Kalians with an honest livelihood by presenting them with land ;
should enlist them in Kalian regiments ; fine them all when
crime occurred in their neighbourhood; send them all to school ;
register a,ll cattle and all Kalians and prevent either from niovmg
Castks,
92 MADUBA.
CHAP. III. out of their villages without passports ; bind over the chief men
Principal of tho caste to be of good behaviour ; hold midnight roll-calls at
unexpected intervals in their villages to see who was away ; and
treat the whole caste under the Criminal Tribes Act.
In 1896 the r}ots of Dindigul took the case into their own
hands and struck against the Kalians' exactions. The wide-spread
movement which followed was known as the ' anti-Kallar agita-
tion.' It actually originated in the anger of certain of the
Idaiyans with a Kalian Lothario who enticed away a woman of
their caste and afterwards her daughter, and kept both women
simultaneously under his protection. But it soon grew into a
movement the avowed object of which was to drive the Kalians
out of the Dindigul taluk. The leader of it was an Idaiyan called
Amayappa Kone. The villagers held meetings at which thousands
attended, took solemn oaths to do without the Kalian kdvalgdrs ]
appointed watchmen of their own ; boycotted all the Kalians,
refusing them even food and drink ; formed a fund to compensate
those whose cattle were stolen or houses burnt ; provided every
village with a horn which was to be blown in case of theft ;
required every one hearing the horn to hurry to the rescue ; and
laid down a scale of fines to be paid by those who did not adhere
to these rules.
At first the movement was thoroughly successful. It extended
to Palni, Periyakulam and the borders of Coimbatore, the Kalians
were outnumbered and overpowered, and many of them sold their
fields for what they would fetch and fled from the taluk. For
about six months crime ceased absolutely. As one deponent put
it, ' People even left the buckets at the wells ! ' Some of the
Kalians, however, showed fight, and in 1896 and 1897 riots
occurred in which lives were lost and villages were burnt. The
anti-Kallar people lacked efficient leadership, overstepped the
limits allowed by law and were prosecuted accordingly. This
encouraged the Kalians to renewed efforts, they were often
assisted by the existence of factions in the villages, and in the end
the greater part of the kdvalgdrs returned once more to their former
offices and almost all the good which the agitation had effected
was undone again. It was an almost unique instance of the ryots
combining to help themselves, and deserved a less melancholy
ending.
Hope for the reformation of the Kalian has now recently arisen
in quite another quarter. Bound about Melur the people of the
caste are taking energetically to wet cultivation, to the exclusion
of cattle-lifting, with the Periyar water which has lately been
Castks.
THE F£0PLE. 9S
brought there. In some of the villages to the south-east of that CHAP. ill.
town they have drawn up a formal agronmint (wliich has been Principal
solemnly registered and is most rigorousl) enforced by t]ie liead-
men) forbidding theft, recalling all the women who have emigrated
to Ceylon and elsewhere and — with an enlightenment which puts
other communities to shame — })rohibiting several other unwise
practices which are only too common, such as the removal from
the fields of cowdung for fuel and the pollution of drinking-water
tanks by stepping into tliem. The department of Public Works
may soon be able to claim that it has succeeded where the army,
the police and the magistracy have failed, and made an lionest man
of the notorious Kalian.
So much for the caste's unfortunate weakness. Its organization
and customs may next be considered. It is divided into tliree
endogamous sections : the Terhundd (' south country ') Kalians of
Tanjore, with whom we are not now concerned ; the Kilndd (' east
country ') or Melurnad Kalians of the Melur taluk ; and the
Melndd (' west country ') or Piramalaindd (' be}ond the hills ')
Kalians who live in the north-west of Tirumangalam taluk to tlie
west of the Nagamalai. These last are often called in the old
records ' the Anaiytir Kalians ' from the village of that name (see
p. 325) 2>}^ miles east of Usilampatti. '1 laese main sections are again
sub-divided into smaller ndds calJed after certain villages which it
would be tedious to name in detail. At Sivaratri Kalians go and
do pdja at the tem})le in the village which gives its name to tlieir
ndd. Tradition says that the caste came originally ' from the
north ' ; the dead are buried with their faces laid in that direction ;
and when pdja is done to Karuppanasvami, the caste god already
r^'ferred to, the worshippers turn to the north. The Kilnad
Kalians were thus the first to reach the district. They came
south, say the legends, on a hunting excursion with their dogs
and their caste weapon, the valldrUadi or boomerang, and
observing a peacock turn and show fight to one of their hounds
saw that the country mast be favourable to the development of
the manly virtues and decided to settle in it. The Vellalans wore
then the chief cultivators round Melur, and the Kalians took service
under them. The masters, however, so bullied the servants tliat
the latter eventually struck and drew up a schedule of money
penalties to be exacted for every variety of bodily injury inflicted
on them, from the knocking out of a tooth to the causing of deatli.
Later on they grew strong enough to turn the Vellalans altogether
out of the taluk, which they then named tan-aranu-ndd or ' tlie
country governed by themselves.' A section of them then travelled
94 MADURA.
CHAP. HI. westward heyond tlie Nagamalai, drove out the Vedans who
rKiNciPAi, peopled that country and settled there. Branches from this
Castes. division travelled to Dindigul and Palni. Jt is said that
the poligar of Virupakshi (p. 310) invited some of them to serve
under him as l)order guards and tliat Ottaiyur (' single village ') in
Palni, which is now entirely peopled by Kalians, was founded by
the descendants of these people.
The organization of the Kilntid Kalians differs from that of
their biethren beyond the hills. Among the former an hereditary
headman, called the ambahkdran, rules in almost every village.
He receives small fees at domestic ceremonies, is entitled to the
iirst betel and nut and settles caste disputes. Pines indicted
are credited to the caste fund. The western Kalians are under a
more monarchical rule, an hereditary headman called Tirumala
Pinnai Tevan deciding most caste matters. He is said to get this
hereditary name from the fact that his ancestor was appointed
(with three co-adjutors) by king Tirumala Nayakkan and given
many insignia of office, including a state palanquin. If any one
declines to abide by his decision, excommunication is prooounced
by the ceremony of ' placing the thorn ,^ which consists in laying
a thorny branch across ihe threshold of the recalcitrant party's
house to signify that for his contumacy his property will go to
ruin and be overrun with jungle. The removal of the thorn and
the restitution of the sinner to Kalian society can only be procured
by abject apologies to Pinnai Tevan.
Every Kalian boy has a right to claim the hand of his paternal
aunt's daughter in marriage. This aunt bears the expenses
connected with his circumcision. Similarly the maternal uncle
pays the cost of the rites which are observed when a girl attains
maturity, for he has a claim on the girl as a bride for his son.
These two ceremonies are performed at one time for large batches
of boys and girls. On an auspicious day the young -people are all
feasted and dressed in their best and repair to a river or tank.
The mothers of the girls make lamps of plantain leaves and float
them on the water and the boys are operated on by the local
barber, who gets a fee of from one to live fanams fa fanam is 3 as.
4 ps.) for each. This practice of circumcision, which is not
common among Hindu castes, has often been supposed to have
been borrowed from, or enforced by, the Musalmans, but argu-
ments in favour of its indigenous origin are the facts that it has
a Tamil name and that, as has been said, the maternal aunt pays
the expenses.
Castks.
THE PEOPLE. 95
Polyandry is stated^ to have prevailed among the -western cUAP. III.
Kalians at one time, but no traces of the practice now survive. Priscipai.
When a girl has attained maturitj she puts away the necklace
of coloured beads she wore as a child and dons the horse-hair
necklet which is characteristic of the Kalian woman. This she
retains till death, even if she become a widow. The richer Kalians
substitute for the horse-hair a necklace of many strands of fine
silver wire. In Tirumangalam the women often hang round tlieir
necks a most curious brass and silver pendant, six or eight inclies
long and elaborately worked.
Marriage is either infant or adult. Rrahmans have no hand in
it. A boomerang should figure among the presents to the bride.
The tali is tied by the bridegroom's sister, who then hurries off
the bride, weeping pitfously, to her brother's house. Widows
may re-marr)' and, if childless, almost invariably do so The
correct match is with the late husband's brother Divorce is a
mutual right and is permitted on slight grounds so long as the
petitioner pays the usual fines, which are graduated in a compli-
cated manner to meet different c;ises A man who divorces his
wife for unfaithfulness does so by sending for her brothers and
formally giving them a piece of straw, the idea being that this is
all the fine the lady's value demands. The childreu of a divorcee
conceived after the divorce may be legitimised by the waist-
string of the father being cut off at a caste meeting and tied
round the woman's neck.
The Kiluad Kalians usually bury their dead. Lamps are
periodically lighted on the tomb and it is whitewashed annually.
The Piramalainad division usually burn the dead. If a woman
dies when witli child, the baby is taken out and placed alongside
her on the pyre. This, it may liere bo noted, is the rule with
most castes in this district, and in some communities the relations
afterwards put up a stone burden-rest b)' the side of a road, the
idea being that the woman died with her burden and so her spirit
rejoices to see others lightened of theirs.
It has been stated ^ that in the eighteenth century custom
required either ])arty to a Kalian quarrel to pprform on his own
family whatever cruelties the other chose to inflict on his, and
that accordingly one of two disputants had been known to kill his
owu child so as to have the fiendish delight of forcing his adver-
sary to do likewise. This idea is now apparently quite extinct.
' Turnbuir* notice of the caHti> already cited.
' Orme's history, i, 382, and Turnbull's account.
96 MADURA.
CHAP. III. The fondness of the Kalians for jallikats, their women's
Principal fashions of stretchino- their ear-lobes and dispensing' with an upper
1 ' cloth, and their devotion to Karuppanasvami have been referred
to already in this chapter. Hard things have been said about the
Kalians, but points to their credit are the chastity of their women,
the cleanliness they observe in and around their villages and their
marked sobriety. A toddy-shop in a Kalian villag-e is seldom a
financial success.
Idaiyans.
After the Kalians, the Idaiyans are the next most numerous
Tamil caste in the district. They number about 154,000. They
are the shepherds and cowherds of the community and their
title is Konan. They have an imposing math at Palni, near the
Tiruvavinangudi temple.
The caste is grouped into numerous sub-divisions which are
endogamous but will dine together. Those most commonly met
with in this district are the Podunattu, who mostly live to the
south and west of Madura town ; the Pancharamkatti, who are in
great strength in the same place ; the Eajendra and Kalkatti,
both common round Kambam and Gudalur in Periyakulam taluk ;
and the Valasu and Pendukkumekki, on the borders of the
Bamnad zamindari.
The Podunattu Idaiyans have a tradition that they originally
belonged to Tinnevelly, but fled to this district secretly one night
in a body in the time of Tirumala Nayakkan because the local
chief oppressed them. Tirumala welcomed them and put them
under the care of the Kalian headman Pinnai Tevan already men-
tioned, decreeing that, to ensure that this gentleman and his
successors faithfully observed the charge, they should be always
appointed by an Idaiyan. That condition is observed to this day.
In this sub -division a man has the same right to marry his
paternal aunt's daughter as is possessed by the Kalians. But if
the woman's age is much greater than the boy's, she is usually
married instead to his cousin or some one else on that side of the
family.
A Brdhman priest officiates at weddings and the sacred fire is
used, but the bridegroom's sister ties the tali. Divorce and the
re-marriage of widows is prohibited. The dead, except infants,
are burnt. Caste affairs are settled by a headman called the
Nattanmaikaran, who is assisted by an accountant and a peon.
All three are elected. The headman has the management of the
caste fund, which is utilised in the celebration of festivals on
pertain dayB in some of the larger temples of the district.
THE PEOPLE.
97
Among these Podandttus an uncommon rule of inheritance is CHAP. III.
in force. A woman who has no male issue at the time of her Pbincipal
husband's death has to return his property to his brother, father, *
or maternal uncle, but is allotted maintenance, the amount of
whicli is fixed by a caste panchayat. Among- the Yalasu and
Pendukkumekki sub-divisions another 0(id form of inheritance
subsists. A man's propei-t-y descends to his sons-in-law, who live
with him, and not to his sons. The sons merely get maintenance
until they are married.
The Pancharamkatti sub-division consists of two sections, one
of whicli has a number of exogamous septs called kilais (branches)
and the other has none. Its customs generally resemble those of
the Podunattu Idaiyans, but widows are allowed to marry again.
In the first of the two sections above mentioned a widow may
re-marry once ; in the second there is no restriction. As soon as
a widow's tali is removed it is replaced by a gold pendant shaped
like a many-rayed sun and having three dots on it. This is called
Pancharam and gives the sub-division its name. The story goes
that the god Krishna used to tie a similar ornament round the
necks of Idaiyan widows of whom he was enamoured as a sio-n
that pleasure was not forbidden them. The dead of the Pancha-
ramkatti sub-division are usually buried, and annually at the
Pongal feast lights are placed on their tombs.
The Valaiyans are nearly as numerous as the Idaiyans. Their Valaiyans,
name is derived from valui, a net, and they ' formerly lived chiefly
by snaring birds and small animals. Nowadays many of them are
cultivators and some of them are thieves. They have a comical
fairy tale of the origin of the war which still goes on between
them and the rat-tribe. It relates how the chiefs of the rats met
in conclave and devised the various means for annoying and
harassing the enemy which they stiLl practise with sucli effect.
The Valaiyans are grouped into four endogamous sub-divisions ;
namely Vahni, Valattu, Karadi and Kangu. The last of these is
again divided into Pasi-katti, those who use a bead necklet instead
of a tali, and Karai-katti, those whose women wear horse-hair neck-
laces like the Kalians. The caste title is M6ppan. Caste matters
are settled by a headman called the Kambliyan (' blanket man '),
who lives at Aruppukottai and comes round in state to any villao-e
which requires his services, seated on a horse and accompanied by
servants who hold an umbrella over his head and fan him. He
holds his court seated on a blanket. The fines imposed go in
equal shares to the aramanai (literally, ' palace,' i.e., to the head-
man himself) and the oramanai, that is, the caste people.
13
98
MADURA.
CHAP. III.
Principal
Castes.
A Yalaiyan lias tlie right to claim his maternal uncle's
daughter as a wife. At weddings the bridegroooi's sister ties the
tali and then hurries the bride off to her brother's house, where
he is waiting. When a girl attains maturity she is made to live
for a fortnight in a temporary hut, which she afterwards burns
down. While she is there, the little girls of the caste meet outside
it and sing a song illustrative of the charms of womanliood and
its power of alleviating the unhappy lot of the bachelor. Two of
the verses say : —
What of the hair of a man ?
It is twisted and matted, and a burden.
What of the tresses of a woman ?
They are as flowers in a garland, and a glory.
What of the life of a man ?
It is that of the dog at the palace gate.
What of the days of a woinan ?
They are like the gently- waving leaves in a festoon.
Divorce is readily permitted on the usual payments and
divorcees and widows may re-marry. A married woman who goes
astray is brought before the Kambliyan, who delivers a homily
and then orders the man's waist-string to be tied round her neck.
This legitimises any children they may have.
Certain of the Valaiyans who live at Ammayanayakkanur are
the hereditary pt/jdris to the gods of the Sirumalai hills. Some
of these deities are uncommon, and one of them, Papparayan, is
said to be the spirit of a Brahman astrologer whose monsoon
forecast was falsified by events and who, filled with a shame rare
in unsuccessful weather-prophets, threw himself accordingly off a
high point on the range.
The ceremonies at a Valaiyan funeral are elaborate. At the
end of them the relations go three times round a basket of grain
placed under a pandal, beating their breasts and singing —
For us the kanj'i : Kailasam for thee ;
Eice for us : for thee Svargalokam,
and then wind turbans round the head of the deceased's heir in
recognition of his new position as chief of the family.
When a woman loses her husband, she goes three times round
the village mandai with a pot of water on her shoulder. After
each of the firs^i two journeys the barber makes a hole in the pot
and at the end of the third he hurls down the vessel and cries
out an adjuration to the departed spirit to leave the widow and
children in peace.
TflE tEOPLE.
KamTTialan is a generic term applied to the artisans of tlie CHAP. Ill,
Tamil countrj. The Kammalan caste is divided into five sec- Principal
tions ; namely, Tattans or goldsmiths, KoUans or blacksmiths, C xbiE a.
Kannans or brass-smiths, Tachchans or carpenters, and Kal Kammalam.
Tachchans or stone masons. These all intermarry and dine
together. The caste title is Asari. The Kanimalans claim to be
of divine origin and say that they are descended from Visva-
karma, the architect of the gods. They consequently assume
airs of superiority over the Brahmans, wear the sacred thread and
copy many of the Brahmanical customs. These pretensions are
of long standing, but none the less the caste has not yet shaken
itself free from several of its Dravidian customs and these reveal
its descent. The Kammalans talk, for example, of their gott^as,
but these, unlike real gotras, form no guide to the marriages
which are permissible, and the caste follows tlie Dravidian rule
that a man is entitled to the hand of his paternal aunt's daughter.
Again, though marriage is often performed between infants after
the Brahmanical fasliion, yet the Dravidian bride-price is always
paid. Widows may not re-marry, but they are allowed to wear
jewellery and chew betel and nut and are not required to observe
the fasts which Brahman widows keep. The dead, again, are
usually buried and not burnt, and the pollution lasts for the
period common among non-Brahman castes — sixteen days.
Vegetarianism is commonly practised and yet animal sacrifices
are made to village goddesses.
The caste-goddess is Kamakshiamman, and she has lier own
temple wherever Kammalans are numerous. In this all caste
disputes and affairs are settled. No tradition of this deity's
origin appears to survive. The caste-organization is very com-
plete. Each of the five divisions elects its own ndttdninaihdran,
or headman, and his hnryaslan, or executive officer. From the
five ndttdmnaikdrans a headman of the whole caste, called the
anjuvidn ndUdnniaikdran is selected by lot, a little child being made
to draw the lots in Kamakshiararaan's temple. These officials
all serve for life. Local headmen, subordinate to them, are often
appointed in big villages where the community is numerous.
The caste guru lives in Tinnevelly. He is a householder, and not
a sanydsi, and his authority is limited.
After the Kammalans in numerical strengtli come the Chettis. Nattak^f^si
Of tlvis great community the only sub-division which is especially ^•^^•^tis.
prominent in Madura is the Nattukottai, or wealthy banking,
section. The traditions of these people say that they fled to this
district from Kaveripattanam, formerly the chief port of Tanjoro
100 MADUEA.
CHAP. III. "because tlie Cliola king oppressed tliem ; and that they first settled
Pkixcipal at Nfittarasatikottai near Sivaganga, whence their name. 'J'hey
* are devout Saivites and are usuallj plentifully marked with holy
ash and wear a rudrdkshmn seed hung round their necks. They
shave their heads completely, not leaving the usual kudutm, and
their women stretch the lobes of their ears. Consequently ingeni-
ous native genealogists have pronounced them to be the offspring
of Kalian women by Musalraan fathers. The fact that their
unmarried girls wear necklaces of cowries has similarly given
rise to the story that the caste is descended from unions between
Kalians and Kuravans.
The Nattukottai Chettis have two territorial endogamous
sub-divisions, Ilaiyattakudi and Ariviyur, called after two villages
in the Sivaganga zamindari ; the necklets of the married women
of the former of these have two strings, while those of the
matrons of the latter have only one. The Ilaiyattakudi section
is further divided into seven exogamous septs called kovils, or
temples, which derive their names from seven favourite temples
in the seven villages of Ilaiyattakudi, Mattur, Iluppaikudi,
Surakkudi, Yairavankovil, Pillaiyarpatti and \'^elangudi.
At weddings, garlands are brought from the temple to which
the bridegroom's family belongs, A man has a right to the hand
of his paternal aunt's daughter and the usual bride-price is paid.
The tali is tied by a man of the caste, for choice one who has had
many children. Vegetarian families intermarry with those which
eat meat. Widows may not re-marry and divorce is forbidden.
The dead are burnt. I'ollution lasts for fifteen days and is
removed by the gurus. There are two of these, the heads of the
maths at Piranmalai and at Padarakudi near Tiruppattur,
The Nattukottai Chettis are bankers, money-lenders and
wholesale merchants, and do business all over south India and in
Burma, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements and Natal. The foreign
business is transacted by local agents belonging to the caste,
who receive a salary proportioned to the distance of the place from
Madura, and also, usually, a percentage on the profits. 'I'hey
generally serve for three-year terms and then return -and give an
account of their stewardship. In time they amass enough to start
business on their own account. The caste has a high reputation in
the commercial world for integrity and businesslike habits. These
latter they carry even into their domestic affairs. As long as the
father is alive, all the sons live together under the same roof with
him. Hence the huge houses for which the Nattukottai Chettis
in the Sivaganga zamindari are known. But though the various
THE PBOPLB. 101
component parts of a family reside under one roof, they do not CHAP. III.
mess in common; but eacli oie is given a carefully-calculated Principal
annual budget allotment of rice, condiments and other necessaries Castis.
and required to cook his meals by himself.
Of the profits of their commercial transactions a fixed per-
centage f called magamai) is usually set aside for charity. Some
of the money so collected is spent on keeping up Sanskrit
schools, but most of it has been laid out in the repair and restora-
tion of the temples of tlie south, especial attention being paid
to those shrines {pd-Jal petta sUiahincjaL as they are called) which
were hymned by the four great Saivite poet-saints, Manikya-
Yachakar, Appar, Tirugnana Sambandhar and Sundaramurti.
Lakhs have Ijcen laid ont on these buildings, but unluckily the
money has not alwa^'s been expended with taste, or with a fitting
reverence for the older work.
Vannans are the washermen of the community. The name is Vannins
rather an occupational term than a caste title and, besides the
Pandya Tanniins or Vannans proper, includes the Vaduga Vannans,
' northern washermen ' or Tsakalas of theTelugu country, and the
Palla, Pudara and Tulukka Vannans, who wash for the Pallans,
Paraiyans and Musalmans respectively. The Pandya Vannans
have a headman called the Periya manislian ('big man ') who has
the usual powers and privileges. A man can claim the hand of his
paternal aunt^s daughter. At weddings a bride-price of Es. 10|-
is paid and the bridegroom's sister ties the tali. Nambis officiate,
and receive a fee of five fanams. Divorce is freely allowed to
either party on payment of twice the bride-price, and divorcees
may marry again. The caste-god is Grurunathan, in whose temples
the pujari is usually a Vannan. The dead are generally burnt,
and on the sixteenth day the liouse is purified from pollution by a
Nambi.
The Kusavans are the potters. They have no caste headmen Knsavans.
and their only sub-divisions are tlie territorial sections Pandya,
Chola and Cliera. They say these are descended fi-om the tliree
sons of their orij^imil ancestor Kulalan, who was t]ic son of
Brahma. He }>rayed to Bralima to be allowed, like liim, to
create and destroy tilings daily ; so Bralima made liim a potter.
A Kusavan can claim the hand of his paternal aunt's daughter.
Marriage occurs before puberty. The tali is tied by the bride-
groom's sister and the usual bride-price is paid. The ceremonies
last three days. One of them consists in the bridegroom's sister
sowing seeds in a pot, and on the last day of the wedding the
seedlings which have sprouted are taken with music to a river or
102
MADURA.
CHAP. HI.
Principal
Castks.
Parivaiam.s.
tank and thrown into it. When the Ijride attains maturity a cere-
mocy is conducted by the caste-priest and consummation follows
on the next auspicious day,
Botli divorce and tlie re-rnarriag-e of widows are forbidden.
The dead, except infants, are burnt. The special deity of the
caste is Aiyanar. Kusavans are generally the pujaris in his
temples, and they make the earthenware horses and images which
are placed before these buildings.
The Parivaram caste are the domestic servants of the Tottiyan
(Kambalattcir) zamindars. The word means a retinue, and was no
doubt originally merely an occupational term. The community
speaks both Tamil and Telugu. It is divided into two endoga-
mous sections; the Chinna IJliyam (' little services '), who are
])alanquin-bearers and have the title Tevan ; and the Periya
Uliyam ('big services '), who are called Maniyakaran The
Kombai Parivarams, who are the servants of the Kappiliyan
iiamindars of Kombai and Tevaram in the Periyakulam taluk,
are a sejiarate community and do not intermarry with the others.
When a girl attains maturity she is kept for sixteen days in a
temporary hut -^^hich is guarded at night by her relations. This
is afterwards burnt down and the pots she used are broken into very
small pieces, as there is an idea that if rain- water collects in any
of them the girl will be childless. Dujing her subsequent periods
the girl has to live in the special hut which is provided for tJie
purpose. Some of the ceremonies at weddings are unusual. On
the first day a man takes a big pot of water with a smaller empty
pot on top of it and marches three times round tlie open space in
front of the bride's house. With him march the happy couple
carrying a bamboo to which are tied, in a saffron-coloured cloth,
the nine kinds of grain. After the third journey round, these
things are put down at the north-east corner, and the marriage
pandal is made by bringing three more poles of the same size.
Afterwards the wrists of the couple are tied together and the
bridegroom's brother carries the pair a short distance, They
plunge their hands into a bowl of salt. Next the husband takes
an ordinary stone rolling-pin, wraps it in a bit of cloth and gives
it to his wife, saying ' Take the child, I am going to the palace.'
She takes it replying ' Yes, give me the child, the milk is
ready.' This has to be repeated three times in a set formula.
Several other odd rites are observed. Brahmans officiate and the
bridegroom's sister, as usual, ties the tali. Divorce is allowed to
both sides. Adultery within the caste or with the zamindar is
tolerated. The husbands accept as their own any children their
THE PEOPLE. 103
wives may bear to the zamindar. Such children are called CHAP. III.
Chinna Kambalattar and may marry with Tottiyans. But Principal
adultery outside the caste is most rig-orously prohibited and j^s-
sternly punished with excommunication. A mud imag-e of the
girl who so offends is made, two thorns are poked into its eyes and
it is thrown away outside the village.
The Kunnuvans are the principal culti\ ating caste on the Palni TCnnnnvans.
hills. They speak Tamil. Their own traditions say that their
ancestors were Vellalans from the Dharaj'juram and Kangayam
country in Coimbatore who went u]^ the Palnis some four or fiye
centuries ago because the low country was so disturbed by war
(other accounts say devastated by famine), and they call them-
selves Kunnuva Vellalans and state that the name Kunnuva is
derived from Kunnur village in Coimbatore. Other traditions
add that the Virupakshi and Ayakkudi poligars helped them to
settle on their land in the hills, which up to then had only been
cultivated by indolent Pulaiyans The Kunnuvans ousted these
latter and eventually turned them into predial serfs, a position
from which they have liardly yet freed themselves. In every
village is a headman, called the manna cU, who has the usual
powers The caste is divided into three endogamous sections,
called vaguppua ; namelj^, Periya (big) Kunnuvar, Kunnuvar,
and Chinna (little) Kunnuvar. These will eat together. The
dress of the women is characteristic. They w;^ear rough metal
necklets, brass bangles and anklets, silver bangles on their u]iper
arms and rings in their noses ; and they knot their upper cloths
in front across their breasts and bind them round their wai.'sts
with a sort of bandage. White cloths used to be forbidden then?,
but are common eno '^gh nowadays.
The claim of a man to his paternal aunt's daughter is rigidly
maintained, and the evasions of the rule allowed by other castes
when the ages of the parties are disproportionate ai-e not per-
mitted. Consequently a boy sometimes marries more than one
of these cousins of his, and until he reaches manliood those of them
who are much older than he is live with other men of the caste,
the boy being the nominal father of any children which may be
born. A boy of nine or ten may thus be the putative father of a
child of two or three. The marriage ceremonies are the same
as usual, a bride-price being demanded, the bridegroom's si.ster
tying the tali, and the relations being feasted.
When a man has no children except a girl, and his family is
in danger of coming to an end, a curious practice called ' keeping
up the house ' is followed. The girl cannot be claimed by her
104 MADtlBA.
CHAP. III. maternal uncle's son, as usual, but may be ' married ' to one of
Principal the doorposts of the house. A silver bangle is put on her right
.' ' wrist instead of a tali round her neck, she is allowed to consort
with any man of her caste, her earnings go to her parents, she
becomes their heir, and if she has a son the boy inherits their
property through her. The custom is a close parallel to the
system of making girls Basavis which is so common in the
western part of Bellary and the neighbouring parts of Dharwar
and Mysore.
Divorce is readily obtained on the petitioner paying the
amount of the bride-price, but the children all go to the father.
Divorcees and widows may re-marry, and they do so with a fre-
quency which has made the caste a byword among its neigh-
bours. The Kunnuvans worship the usual village deities of the
plains. They generally burn their dead.
Pulaiyans. The Pulaiyans were apparently the earliest inhabitants of the
Palni hills and had things all their own way until the arrival
of the Kunnuvans just referred to. They seem, however, to be
merely Tamils from the low country, and not a separate race.
They speak Tamil and their customs resemble, generally, those
of the people in the plains. The caste has a headman called the
Nattanmaikaran, who is assisted by a Servaikaran and a toti, or
peon, and whose powers and duties are much the same as elsewhere,
'^l.^he community is grouped into three exogamous sub-divisions,
called k/Htams, which are known respectively as Kolankuppan,
Pichi, and Mandiyaman after their supposed original ancestors.
Marriages take place after puberty and are arranged by the
parents. The ceremonies are simple. A bride-price of Bs. 25
is paid and a tali of white beads is tied round the girl's neck.
Divorce can be obtained by either party on payment of a fine
equal to the bride-price, and divorcees and widows may re-marry
any one they choose. Ihe Pulaiyans' favourite deities are
Mayandi (whose shrine is generally on a knoll close to the
village), Karumalaiyan, and a goddess called Puvadai. Festivals
in their honour occur in (.'hittrai, and consist largely in much
dancing by twelve men who have sanctified themselves for the duty
by abstaining from eating beef for the twelve months preceding?.
On the first day they sacrifice a sheep to Mayandi. On the next,
they take a ragi pudding in a pot to the shrine of Karumalaiyan,
dance round it and then distribute it. On the third day they
begin an eight-day feast to Puvadai, at the end of which is more
. dancing. The whole caste is extremely fond of dancing, and in
Panguni (March- April) both men and women keep it up to all
THE PEOPLE. 105
hours, going- round and round with great energy to the sound of CHAP. ID.
a drum. Pulaiyans eat beef and pork and even rats. Mr. Turn- Principai
bull's notice of them embodied in Ward's Purvey Account says Castes.
that when any one is attacked with small-pox his friends and
relations all flee and leave him to his fate, and the people of his
village are prohibited from holding intercourse with others until
the epidemic has abated. Much the same thing occurs among the
Malaiy^lis of the Kalrayan hills.
In the fifties of the last century the Society for the Propaga-
tion of the Gospel sent a catechist to work among the Pulaiyans.
The work languished afterwards, but has now been revived by
the American Mission. The catechist's letters in the Madras
Quarterly Missionary Journal for 1850-52 give a few details
about the ways of the caste. They used to assemble for regular
hunting excursions. When any animal was killed, its skin or
some other part of it was sent to the nearest temple so that the
deity might give them more good sport in future. Anyone who
was killed on these occasions was buried in tlie jungle and his
memory treated with much respect. The Pulaiyans were kept
in the greatest subjection by their masters, the Kunnuvans, who
would not let them have a light at night or sleep on a cot, lent
them money at usurious interest and turned them into slaves if
they were unable to pay it back. None the less, the Pulaiyans
were considered indispensable in all cases of sickness, as they
alone knew the j)owers of the medicinal herbs of the hills ; and
also in cases of demoniac possession, as the local devils could only
be propitiated through their intervention. They were clever at
poisoning tigers, and any man who did so was given a new cloth
by public subscription and chaired round the village with dancing
and music.
The Paliyans are a very backward caste who reside in small, Pal^yai".
scattered parties amid the jungles of the Upper Palnis and the
Varushanad valley. They speak Tamil with a peculiar intonation
which renders it scarcely intelligible. They are much less civil-
ized than the Pulaiyans, but do not eat beef and consequently
carry no pollution. They sometimes build themselves grass huts,
but often they live on platforms up trees, in caves, or under
rocks. Their clothes are of the scantiest and dirtiest, and are
sometimes eked out with grass or leaves. They live upon roots
(yams), leaves and honey. They cook the roots by putting them
into a pit in the ground and heaping wood upon them and light-
ing it. The fire is usually kept burning all night as a protection
against wild beasts and it is often the only sign of the presence of
the Paliyans in a jungle, for they are shy folk who avoid other
14
106
MADtJEA.
CHAP. III.
Princip\i.
Castes.
Tdttiyans.
people. They make fire witli quartz and steel, using the floss of
the silk-cotton tree as tinder. Weddings are conducted without
ceremonies, the understanding being that the man shall collect
food and the woman cook it. When one of them dies the rest
leave the bodj as it is and avoid the spot for some months.
Mr. Thurston has published an account^, with illustrations and
measurements, of a settlement of the caste in the Tinnevelly
jungles. There, the dead are buried and a stone is placed over the
grave, which is never visited again.
The only Telugu caste which is characteristic of the district
are the Tottiyans, otherwise known as Kambalattar or Kambalat-
t^r Nayaks. To this community belong nearly all the zamindars.
Most of the men now speak Tamil, but Telugu is commonly used
by the women. The caste title is Nayakkan. The usual occupa-
tion is cultivation. The traditional story of their migration to
this district is jiiven in several of the Mackenzie MSS. and is still
repeated by the people of the caste. Centuries ago, says this
legend, the Tottiyans. lived to the north of the Tungabhadra
river. The Muhammadans there tried to marry their women and
make them eat beef, so one fine night they fled southwards in a
body. The Muhammadans pursued them and their path was
blocked by a deep and rapid river. They had just given them-
selves up for lost when a ponga ( Vongamia glabra) tree on either
side of the stream leant forward and, meeting in the middle, made
a bridge across it. Over this they hurried, and, as soon as they
had passed, the trees stood erect once uiore before the Musalmans
could similarly cross by them. The Tottiyans in consequence
still reverence the pongu tree and their marriage-pandals are
always made from its wood. They travelled on until they
came to the city of Vijayanagar, under whose king they took
service, and it was in the train of the Vijayanagar armies that
they came to Madura, Caste matters used to be settled by the
Mettu Nayakkan, or headman, and the Kodangi Nayakkan, or
priest, so called because he carried a drum. Nowadays they
are generally decided by a public assembly the leaders of which
seat themselves solemnly on a blanket on which it placed a pot
of water containing margosa leaves, an emblem of the presence
of the deity. Persons charged with offences are invited to
prove their innocence by undergoing ordeals. These are now
harmless enough, such as attempting to cook rice in a pot which
has not been fired, but Turnball says that he saw the boiling oil
^ Madras Museurr,, Bulletins, Vol. V, No. 1. Other references are Indian
Antiquary, (1876), v, 60, aad Madras Quarterly Missionary Journal for October
1851.
Castes.
THE PEOPLE. 107
ordeal in 1813 in Piiilukkottai territory. Perhaps the most CHAP. III.
serious caste offeaoe is adalterj with a man of another com- Principal
raiinity". Turnbull sajs that women convicted of this used to be
senten '.ed to he killed by Ghakkiliyaas. but nowadays rigid
excommunication is the penalty.
The caste is divided into eight exogamous septs, which seem
.(the information is incomplf^te) to be totemiatic in origin and
each of which intermarries only with one of the remaininpf
eight. When a girl attains maturity she is kept in a separate
hub which is watched by a Chakkiliyan. Marriage is either
infant or adult. A man has the usual claim to his paternal
aunt's daui:htyr and so rigorously is this rule followed that boys
of tender years are frequently married to grown womon. These
latter are allowed to consort with their husband's near relntions
and the boy is held to be the father of any children which may
be born. Weddings last tliree days and involve very numerous
ceremonies. They take place in a special pandai erected in the
village, on either side of which are smaller pandals for the bride
and bridegroom. Two uncommon rites aro the slaughtering of a
red ram without blemish and marking the foreheads of the couple
with its blood, and the pursuit by the bridegroom, vsdtli a b<jw
and arrow, of a man who pretends to flee but is at length captured
and bound. The ram is first sprinkled with water and if it
shivers this, as usual, is held to bo a good omen. The bride-
price is seven kalams of cambu, and the couple may eat only
this grain and horse-gram until the wedding is over. A botfu is
tied round the bride's neck by the bridegroom's sister. In very
rare cases, among certain sections of the caste, the bridegroom
sends a dagger to represent him and does not appear himself.
This form is apparently only adopted when the bride is of rather
inferior social status and the ceremonial is then much simpler.
The loading judicial decision upon this form is I.L.R., XVIl
Madras, 422. After marriage, women are required to bestow
their favours upon their husband's nearest relatives, and it is
believed that ill-luck will attend any refusal to do so. f>!afi was
formerly very common in the caste, and the two caste-goddesses,
Jakkamma and Bommajya, are deifications of women who thus
sacrificed themselves. Every four years a ft-stival is held in
their honour, one of the chief events in which is a bullock race.
The owner of the winning auiaial receives a prize and gets the
first betel and nut during the feast. The caste god is Perumal,
who is worsbipped in the form of a currv-griading stone. Tho
story goes that when the Tottiyans were fleeing to the south one
108
MADURA.
CHAP. III.
Principal
Caster.
KippiJiyans.
of their women found her grinding-stone so intolerablj heary
that she threw it away. It however reappeared in her basket.
Thrown away again, it once more reappeared and she then
realised that the caste god must be accompanying them. The
dead are either buried or burnt. In the hitter case a tomb is
ere3ted at which worship is done for 40 <lays. The Tottiyans
have mausoleums (mdlai, see p. 320) in which a stone is placed
to represent each deceased member of the family, and periodical
ancestor-worship is performed in these.
Of the Canarese-speaking castes of the district, two, the
K£ppiliyans and Anuppans, are worth a note. The former are
moft nuraeious in the villages near the head of the Kambarn
valley. Some of the polisfars in this part of the country were
Kappiliyans, and they doubtless brought with them a retinue of
their own castempii. ' he Kappiliyans' tradition regarding their
migration to this district is similar to that current among the
Tottiyans (whom they resemble in several of their customs), the
story beinu that tlie caste was oppressed by the Musalmans of
the north, fled across the Tungabhadra aad was saved by two
pomju trees bridging an unfordable stream which blocked their
escape. They trav^elled, say the legen^ls, through Mysore to
Coiijeeveram, theuce to Coimbatore and thence to this district.
The stay at Conjeeveram is always emphasised, and is supported
by the fact that the caste has shrines dedicated to Kanchi
Varadaraja Perumal.
The Kappiliyans are split into two endogamous sub-divisions ;
namely, the Dharmakatta, so called because, out of charity, they
allow widows to marry one more husband, and the Mtinukattu,
who permit a woman three husbands in succession. The former
are again sub-divided into a number of sections, each of whom
may only intermarry with certain of the others.
Caste panchayats hold court on a blankot and the president
is a headman called the Jati Kavundan. Kavundan is the caste
title. When a girl attains maturity she is kept in a temporary
hut in the village mandai (common land) for 15 days, and is
waited on, and guarded at night, by her relatives. She is then
brought into the village with music, and a saffron-coloured thread
is tied round her neck as a badge of her condition. The hut is
burnt down and the pots she used are broken to atoms.
A man's right to marry his paternal aunt's daughter is so
rigorously insisted upon that, as among the Tottiyans, ill-assorted
matches are common. A woman whose husband is too young
to fulfil the duties of his position is allowed to consort with his
THl PEOPLI. 109
near relations, and the children so begotten are treated as his. CHAP. ill.
At weddings no t^li is tied, but the binding portions of the Principal
ceremony are the donning by the bride of a saffron-coloured cloth t *'
Bent her by the bridegroom and of black {^lass bangles (unmar-
ried girls may only wear bangles made of lac) and the linking of
the couple's little fingers. A dultery outside the caste is punished
by expulsion and, to show that the woman is thenceforward as
good as dead, funeral ceremonies are solemnly performed to some
trinket of hers, and this is afterwards burnt. The special deities
of the caste are many, and some of them appertain to particular
sections and even particular families. In several instances they
are women who committed soti. The dead are usually burnt, but
children, people who have died of cholera, and pregnant women
are buried. In the case of the last^ as usual, the child is first
taken out. The characteristic occupation of the K^ppiliyans is
cattle-grazing. Their ' sacred herd ' at Kambam has been already
referred to on p. 20.
The Anuppans are commonest in the Kambam valley. They Anupp«n».
have a tradition regarding their migration thither which closely
resembles that current among the Kappiliyans and T6ttiyan8.
Their title is Kavundan. They are divided into six territorial
groups called meduK which are named after three villages in this
district and three in Tinnevelly. Over each of these is a headman
called the Periyadanakk^ran, and the three former are also subject
to a guru who lives at (Sirup^L^i near Madura. These three are
divided again into eighteen kilais, oi branches, each of whom
intermarries only with certain of the others. Caste panch^yats
are held on a blanket on which (compare the T6ttiyan custom) is
placed a pot of water containing margosa leaves to symbolise the
sacred nature of the meeting. Women who go astray with men of
other castes are expelled ; and various ceremonies, including (it is
said) the burying alive of a goat, are enacted to show that they are
dead to the community. The right of a man to the hand of his
paternal aunt's daughter is as rigorously maintained as among the
Kdppiliyans and Tottiyans, and leads to the same curious state
of affairs. No t^li is tied at weddings, and the binding part of
the ceremonies is the linking, on seven separate occasions, of
the little fingers of the couple. A bride-price, as usual, is paid.
Like the Kdppiliyans, the Anuppans have many caste and family
deities, a number of whom are women who committed saii.
Of the castes who speak languages foreign to this Presidency Patndl-
the only one which calls for mention is the Patnlilkdran (' silk- ''^a""«
thread-people ') eonamunity which is so numerous in Madura
110 MADFTIA.
CHAP. III. and Dindigul towns. Their vernarular is Patnlili or Khatri, a
PBiNciPAt, dialect of Gujarati, and they came originally from Grujardt. An
Castes. inscription dated 473-7 1 A.D. at Mandasor in western Malwa
relates ^ how the Pattavayas, as the caste was then called, were
induced to migrate thither from Lata, ou the coast of Gujarat,
by king Kumara Gupta (or one of his lieutenants) to practise
there their art of silk-weaving. The inscription eays many flat-
tering ttiiugs about the community, and poetically compares the
city to a beautiful woman and the immigrants to the silk
garments in which she decks herself when she goes to meet her
lover. On the destruction of Mandasor by the Musalmans, the
Pattavdyas seem to have travelled south to Devagiri, the modern
Daulatabad, the then capital of the Yadavas, and thence, when
the Musalmans again appeared on the scene at the beginning of
the fourteenth century, to Vijayanagar and eventually to Madura.
A curious ceremony confirming this conjecture is performed to
this day at Patnulkaran weddings in south India. Before the
date of the wedding the bridegroom's party go to the bride's
house and ask formally for the girl's hand. Her relations ask
them in a set form of words who they are and whence they come,
and they reply that they are from Sorath (the old name for
Saurashtra or Kathiawar), resided iu Devagiri, travelled south
(owing to Musalmau oppression) to Vijayanagar and thence came
to Madura. They then ask the bride's party the same question
and receive the same reply. A Marathi MS. prepared in 1822
at Salem under the direction of the then Collector, Mr. M, D.
Cockburn, contains the same tradition ; Mr. Sewell's A Forgotten
Empire sbows how common silk clothing and trappings were at
Yiiayauagar in the days of its glory ; most of the Patnulkarans
can still speak Telugu, which raises the inference that they must
have resided a long time in the Telugu country, while their
Patnlili contains many Oanarese and Telugu words; and they
observe the feast oF Basavanna (or Boskanna) which is almost
peculiar to the Bellary country. After the downfall of Vijaya-
nagar some of the caste seem to have gone to Bangalore, for a
weaving community called Patvegars, who speak a dialect similar
to Patauli, still reside there. Patvegdr is another form of
Pattavaya or Pattavayaka, and Patnulkaran is the Tamil form
of the same word.
The members of the caste in Madura prefer to be called
Saurashtras. They say that they are Brahmans. The claim is
no new affair, as in tlie reign of Queen Mangamm^l (lfKS9-1704)
1 Ind. Ant., xv, 194-201.
THE PEOPLE. Ill
eighteen of the members of the community were arrested by the CidAP.iil.
governor of Madura for performing the Brahmanical ceremony Principal
of Mjoa'Ar/r/;/**, or renewal of the sicred thread. The queen con-
vened a meeting of those learned in the Sdstras to investigate the
Patnlilkarans' right to perform such ceremonies. This declared
in favour of the defendants ; and the queen gave them a paliu-leaf
award accordingly, which is still preserved in Madura. The
caste now follows many of the customs of the southern Brahmans
regarding food, dress, forms of worship and names, and has
recently taken to the adoption of Brahmanical titles, such as
Aiyar,";^Ach£iri and Bhagavatar.
Tiie affairs of the^Patuulkaraus at Madura are now managed
by a ' Saurashtra sabha ' which was started in 1895. This body
collects a mi'gamai, a sort of income-tax, from the members of tlie
caste and spends the proceeds on objects calculated to benefit
the community/among them the maintenance of a high school
and subordinate institutions to feed it, and the upkeep of a caste
temple. •. The Patnulkdrans have a very strong esprit de corps and
this has stood them in good stead in their weaving, which is
more scientifically carried on, and in a more flourishing condition,
than is usual elsewhere.
U2
MADU&A.
CHAPTER IV.
AGEICULTURE AND IRRIGATION.
CHAP. IV.
Agri-
cultural
Statistics.
The different
taluks.
AoRicuLTURAL STATISTICS — The different taluks — The various crops. Wbt
Cultivation — Paddy — Its cultivation — Its varieties. Dry Cultivation—
Methods — Cotton — Tobacco. Irrigation — Area protected — Wells — Tanks
and channels — The Poriyd,r project. Economic condition of agriculturists.
The figures appended, which are those for 1903-04, show at a
glance the general agricultural position in Madura : —
Tftluk.
1
i
Percentage of area by Percentage of area in
survey which is village accounts of
1
1
a
i-i
o
_g
i
a
's
SI
Forest and other area
not available for
cultivation.
1
O
3
"S
s>
p
O
«
o
Dindigul
Kodaikanal ...
Madura
M6ldr
Palni
Periyakulam
Tirumangalam
District Total ...
66-7
1000
722
»30
53-7
48-9
525
30
30
3-8
11
0-5
34
1-0
21-7
32
01
0-2
8-1
29-3
"3-1
45-1
50-4
36-0
24-6
856
305
38-9
11-2
46-3
18-2
8-6
4-9
12-6
9-1
6-6
8-0
9-8
14-3
1-6
7-0
5-3
23-5
3-4
4-7
52-5
7-9
49-9
46-7
58-7
42-3
67-3
64-5
21
3-7
39-7
360
8-6
8-4
47-0
It will be seen that of the total area, 30 per cent, is made up of
zamindaris, and that in Periyakulam this proportion rises to one-
half of the whole. These tracts and the whole inam villages do
not appear in the village accounts. Excluding them, of every 100
acres for which particulars are on record in the accounts, as much
as 36 are forest or hill or otherwise not available for cultivation,
47 are cropped, 8 are current fallows and 8^ are other culturable
waste.
The proportion of land not available for cultivation is highest
in Kodaikanal and Periyakulam taluks, where so much of the
country consists of mouatain and jungle, and lowest in Palni and
ASEICULTUEE AND IRRIGATION.
113
Tirumangalam. In these latter two taluks there are hardlj any
forests or hills, and moreover culturablo land is seldom loft waste
in Palni owing to the prevalence of cultivation under wells, or in
Tirumangalam owing- to the richness of the soil. Fallows would
appear to be commonest in Palni and Dindigul, but the reason for
this is partly the fact that the year (1903-04) for which statistics
are given was unusually dry and consequently less than usual of
the unirrigated land was cropped.
The figures below give for the same year 1 903-04 the percent-
age of the total area cultivated, both in the district as a whole and
in each of the taluks, which was grown with certain oF the more
important crops : —
.
Crops.
"a
o
o
m
'3
a
S
03
a
'S
c
Madura.
h
2
^
S
'3
i
45
bo
C
S
3
Cereals and pulses —
Rice
22-8
9-1
10-6
62-2
39-3
10-2
17-1
12-9
Cholatn
20-3
30-2
0-9
Il-O
9-5
30-0
23-5
15-0
Cambu
6-8
13-6
0-2
1-G
10-3
10-8
1-2
2-1
Eagi
6-6
4-5
12-0
3-8
7-1
9-3
12-8
3-6
Varaga
9-2
90
0-1
8-5
10-9
0-6
2-9
21-2
Samai
7-G
10-5
121
2-1
1-2
11-1
16-7
•2-0
Horse-gram
5-7
G-7
0-2
1-4
41
12-6
9-7
0-9
Others
1-7
0-9
1-8
0-4
4.6
5-0
0-7
0-6
Condiments and
0-S
1-5
1-8
0-5
0-3
0-3
1-0
0-4
spices.
Orchard and garden
produce
1-1
0-7
15-6
2-1
1-1
0-3
0-5
0-4
Oil-seeds —
Gingelly
4-3
5-3
1-4
4-5
20
6-8
4-9
Others
2-2
4-5
o-i
1-1
5-2
1-2
0-1
0-4
Sngar.cane ...
0-1
0-1
0-2
0-1
0-1
Cotton
G-G
1-7
0-9
4-0
3-3
28*4
Drnga and narcotics —
Tobacco
0-5
07
O-I
1-1
1-1
0-2
Betel-vine
O'l
0-1
0-3
o-i
0-2
0-1
Others
3-6
Cr9
*44-6
2-4
]-9
1-3
2-3
C-9
* Includes coffee (28-2 per cent.) ; cardamoms (129 per cent.) ; and wheat
(3-1 per cent.).
It will be noticed that of the regularly irrigated crops paddy
is the only one which occupies any considerable extent, the areas
grown with sugar-cane and betel-vine being very small. These
two latter, however, are on the increase now that the advent of the
Periydr water has rendered irrigation more certain. Of the dry
X5
CHAP. IV.
Agri-
Cl'LTOaAL
ST4TJSTJCS.
The various
rroijs.
114
MADURA.
CHAP. IV.
Agri-
ccltueal
Statistics.
Wet
Cultivation.
Paddv.
crops, cholam (the black variety) is mucli the most popular, and
then vai-agu ; while cambu, ragi, sdmai and horse-gi'am each
occupy about the same proportional extent. Gringelly is the chief
oil-seed ; cotton is of considerable importance ; and tobacco,
though occupying only a relatively small area, is of much
industrial value.
Paddy is most important in the Madura and Melur taluks,
which are irrigated by the Periydr channels. It occupies the next
laigest area (relatively) in Periyakulam, where again the water of
the Periy^r is much utilised. In the dry taluks of Dindigul and
Palni it is grown on only a tenth of the total cultivated area.
Sugar-cane and betel are also most raised in Madura and Melur.
Cholam occupies '60 per cent, of the cropped area in Dindigul
and Palni and a large acreage in Periyakulam. Horse-gram is
similarly more grown in these three taluks than in any others. It
is the only crop which does well in the red sandy land which is so
common in them. Of the other dry grains, cambu is most popular
in Dindigul, Palni and Melur; ragi in Palni and Periyakulam;
varagu in Dindigul, Madura and Melur; and samai in Dindigul,
Palni and Periyalsulam. Cotton is cultivated in more than a
fourth of Tirumangalam and on small areas in Palni and Periya-
kulam, and the tobacco of the district is mainly raised in these
last two taluks and Dindigul. Coffee, cardamoms and wheat are
cultivated on Govei-nment land only in the Palni hills (Kodaikaiial
taluk) but the two former are grown on small extents of zamin-
dari land on the Sirumalais. The area under ' condiments and
spices ' in Kodaikanal is that cultivated with garlic. Most of this
is raised for export. The ' orchard and garden produce ' which
occupies so considerable a relative area in the same laluk is the
special plantain for which the Palnis are famous. This is also
largely raised on the Sirumalais,
Such is the general agricultural pociition, and it remains to
refer to the methods of the Madura ryots in the cultivation of wet
and dry crops.
In Madura and Melur, under the Periydr channels, only about
one-third of the irrigated land is cropped twice with paddy. In
time, tv/o crops may come to be the rale ; but at present the area
under this comparatively new project is only partly developed ;
manure, labour and cattle are less plentiful than they should be ;
and the ryots still adhere to the customs which prevailed before
the project was completed and there was usually only water
enough for one crop. They often waste so much time by putting
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 115
off the preparation of the seed-beds and leaving the fields to eoak CHAP. IV.
before beffinniuff to plouj^h, that the period loft tliem is insufficient Wet
» ii 1.- -• p X Cultivation.
lor the cultivation oi two crops.
Where two crops are grown, they are called respectively the its culti^a-
kodai and the Jcdlam crops. The cultivation of the former is bogun ^''^""
about the middle of June, at which time the Pcriydr water usually
first comes down. Sometimes, however, the seed-beds are started
before this, water raised from tanks or wells being used for them.
Transplantation from seed-beds is the rule. The seed is usually
soaked before being sown. Sowing broadcast is not uncommon,
but is looked upon as bad farming.
The actual processes of [jaddy cultivation are much the same
as elsewhere. The land is first manured. Sheep or goats are
penned thickly upon it and silt from tanks or channels, village
rubbish and farm-yard manure are carted on to it. Cake is very
seldom employed. Then the field is flooded and the manure
turned in with the usual wooden plough. In the deep black soil
common in Madura taluk the cattle sometimes sink so deeply that
much ploughing is impossible, and there the land is turned over
with the big hoe called the mamutti. When the field has been
reduced to a state of slush, green leaf-manure is trodden or
ploughed in. No special manurial crops or plants are grown ;
dvdram (Gassia auriculata), virdli {Dodoncea vucosa,) and kultnji
(wild indigo) are the leaves usually employed. Tf the soil is
alkaline (soudu) more leaves and tank silt are used, and no sweep-
ings or cattle manure. Finally the surface of the field is levelled
by dragging over it a log called the |j«ra,)n6u. The seedlings
are then transplanted by hand. A month afterwards, the crop is
weeded, also by hand. Harvesting and threshing are performed
in the usual manner.
For the kodcti crop the inferior kinds of rice, which only remain its varieties,
on the ground three months after transplantation, are usually
grown. Perhaps the commonest sorts are sen kdr (-red kar ')
and vellai kdr (' white kar ') and a two months' crop known as
anwaddn kodai. When these have been harvested, the kdlam crop,
which ought to have been (but is not always) sown meanwhile in
the seed-beds, is planted out. This usually consists of the six
months' crops known as sirumani{' little grain '), milagu (so called
because it has a round grain like a pepper-corn), and vari garudan
samba (' striped kite-coloured rice ') ; or the five months' varieties
called kambau samba (so named from its resemblance to cambu)
and tillaindyakam, a kind which has boon recently imported from
1.16
MADUEA.
Wet
Cultivation.
CHAP. IV. other districts. Sirvmani and garudan .samba require a great deal
nioro water than the other three, but yield abundantl3\ Kamban
samba fetches a high price, hut the yield is less. This does best
on red soil, while sirumani prefers low-lying black land. A four
months' species called nan'yan ('stunted'), which required less
water, used to be much grown, but since the advent of the Periyar
water it has given way to the choicer kinds. It seems probable
that now that there is an ample and certain supply of irrigation
other still better sorts might be introduced and grown with success.
This matter and the question of economising water would prob-
ably repay investigation. At present the ryots raise the
same stereotyped sorts of paddy and swamp their fields in the
immemorial manner and are generally casual in their methods.
Paddy is commonly raised year after year on the same land
without rotation, though recently the rjots have begun to culti-
vate sugar-cane or plantains every third or fourth year.
The methods of dry cultivation in fashion in Madura differ
little either with the nature of the soil or the kind of crop. It has
already been seen (p. 12) that Tirumangalam is the only taluk
in which any considerable area is covered with any soil except the
red ferruginous sorts. The following statistics of the assessments
per acre of the dry land of the district show how much more
fertile the black land is than the red : —
Dry
Cultivation.
Taluk.
Percentage of assessed dry land which is assessed at
05
CO
1
6
d
1
1
6
6
1—1
06
CO
-I
c£5
Diadigul
Madura
M^liir ...
Palni
Periyakulam ...
Tirumangalam
District Tot .1 ...
-
"' 1
1
30
1
2
"2
4
22
20
23
21
22
25
21
53
50
71
27
36
20
17
16
7
29
20
6
8
8
1
15
11
1
1
1
4
3
5
5
22
42
17
8
1
Methods. Cultivation methods on this black soil differ in one respect
from those adopted on the red. The former requires a thorough
soaking before it will raise a crop and thereafter needs no further
rain ; whereas the latter does not retain moisture well and so
wants frequent showers. Consequently on the black soils the
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. ll"?
sowing season may be deferred to as late as October, when the CHAP. IV.
land has received the heavy showers of tlie north-cast rains ; Dry
whereas on the red land it must be begun in July or August ^"^"^""^'''^^'^'-
so that the crops may receive the benefit of both monsoons.^
With this exception, cultivation on both the red and black soils is
conducted in a similar manner. Contrary to the practice in the
Deccan districts, the black soils are manured and irrigated (even
from wells) in the same way as the red.
Except in the fields cultivated under wells in the Palni taluk
by the hard-working Vellalans and those in the cotton country in
south Tirumangalam tilled by the Eeddis, the methods of culti-
vating dry crops seem careless and unenterprising. First, the
stubble of the last crop is ploughed in. Then such manure as is
available is spread. Fields at a distance from the village get
practically no manuring at all, being merely left fallow now and
again to recuperate. Those nearer at hand are given village
sweepings and farm- yard refuse, and sheep and goats are penned
upon them ; but this only occurs once in every two or three years.
Only the fields next the habitations are manured every year.
Land under wells in Falni is treated, of course, with more care.
The cattle are very usually penned at night on these fields and
manure is carted to them from long distances.
The manure having been applied, the land is ploughed three
or fom- times with the usual wooden plough, which is somewhat
bigger than that employed on wet land, Then, as soon as sufficient
rain has fallen, sowing is effected by scattering the seed broadcast
and laboriously ploughing the field again to cover it. Mixed
crops are common. The seeds are mixed before they are sown.
The larger grains, such as dholl, castor and beaus, are dropped
separately one by one in a furrow made by the plough and then
ploughed in separately. When the crop is about a foot high it is
weeded by hand, a small hoe being used. Cholam and cambu are
first thinned with the plough. Neither process is carefully carried
out and the fields are often choked with weeds. The adoption of
the Deccan methods of sowing with a drill, covering the seed with
a scuffle and hoeiug the crop by bullock-power would seem likely to
save much labour, do the work better, and have the additional
advantage of allowing larger areas to be sown at the most favour-
able moment, directly after a heavy shower.
' Elaborate tables of the dates of seed-time and harvest for the vajioua
crops in the different parts of the district will bo found in G.O,, No, 78I, Revcnno,
dated 15th September 1897.
118
MADURA.
CHAP. IV.
Dry
Cultivation.
Cotton.
Cholam is harvested by cutting it off close to the ground and
then removing the ears. The straw is considered the best cattle
fodder available. Cambu is gathsred by cutting off the ears only.
If more rain falls the plants will then send out another crop of
ears. The straw is thought to be bad for cattle and is seldom
given them. Eagi is harvested in the same way, but the straw of
this is regarded as nutritious. Samai and varagu are cut off flush
with the ground. The straw of these is also rarely given to the
cattle. Two crops in a year are raised on some of the best dry
land by growing cambu first and then horse-gram or black gram,
and round Vedasandur in Dindigul by sowing coriander or Bengal
gram as the second crop ; but the practice is not common.
Cholam is said to be an exhausting crop and is not sown twice
running on the same land. It is usually followed by varagu,
samai or horse-gram. Cambu does not do well if put in immedi-
ately after cholam, but otherwise it will flourish for three years in
succession in the same field. Varagu is also an exhausting crop,
and cannot be grown successfully two years running on the same
land unless manure is given it.
Of the cotton of the district, between 80 and 90 per cent.
is grown in the one taluk of Tirumangalam. The methods of
cultivating the plant in the neighbouring taluk of Sattur to
the south are described in much detail in Bulletin No. 19,
Vol. I, of the Madras Department of Land Eecords and Agricul-
ture, and the account there given is applicable to the practice
in Tirumangalam. The crop is usually raised on the black soils,
but the more clayey kinds of red land suit it also. The black
soils are locally divided into four varieties ; namely, karisal
(superior friable), veppal (inferior friable), kahkarai (stiff) and
pottal (alkaline). Kakkarai resembles the deep regada soils of
the Deccan districts, cracking greatly in the dry weather and
requiring a good soaking before it can be ploughed. It is regarded
as inferior to ka7v'sal, which requires little moisture to render it fit
for ploughiug and is so friable that the roots of the cotton penetrate
it easily. A local proverb says ' Sell even wet land to buy karisal.'
Manure is only given once in six or seven years, and is then
generally applied to the crop which follows the cotton, and not to
the cotton itself. This is said to make the cotton crop more even,
and better able to withstand a scarcity of rain. The tillage begins
after the showers of June. Three ploughings are enough on clean
land, but they are carried deeper than usual, a big atone being put
on the plough to keep the share well down. The seed is generally
bought from the dealers. It is sown broadcast from the beginning
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 119
of August onwards and is ploughed in as usual. Before being CHAP. IV.
sown it is rubbed in a paste of cowduug and water and then dried ^»^'
in the sun. This prevents the seeds from sticking together. '_
Cotton is usually raised every other season, cambu or varagu being
grown in the alternate years.
The crop is weeded once with a pointed stick and hoed twice
more afterwards with hand hoc*. It is scarcely ever irrigated.
The first bolls begin to open about three months after sowing and
the first picking begins throe weeks afterwards. The first pickings
give an inferior sample, as they are mainly bolls which havo
opened prematurely owing to the attacks of insects. Similarly the
last pickings are inferior because the lint is leafy and spoiled by
insects. Picking goes on from January to April and then again,
after the May rains, up to August. The cotton is carefully stored
in places where it will be free from damp, either in rooms, in houses,
in circular wattle and daub granaries called pattarai or in circular
bins made of mud and cambu chaff called kulukkai. It is usually
sold uncleaned to middle-men, vho either get it ginned by women
with the ordinary wooden roller-gin or sell it to the steam
ginning-factories in the Tinnevelly district. It then passes to the
presses at Virudupatti or elsewhere or is disposed of to the steam
spinning-mill at Madura. Two varieties are recognised ; the
uppam, which is grown on the best kartsal lands and yields the
better crop, and ndttu, the indigenous variety, which is cultivated
on the inferior soils. But the two are very often found mixed
together. In the market the Tirumangalam cotton is known as
' Tinnevellies.' It is one of the most highly prized of Indian
cottons, being valued for its colour, which is very white. The
staple is not particularly long, but the fibre is strong.
The largest area under tobacco is in Dindigul taluk. Periya- Tobacco,
kulam comes next, and then I 'alni. The plant must be irrigated,
and thrives best in red soils under wells. Either the soil or the
well-water or both must be alkaline, and if they are not so, alkaline
earth is often carted on to the land. The experts are agreed ^ that
the methods of cultivation and of collecting and curing tho leaf
leave a great deal to be desired. The seed is sown in a specially
prepared plot of luu'i and the seedlings arc afterwards transplanted.
The seed-bed is often so carelessly flooded with water that some
of the seeds aro buried too deep while others arc washed out
of the ground, and tho surface of the bed is so caked all over that
^ See Bulletin No. .5-3, vol. iii of the M^cUms Department of Lands Recoids
and Agriculture, and G.O., No. 1063, Revenue, dated 23rd Septo.-nber 1904.
120
MADURA.
CHAP. IV.
Dry
Cultivation.
germination ia checked. The seedling-s are transplanted when the
leaves are three or four inches long-. This is done by flooding the
seed-bed in the early morning, pulling up the plants, putting
them in a covered basket in the shade till the evening, and then
dibbling them in. The land is often made so wet that the
seedlings rot, or these are dibbled in so loosely that they do not
take root properly, or so close together that they damage one
another.
For tobacco growing the field must be deeply ploughed
and well manured. Cowdung is carted on to it and sheep and
cattle are penned on it. The seedlings are watered -every day at
first, and afterwards at longer intervals. The crop is hoed when
it has been about three weeks in the field and after five or six
weeks the soil is broken up with a mamntti. In some villages
liquid manure is applied at this period by tlirowing cowdimg into
the irrigation channels. When the plants are nearly three feet
high they are topped, and this makes the lower leaves increase in
size. The suckers which this topping starts into growth are
seldom sufficiently checked, however, and they weaken the plant
greatly. After about three months the lowest leaves begin to
turn spotted, and the plant is then considered to be ripe and is cut
0&. close to the ground in tho evening. Half the leaves are still
immature and it would probably be better only to pick the ripe
leaves and not cut the whole plant down. The plants are
collected early next morning and made into small circular heaps
with the leaves inwards and the stalks outside. These are covered
with straw and are left untouched for three days. The plants are
then spread out on the ground for a short time and next hung up
on horizontal poles. Every morning they are moved a little to let
the air pass freely through them and at the end of fifteen or
twenty days they are considered to be cured. This drying process
is carelessly managed and some of the leaves rot and the others are
not uniform in colour or dryness. When the leaves are considered
to be dry, the plants are taken down from the horizontal poles
and made into square heaps about two feet high, the stalks being
laid cross-wise over each other in alternate rows. Every two or
three days, these heaps are opened and re-made. The leaves
ferment and change colour, and when a certain blackish tint is
produced the fermentation ia considered to be finished and the
leaves are stripped from the stalk and made up into bundles for
sale. This process really requires most careful watching, to see
that the heat reached is not too great and that the process is not
stopped too soon or carried too far. But the ryot has no thermo-
meter and leaves matters largely to chance,
AQRICULTUBE AND IRRIGATION.
121
The whole sabject of the growth and curing of tobacco is now CHAP. iv.
under the consideration of Government, who are endeavouring to ^^^
procure the assistance of experts to advise as to the directions in '
whicli improvements might bo possible. The manufacture of the
cured leaves into cigars at Dindigul is referred to on p. 149.
The proportion of the cultivated area of the district which Irrigatiox.
is irrigated is higher than the normal for the Presidency. The
statistics say that in ordinary seasons 27 per cent, of it is protected
from famine and in all seasons ne&rly 22 per cent. Details for
the different taluks, and figures showing the percentage of the
wet area in each of these which is irrigated by the various classes
of sources are appended : —
Area
protected.
Taluk.
Percentage of wet area
which is irrigated
respectively by
Perceiitage of total
cultivated area whicli
is protected
CD
§
o
>3
o
S
a
>
o
OD
Other sources.
In ordinary seasons,
lu all seasons.
Dindiijul
Kodaikanal
Madura
M^ldr
Palni
Poriyakulam
Tirumang^alam
District Total ...
11
10
lC-7
10-2
1-6
3-8
01
5-6
"8'-5
8-4
30
3-6
7-9
9-4
0-5
0-5
9-8
4-4
2-4
0-2
i-0
0-1
0-1
0-1
18-5
15-4
49-6
35-2
41-5
24-3
13-7
15-3
15-3
44-7
270
21-4
21-6
131
34-5
370
27-0
1-5
27-2
21-7
It will be seen that the best protectei taluks are Madura and
Mellir, which are served by the great Periydr project referred to
later. Next come Palni, which is chiefly safe-guarded by its
numerous excellent wells, and Perijaknlam, which also benefits
from the Periydr water. At the bottom of the list is Tiruman-
galam, where there are hardly any channels and very few wells.
Though a large proportion of i\T^lijr is now safe from famine,
the quality of the wet land in it is the poorest in the district,
being mostly sandy red soil. This is clearly shown in the figiu'ea
16
122
MADUEA.
CHAP. IV. below, whicli give the percentage of the assessed wet land in each
Irrigation, taluk which is assessed at each of the standard rates : —
Wells.
Taluk.
Percentage of assessed wet land which is
assessed at
d
1
1
00
IB
03
o
1
CO
1
o
1
CO
1
CO
to
M
d
00
1
w
00
CO
d
1
CVS
n
Pi
o
00
1
cq
00
o
1
o
1
<N
tB
'A
Dindigul
Madura
M616r
Palni
Periyakulam
Tirumangalani
District Total ...
3
1
2
4
5
2
4
13
"lO
4
6
13
18
1
11
22
26
14
30
18
9
17
32
38
22
37
27
60
43
24
24
3 2
13
27
11
11
6
2
7
3
"4
2
G
37
16
3
It will be seen that nine-tenths of the Melur wet land is
assessed as lightly as Rs. 3-8-0 per acre and less. The highly-
rated land shown in this table as situated in the Palni taluk is
mainly that under the Shanmuganadi, one of the best sources in
the district ; that in Madura is under the Vaigai channels and
that in Periyakulam under anicuts on the Suruli. It will be seen,
however, that less than a quarter of all the wet land in the district
is charged more than Rs. 4-8-0 per acre. This low figure is due
to the generally inferior nature of the irrigation sources. Exclud-
ing the Periydr project, the best of these are those depending on
tlie Vaigai aud Suruli, and they are only equal to the second
best sources in the neighbouring districts of Coimbatore and
Tinnevelly.
Wells water no less than 27 per cent, of the total irrigated
area in the district. The figures in the statement above show
that the areas so irrigated are proportionally highest in Palni,
Dindigul and Periyakulam. Madura and the south of Melur
require few of these S3urces, as they are so bountifully supplied
with channels, but the north of Melur contains a much smaller
number of them than its circumstances warrant. Tlie soil there
is certainly for the most part rocky, but the sub-soil water is said
to lie at no great depth.
The wells in Tirumangalam are usually small affairs, the chief
expense connected with which is 1 he necessity of revetting their
sides to prevent the loose earth of that part of the district from
falling into ihem. Elsewhere the wells (except the ' supplementary'
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION.
123
kind which are dug in wetlands to supplement tank irrigation)
are usually deep and large pits sunk at great cost in hard soil or
through rock. The only water-lifts in use are the ordinary
picottah and double mhote. lu the case of the latter the bullocks
are always backed up the ramp after drawing up the bucket, and
never detached and led round to the top of the slope in the
convenient manner so common in the Dcccan districts. The
buckets are either made of leather throughout or consist of an ii-on
basin with a leather continuation.
Except the Periyar project referred to later, practically the
whole of the irrigation works of the district, other than the wells,
were made in the days of native rule. Old manuscripts say that
very many of them were constructed by the numerous poligars
among whom the country was divided up, and there is no record
of the central government at Madura 'having constructed any of
them. Perhaps for this reason, they are all of them small affairs.
There exist none of the bold projects seen here and there in the
Deccan districts — the Cumbuni and Daroji tanks for instance —
where a great embankment has been thrown across a valley and a
whole river dammed back. The largest scheme was the Poranai
anient across the Vaigai which has now been replaced by the
regulator which controls the irrigation from the Periyar. Except
this Pcn-iyar project, there is not a single work in all Madura which
comes under any of the first three of the four main classes into
which irrigation works arc divided; and though the numerous small
tanks and channels which irrigate the wet land of the district
are important collectively, they are individually uninteresting.
Statistics of the Revenue department show that out of a total of
4,580 minor works, no less than 2,846 irrigate less than ten acres,
and another 1,142 water more than ten but less than 50 acres.
The local distribution of these minor works is as vmdcr : —
CHAP. IV.
Irrigation.
Tanks and
channels.
Talnk.
Under 50
acres.
50 to 500
acres.
Above
500
acrea.
Dindigul
Madura
M^!lur
Kodaikanal ... ...
Palni
Periyakulam ...
Tirumangalain
Total
1,738
217
1,718
.34
28
75
178
80
91
99
19
32
S-l
162
1
12
1
11
9
1
.1,988
557
35
124
MADURA.
CHAP. IV. It will be seen that the very great majority of tbem lie in the
Irrigation, two taluks of Diiidigul and M elur. Spring channels, which in
some districts are such important sources, are in Madura dug only
in the hod of the Vaigai. The other rivers are little more than
jungle-streams, and have no underflow worth mention.
The rivers of the district and the areas which they respectively
drain have been mentioned on pp. 10-12 above. The distribution
among these basins (and the minor basins of which they are made
up) of the irrigation works which are supplied from rivers and
theii' tributaries, and particulars of the rivers on which these works
severally depend, are shown in the following statement ^ : —
i-
fl
.s
3 .
IB
+3
fc ■»
>â– .
^
o ••-
O 00
u
^ §
O^
>,
Basin.
Minor basin.
Eiver.
°1
zi
O -tj
CD -t3
3 m
r^ rt
cj S
1 1
D a
a %
p s
.^J'^
t §
\^
\^
hH
Upper
Gundar.
i
Tirumangalam ...
Gundar ..
5
198
25,626
Sivarakottai.
Kavundanadi
Varattar ...
9
2
97
2
] 7,374
Lower
Kritimanadi
Vaigai
38
12,842
Gundar.
r
r
1
Shanmuganadi and
its tributaries.the
31
1
1
Palni ... -{
1
1
I
Varadamanadi ...
Palar
Porandalar and
Facliaiyar
2 1
2j
45
13,738
Amavavati-'
!
Nallataugi
Nallatangi and a
tributary.
3
5
478
Nanganji
Nanganji!
4
18
1,5.33
Lower Kodaviinar ...
Kodavanar and tri-
butaries.
3
293
2,466
L
Dindignl
Do.
18
1,033
13,965
'
Siu-uli
Suruli
14
67
12,100
Periyakulam
Varahanadi and
tributaries.
13
75
8,132
Uppei-
Vaigai.
Andipatti
Vaigai and tribu-
taries.
3
13
1,146
Vattilagundn
M an j alar and tri-
10
44
4,471
I.
butaries.
Mid Vaigai.
Solavandan ...
Vaigai
223
9,061
Included in the first of these minor basins, that of Tiruman-
galam, is the Nilaiyur channeL which takes off from the Vaigai
below the Chittanai and supplies 5,998 acres directly or indirectly.
^ Compiled from particulars kindly furnished by M.R.Ry. A. V. Eama-
Jinga Aiyai, b.a., b.c.e., Executive Engineer of Madura district.
AGllICULTURE aKD IRKIGATION. 125
The land under this is tho only part of the district in which the cilAP. IV.
Voluntary Irrigation Cess is levied. Irrigation.
Connected with the Lower Grundar hasiu arc seven channels
from the Vaigai which are supplied by koramlnix, or temporary
dams made uf brushwood and earth which are renewed every
year.
In the Palni minor hasin, all hut two of the channels have head
sluices. The most important of thom are the Aiyampalle anient
across the t'alar, which irrigates 3,8GG acres, and the Kottai dam
on the Varadamauadi or Varattar, which supplies 2,175 acres. It
is proposed to dam up tho Poraudalar river in this basin and
its tributary the Pachaiyar and to form a reservoir which would
incrcaso the supply in this area. The scheme, however, is a
protective rather than a productive project.
In the Dindigul minor basin, eight of the anicuts have head
sluices. The most important of them is the Attur dam, which
waters 9 13 acres.
In the Suruli minor basin the chief anicuts are the Uttamuttu,
Palaiyamparavu and Chinuamaniir dams, which irrigate respec-
tively 2,469, 2,451 and 1,GG6 acres. All but two of the anicuts in
this area have head sluices.
In the Periyakulam minor basin, on tho other hand, none
of the anicuts have any head works. The best of them, that at
Talattukovil, supplies 2,131 acres.
Irrigation from the Varahauadi in this tract \\ill shortly be
improved by the Berijam project recently sanctioned. The Berijam
swamp lies on the top of the Palnis about twelve miles south- west
of Kodaikanal at an elevation of 7,100 feet. It is about two
miles long, runs nearly north and south, and is situated on the
water-parting of the Falni range, so that the southern portion of it
drains into the Varahauadi and the northern into the Amaravati.
The project, which was first suggested by Col. Pennycuick, c.s.i.,
R.E.J in 18?57, consists in throwing dams across both ends of the
swamp and forming a reservoir with a capacity of 77^ million
cubic feet to increase the supply in the Varahauadi. The estimate
amounts to Rs. 54,500.
In the Andipatti minor basin lies the uppermost anient on the
Vaigai, that at Kunnur.
Of the anicuts in the Vattilagundu batin the chief is that at
A^'yampaiaiyam which supplies 971 acres.
In the Solavanddn minor basin are included the Tenkarrti
channel which takes of^ from the Chittanai dam across the Vaigai,
126
ilAbURA.
CHAP. IV.
Irrigation.
The Periyar
project.
2^ miles below the Peranai, and supplies land on the south bank
of the river, and also several spring channels which are excavated
to tap the underflow in the same river.
Particulars similar to those in the above statement are not
available for the small area included in the basins of the Tiru-
mauimuttdr and Palar in Melur taluk, as this is only now 1)eing
examined by the Tank Restoration party. Madura was the first
district in which the Tank Restoration Scheme was begun, but the
Melur taluk was not finished at the sime time as the rest of it
because it was not then clear how much of it would be affected by
the Periyar project.
Tiie great Periyar project already several times referred to
consists, to state the matter very briefly, in damming the Pcriydr
('big river') which flows down the western slope of the Grhats,
through country possessing a superabundant rainfall, and turning
the water back, by a tunnel through the watershed, down the dry
eastern slope of the Ghats to irrigate the parched up plains on that
side of the range. According to Captain Ward's Survey Account
of 1815, the first person to suggest this schenre was Muttu Arula
Pillai, prime minister of the Pamnad liaja, who in 1798 sent
' twelve intelligent men ' to enquire into its possibility. They
reported in favour of it, but funds were lacking. In 1 808 Sir
James (then Captain) Caldwell, the District Engineer, reported,
after a cui'sory examination, that the scheme was impracticable.
The matter, however, continued to be discussed, and in 1867 it was
brought forward by Major EyveS; R.E., in a practical form. He
proposed to construct an earthen dam 162 feet high across the
Periyar and turn back the water down a cutting through the
watershed. His idea was merely to divert the river, and not to
store its waters. He estimated the cost of the matter at 17| lakhs.
From 1868 to 1870 Colonel (then Lieutenant) Pennycuick, R.E.,
and afterwards Mr. R. Smith, investigated the scheme and a com-
plete project, estimated to cost 54 lakhs, was drawn up which
involved important modifications of Major Ryves' proposals,
among them the transfer of the site of the dam to a point seven
miles lower down the river. I 'oubts arose as to the practicability
of constructing so huge an embankment of earth, and it was not
until l^SZ that Colonel Pennycuick's proposal to build a masonry
dam was accepted, and he was directed to revise the plans and
estimates for the whole project. The scheme he drew up included
a great masonry dam across the Periyar, a huge lake, and a tunnel
through the watershed. It was sanctioned in 1884 and work was
begun late in 1887. The estimate for direct charges was 62 lakhs.
AGEICTTLTURE AND IRRIGATION. 127
The site of the dam and lake are in Travaneore territory and it CHAP.I7.
was agreed that the British Grovernment should pay an annual Irrigation.
rent of Rs. 40,000 for a certain specified area and certain defined
rights, and that the lease sho'ild run lor 999 years with the option
of renewal. Sovereign rights over the tract were reserved by the
'JVavancore State.
The immense difficulties which arose and were overcome during
the actual construction of the great project are detailed in the
History of the Periijdr Project (Madras Government Press, 1899)
by Mr. A. T. Mackenzie, one of the Engineers who helped to
carry it through. The site of the works was an unhealthy
jungle 3,000 feet in elevation, where rain and malaria rendered
work impossible for a considerable portion of the year, where even
unskilled labour was unobtainable, and to which every sort of plant
and nearly all material had to be transported at great cost from
a railway 76 miles off and up a steep ghat road. A canal was
constructed from the top of the ghat to the site of the dam to meet
this latter difficulty, and later an overhead wire ropeway, driven by
a turbine, was put np from the foot of the ghat to the head of the
canal. The difficulty of laying the foundations for a dam in a
river of such magnitude (the discharge is equal to half the average
flow of Niagara) and liable to such sudden and heavy freshes (one
of these registered 120,000 cusecs) was immense, and at first
the work was swept away again and again. The ope ations were
described by the Chief Knginoer, Col. Pennycuiek, as the most
anxious, difficult and exhausting of any which had come within his
experience. After the foundations were all in. further immense
difilcvdty occurred in passing the ordinary flow of the river and the
constant high freshes without damage to the masonry of the dam.
After many expedients had been tried, this was eventually
effected through a tunnel or culvert in the body of the dam itself,
which was afterwards closed and plugged. On the left of the dam
a stnaller extension 2"21 feet long was built to close a di)) in the
ground, and an escape 434 feet in length was made on the right.
The main dam was practically finished by October 18i'5. Includ-
iug the parapets, it is 1 7o feet above the bed of the river, 1,241
feet long, 144 feet 6 inches wide at the bottom and 12 feet wide
at the top. The front and rear walls are of rubble masonry and
the interior is filled with concrete in surki mortar. The lake
impounded by it covers moro than 8,000 acres and has a maxi-
mum possible depth of 17G feet.
The passage through the watershed consists of an open cutting
or approach 5,342 feet long, a tunnel 5,704 feet long', and another
128 MADURA,
CHAP. IV open cutting or debouchure 500 feet long-. The approach is 21 feet
Irrigation, wide. The tunnel is 1 2 feet wide by 7|- feet high and has a
gradient of I in 75. It was all blasted through solid rock,
machine drills driven by compressed air supplied by a turbine
plant being employed. A sluice-gate (Stoney's patent) at the
head of it controls the outflow. From the lower end of it the
water hurls itself down the face of the hill into a stream called
the Vairavandr, w hence it flows into the Suruli and thence into
the Vaigai. It has long been suggested that the great head
obtainable at the outfiill, 900 feet in a length of 6,800 feet, might
be Titilised for driving turbines for the generation of electricity.
One difRculty is that the water is only required for irrigation for
nine or ten months in the year, whereas for any scheme for the
production of electrical power on commercial lines it would need to
be passed through the tunnel all the year round. The waste of
water which this would involve could, however, be obviated by the
construction of a reservoir on the plains, below the outfall and the
power-s<^ation, and the feasibility of this is under examination.
On the Suruli and Vaigai there are several ancient anicuts, and
the supply at these has of cours3 been increased since the Periyar
water was passed into the rivers, but the mass of the water is not
utilised until it reaches the Peranai (' big dam ') anient which
crosses the Vaigai about 5^ miles due south of Nilabkottai, and 86
miles from the mouth of the tunnel, where the river changes its
course to the south-east. This Peranai is an old native work which
fed a channel on the north bank of the river called the Vadakarai
channel. A groat deal of silt collected above it and choked the
river bed and the new main channel, and it has now been replaced
by a regulator constructed on modern principles and possessing ten
vents of 40 feet each, fitted with Colonel Smart's counterbalanced
shutters which can be raised to allow the free passage of dangerous
floods and lowered at other times to hold up water to the height
required. From this regulator leads off the main canal, which
passes through a head sluice of six vents of twenty feet span.
This runs nearly due eastwards almost as far east as the town of
Melur, is nearly 38 miles long, is six feet deep and has a carrying
capacity of 2,016 cusecs at the head. The courses of the twelve
branches which take off from it are shown in the accompanying
map of the area served by the project. Their total length is
nearly 68 miles.
The project was opened in October 1895 by Lord Wenlock,
then Governor of Madras. The construction estimate was closed
on the Slat March 18'J7 and the direct expenditure up to then had
pillaitahnattamS
PERIYAR PROJECT
MADURA DISTRICT
Showing main & branch channels.
KURICHIPATTH .
\ D anoadimanoalAM
Photo-Print. Survey Wtice. Madras,
1906.
AQRICULTUEE AND IRRIGATION.
129
amounted to 81"30 lakhs, made up of 42-26 lakhs for the head
works (the dam and tunnel), 18'43 lakhs for the n)ain canals,
branches and distributaries, and 20'ol for establishment and tools
and plant- Other works remain to be carried out which, as far as
can at present bo foreseen, will brint^ the total cost to nearly 100
lakhs. The culturable area commanded consists of 100,000 acres
of first crop and 51,000 acres of second crop on Government land,
and 130,000 and 9,000 acres of first and second crop respectively on
zamin and whole inam wet land. The assessment rates on the
Government land commanded were raised, in accordance with an
announcement made at the time of tbc last Settlement (see p. 202),
to those payable under irrigation sources of the first class adopted
for the disti'ict, and zamin and whole inam wet lands are charged
Bs. 4 per acre for a first wet crop and Rs. 3 for a second. A
Special Deputy Collector is in chai'ge of the supply of water to
these latter, of the collection of the assessment on them, the dis-
bursement of loans to ryots, and other special ma.tters connected
with the project. The total areas actually irrigated since the first
year in which the project came into opei ation are given in the
margin. The net profit at
CUAF. 17.
Irrigation.
Years.
Area actually irrigated
First
crop.
Second
crop.
Total.
1896-
1897-
1898-
1899-
1900-
1901-
1902-
1903-
1904-
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
ACS.
ACS.
48,623
11,950
06,328
18,816
77,710
25,038
88,721
29,712
100,158
31,455
106,933
3i\-Mi7
105,228
35,167
105,709
36,240
110,002
36,788
ACS.
60,573
85,144
102,748
118,133
131,613
143,170
140,395
141,949
146,790
present on the existing total
capital outlay is 4- 08 per cent.
A project of this magnitude
takes some time to attain its
utmost extension. Ryots have
emigrated from Coimbatore,
Tinnevelly and Trichinopoly to
the land commanded by it, but
the supply of labour and cattle
is still unequal to the demand ;
the obliteration of the former cart-tracl?s has necessitated the design-
ing of a system of new cross-roads, but these are not yet finished ;
this difficulty of transport has madf? manure, which is always
scarce in this area, more expensive than ever ; drainage channels
are required, but have not all been carried out yet ; and the ryots,
as already explained, have not yet adapted themselves to the now
state of affairs but continue to grow one crop where they might
raise two, to supersaturate their land to the detriment of the yield,
and to avoid, instead of reclaiming, the patches of alkaline land
which exist. When the whole area commanded by the project
has been taken up and the extension of second-crop cultivation
begins in earnest, the project will scarcely be able to supply
17
130
MADtJRA.
CHAP. IV.
Irrigation.
Economic
condition of
A8RIC0I.-
TURISTS.
sufficient water for tlie demand. In order to increase the storage
capacity of the lake and at the sane time render the dam safe
against extraordinary floods, an estimate has now been sanctioned
for lowering the escape on the right, wbich is at present 14 feet
below the crest of the dam, by 8 feet and erecting across it a
regulator fitted with movable shutters IG feet high. These will be
raised during dangerous floods and thus increase the waterway
on the escape, and lowered at other times. They will raise the full
supply level of the lake by eight feet and its storage capacity by
2,361 millions of cubic feet.
In O.S. No. 22 of 11)01 on the file of the West Sub-Court of
Madura, Mr. Eobert Fischer (as proprietor of riparian villages on the
Vaigai below the Peranai), the Lessees of the Eamnad. and Siva-
ganga zamindaris and the minor Kaja of Eamnad brought a suit
against the Secretary of State in connection with the buildmg
of the new regulator at the Peranai and the constraction of the new
main channel. They claimed that their rights as riparian pro-
prietors lower down the \' aigai were in j uriously affected by these
works, and prayed for a decree declaring, among other things, that
Government had no right to erect the regulator or excavate the
channel and requiring them to remove the one and either close
the other or reduce it to the size of the old Vadakarai channel.
The suit was dismissed in October 19j3, but an appeal has been
preferred to the High Court.
It remains to note the economic condition of the agriculturist
of the district. It is sufficient to take his case by itself for the
reason that he constitutes nearly three-fourths of the total popula-
tion and that the remaining fourth depend for their welfare directly
upon his prosperity and spending power. Statistics go to show
that the Madura ryot is usually a farmer in a very small way.
Of the pattas of the district, as many as 73 per cent, are for amounts
as small as Ks. 10 and less, and another 20 per cent, for sums
between Rs, 10 and Hs. 30 ; the average size of a holding is under
six acres ; and the average assessment thereon is just over Rs. 10.
But these figures are probably largely affected by the large number
of Kalians who reside within the district. These people seldom
farm in earnest, but live largely by blackmailing and theft. They
are among the first to feel the pinch of a bad season, and, were
they not accustomed to thieve then with more than usual energy
and to emigrate light-heartedly with all their belongings to
Eangoon and Ceylon, they would constitute a cuust.-'nt source of
anxiety. Excluding these people, the Madura ryot appears to be
comfortable enough. The wealth of the capital of the district has
AGRICULTURE AND IRRIGATION. 131
no doubt led common repute to assess the well-bcicg of the rest of CHAP. 17
the country at a hi<^her standard than the circumstances warrant ; Economic
but the fact that since the famine of 1876-78 no relief-works agricul-
or gratuitous relief have been necessary is significant. In the tlristb.
quinquennium 1897-1901 the average area cultivated was 22 per
cent, greater than tho average for the five years 1871-1875
and the land assessment paid was 24 per cent, greater. During
this period the population increased by 29 per cent., and it would
therefore appear that tho people are multiplying dangerously faster
than the means of subsistence. But during this same period the
Periyar irrigation has rendered available for the cultivation of rice
much land which formerly bore only precarious dry crops, and has
resulted in two crops being raised on considerable areas where
only one grew before. Wells have increased enormously and have
not only enabled a omp to be grown with certainty where cultiva-
tion was formerly a gamble, but have permitted the planting of
such valuable staples as tobacco in place of the dry crops and pulses
with which the ryots were formerly content. C-redit is sufficiently
cheap. The Nattukottai Cbettis abound, and in Madura is the
Hindu Permanent Fund, capital Es. 2,99.964, which was started
on 1st February 1894, moved in 1902 into the substantial office
near the west gojmram of the temple which was opened in March
of that year by Lord Ampthill, and possesses a constantly increas-
ing clientele. Ela-nidhis, or chit associations, are also numerous.
The members of these agree to subscribe a fixed sum each month for
a fixed period and lots are cast monthly to decide who shall take
the whole of it. A man who once wins tho pool is debarred from
competing for it again but is obliged, of course, to go on with his
monthly subscription until the end of the fixed period The parts
of tho district which stand most in need of improvement at present
are the Kalian tracts in the north of Melur, the adjoining area in
Dindigxil and the north-west of Tirumangalam taluk. In the two
former of these it seems, from official reports, that much might be
done by increasing tho number of wells. For the last the best
hope at present lies in the chance of the supply in the Periydr lake
being sufficiently increased to a*^ "Tnit, of a channel being led to it
from the Peranai regulator.
132
MADUEA.
CHAPTER V.
FOEESTS.
Beginnings of conservancy- -The Forest Act of 1882— The existing forests— Their
position — Their characteristics — In the east and south of the district — On
the slopes of the Falnis— On the Palni plateaus— In the Kambam valley- •
Plantations— Minor produce — (rrazing-fees — Working plans: in the four
eastern taluks — In the Kambam valley.
CHAP, V. It was not until the middle of tho last century that any attempt
Forests. was made to conserve the valuable forests of the district. Up till
n • ~ „<■1852, any one was allowed to fell any timber he chose, anywhere,
r>eginninf(s oi ' -* - .
conservancy, without let or hindrance, and the jangles were being rapidly
destroyed and stripped of all their choicf'st trees. In that year
orders were issued prohibiting felling without a license from the
Eevenue authorities, but no foe was charged for this permission
and it was freely granted even to the timber-merchants who cut
down wood wholesale and exported it to Tanjore, Tiichinopoly and
other districts w^hich had no forests of their own. The only
revenue derived from the forests was the proceeds of the leases cf
jungle produce, and in 1854 the oppression by official underlings
of the hill tribes who collected these products led to the abolition
of even this source of profit.
In 1856 Mr. Parker, the then Collector, brought to notice the
great value of the growth in the Kambam valley and the futility
of the existing orders for its protection, and two years later
Government made a first beginning in conservation by forbidding
the destructive methods by which plantain growing was carried
on in tho Palni hills. This cwltivatiou consisted in clearing a
space in the forest by felling and burning every tree within it,
roughly ploughing in the aslies, and patting out the plantain
CU' tings in the rich soil thus renlered available ; after a few years
the patch tluis cleared was abandoned and another was treated in
the same way ; and since t'le abandoned clearings hardly ever
produced good forest again, but merely relapsed into thorny wastes,
thousan'ls of acres of excellent jungle had thas been mined.
In 18 o7 Lieutenant (afterwards Oolonol) Beddome, one of the
first of the Assistant Conservators of Forests, visited the Palnis and
sent in a report on the rapid denudation of their forests which
FORESTS. 1^3
was proceeding and also an elaborate list of tlioir flora.' Ho said CHAP. v.
that almost all tho bij^f^er teak and blackwood trees had already Forests.
been fellod; that even saplings of these varieties were being
carried off for post^ ; that vengai was similarly carted away in
large quantities ; and that, in short, hardly any of the forest on
any part of the range had not been rathlessly ruined.
In 1860 one forest overseer, salary Es. 80, was posted to tho
Kambani valley and in 1802 he was given a subordinate establish-
ment costing Rs. 100 a month. . The meagre scale of this is
sufficiently indi^vitod by t'lo f.i,;t that for tho whole of the Palni
hills only two peons on Rs. o each wore proposed, one for tho
Upper Range and one for the Lower. The ' Forest department '
thus constituted took charge of the more important woodlands of
tho district (including th'se of the Palnis. tho Kainbam vallov and
the Karandamalais) and its duties were defined to bo the accom-
plishment of strict con^ervan'iv and the satisfaction of the timber
requirements of the Pablio Works depar;raent Some of tho
forests were ad ninistore i entirely l)y t, and others were worked
on an improve 1 edition of the oil license system, permission to
fell being granted by tho Forest Officer on payment to the Revenue
department of ff^es varying with the nature of tho tree ; trees of
certain varieties reserved for their special value leing marked
officially before being cut down (so as to protect saplings) ; and
the timber felled being checked at certain tannahs by 'Forest
taunah police.' Ryots were allowed to fell umeserved trees within
their village boundaries free of chnrge if they v.'anted them for
agricultural pui-posos. Side by side with the forests jilaced under
the newly constituted establishment were others controlled in a
Vague way by the Jungle Conseivancy cepartment, tis it wps
called, under the Collector.
None of those three systems can be said to have worked
successfully. Much of the duty of conservation was left to the
revenue officers, who had other duties which already engrossed all
their attention and were unable adequately to check frauds by
village officers and others or unauthorised felling by ryots; and
even in the jungles which were s[)ccially under tbo Forest depart-
ment there was a lack of systematic working and intcdligent
provision for the future. In 1871 the Collector (there was a good
deal of friction in those earl}' days between the iveveune and tho
Forest authorities) said that in the west of tho district tho depart-
ment's operations ' apparently consisted of purchasing timber at a
' Both these were published liy ord(>r of Goveiniiicnt in MJ.L.S. (18.18), xix,
N.S., 163 ff.
134 MADURA.
CHAP. V. fixod rate per cubic foot from the woodcutters and selling it to the
Forests. general public at 100 per cent, profit There was not the slightest
chock on the woodcutters.^
In the years which immediately followed, the expected needs of
the extension of the Soutli Indian Railway (or ' Grreat Southern
India ' line as it was called in those days) led to increased interest-
in the Madura forests, but the reports show that real conbcrvation
was far from being attained, illicit felling and the clearing of
jungle for plantniii gardens on the Lower Palnis going on much as
before. A good deal of land was also cleared on this range and
on the Sirumalais for coffee gardens of an ephemeral kind which
wore abandoned soon after they were opened.
In 1(S71 a small forest establishment was specially sanctioned
for the Lower Palnis, and much debate took place regarding the
possibility of taking up certain tank-beds in Tirumangalam for
plantaHons of babul {Acacia arahica) and V' Ivelam (A. leucophlcea) ;
of renting on Government behalf the forests on the Palnis which
belonged to the Kannivadi and Ayakkudi zamindaris and those on
the Sirumalais which were included in the Ammayanayakkanur
estate ; and of inducing the Travaneore Darbar to bring some of
its timber to a dep8t to be established at Kambam. Confidence in
the Forest department was, however, still so small that the Court of
Warils, which at that time was managing the jungles in the Gan-
tamanayakkantir and Bodin^yakkanur zamindaris during the
min irity of their proprietors, declined to entrust these areas to the
Forest officials. These and the other zamindafi jungles were (as,
indeed, thoy still are) a continual source of difficulty. Their exact
boundaries were so little known and they so dovetailed with the
Govei'umenfc forests that fires started in them spread to the latter ;
they rendered smuggling from the reserves a very simple affair ;
and they undersold the Forest department by reckless felling when-
ever a demand for timber or firewood arose. Their boundaries
were subsequently ascertained and marked out by the Survey
department, but in several cases appeals and suits followed which
were not jfinally settled for a long period.
In 1880 a Committee composed of Mr H. J. Stokes (the
Collector), Major Campbell Walker (Deputy Conservator on special
duty) and Mr. Gass (Deputy Conservator of the district) definitely
selected 21 areas measuring 285 square miles (some of it within
zamindaris) which they proposed to constitute reserves and clearly
demarcate as such. No very definite action was taken on this body's
proposals, but they constituted an important foundation for the
proceedings which were subsecjuently initiated. Grazing-fees were
fOKESTS.
135
instituted for tlio first time in accoi-dance with a rccoinmondation CHAP. V.
by this Committee. Forests.
In 1882 the Madras Forest Act was passed into law, the ..liniglc ,j.j^g Forest
Conservancy department came to an end, and reservation and con- Act of lh«2.
servancy were at last put on a regular footing. As in other
districts, the first step taken under this enactment was the ' forest
settlement,' or the selection, demarcation, mapping and formal
notification of all areas to be reserved, including the enquiry into
and adjudication upon all claims over them (such as rights ol way,
cultivation or pasturage and the like) which were put forward by
private individuals.
As elsewhere, it was originally intended to divide all forests
into three classes; namely, (1) reserved forests, in which all claims
were to be settled under the Act ; (2) reserved lands, which were
t.o be reserved subject to all rights that might le asserted, i.e , the
claims to rights in them remained unsettled ; and {6) village
forests, which were intended to meet the requirements of villages in
localities where the custom of free-grazing and the tree collection
of firewood and leaves for maunre had long and steadily obtained.
In 1890, however, a further step in advance was made, and it was
determined that all land which was to be protected at all should be
formally settled under the Act and constituted ' reserved forest.^
The proposed scheme of village forests was abandoned as impiac-
ticable, but villagers wi re allowed their old privileges over unre-
served lands, except that they might not cut reserved or clast^ified
trees without permission.
The figures in the margin show the cjctcnt and situation of the The existing
reserved forests as they have *'^'''^*^^-
been finally notified under the
Act.^ It will be seen that
the largest areas are in the
taluks of Kodaikanal, Periya-
kulam and Melur, and the
smallest in lirumaugalam and
Palni, in both of which latter
the extent is quite insignifi-
cant. The reserves were
nearly all surveyed by the
Government of India Survey
between i8!^8 and 1891 on a
scale of 4 inches to the mile.
Taluks.
Area iu
square miles
of reserved
forest.
Percent-
age to
tutal
area of
taluk.
Dindigul
Mailura
M^liir
Palni
Kodaikanal ...
Periyakulaiu.
Tirumangalam.
District Total
88
49
105
210*]
152
1:3
8
11
22
30
10
2
620
13
* Includes 9 square miles ' proiJOhcd
for reservation.'
^ For assistance with the rest cf this chapter I am greatly indebted tc
Mr. H. B. Brjant, District Forest 0S5cer.
130
MADURA.
CHAP. V.
F0REST8.
Tlioir
position.
Their
character-
istic's.
Tlio Madura forests differ widely from those in bome places
^ South ( uimbatore and Tmnovelly, for example) in that they are
not situtited all in one block but are scattered about all c^ver the
dit^trict with cultivation and zamin forests everywhei-e interveniug
among them. Broadly speaking, they m^ay be readily and con-
veniently grouped iiito four main classes : First, the open and
deciduo\is growth on the plains and slopes of the low hills in the
Madura, Molur, Dindigul and Tirumangalam talaks in the east
and south of the district, which cannot be expected to yield
anything in the shape of timber for many years to come, but are
of great value for the supply of grazing, leaf manure, firewood,
charcoal, and poles and other small building material ; secondly,
the deciduous forest on the north and south slopes of the Palnis,
which formerly contained large quantities of valuable timber trees,
especially vengai, but has been very exteusively felled and damaged
by unrestricted loppiug and grazing ; thirdly, the evergreen for-
este on the plateaus of the Upper and Lower Palnis ; and fourthly
(the most valuable, as forests, of the whole) the Kambam valley
jungles, yielding teak, tengai and t^lackwood {Balbergia iutifolia)
and numerous other timber trees only second to them in value.
A very large proportion of these woodlands, however, is unfortu-
nately included in zamindari estates and is not under the control
of the Forest department. The plat(^au and the western slopes of
the Sirutnalais belong to the Ammayanayakkantir estate ; large
areas on the northern slopes of the Palnis appertain to the
Eettayambadi and Ayakkudi zamindaris ; ail the eastern end of
the same range up to the western boundary of Dindigul taluk is
the property of the zamindar of Kannivadi ; a great slice of the
forests on the western side of the Kambam valley belongs to
Bodinayakkanur and Tevaram ; and, except a comparatively small
area at the head of the faame valley and another' just east of
Andipafti, the whole of the Varushanad and Andipatti hills are
included in the estates of Gantaraanayakkanur, Erj.sakkanayakka-
mir, SapKir and Doddappanayakkanur. The hill ranges and the
boundaries of the various proprietary estates are shjwn in the map
at the end of this volume, and roughly it may be said that the
Government reserves now occupy the hills of the district less the
are IS on them which are zamindari laud.
A short account msy bo given of the chief characteristics of the
growth iu the Government forests in each of the four groups into
which they have been above arranged. 'J'he hills on which they
stand have already been briefly described above on pp. 3 to 9.
FORESTS. 137
The chief forests iu the four taluks in the east and south of the CHAP. y.
district are those on the northern, eastern and south-eastern slopes Forests.
of the Sirumalais (the rest of this range, as has been said, belongs j^ ,j~ —
to the zamindar of Ammayanajakkanur), on the Alagarmalais to andsDuthof
the east of them, the Perumalais and Manjamalais connecting '^^ district,
these two ranges, on the Karandamalais to the north of them, the
scattered Nattam hills to the east of these last and the hills just
south of the Ailur railway -station. There are small plateaus on
the top of the Sirumalais, Perumalais and Karandamalais, but the
other hills consist of narrow ridges with steep, stony sides on which
there is no depth of soil and on which, in consequence, any seed-
lings which may come up are quickly scorched to death in the hot
weather. On all these hills the growth (which is all deciduous)
was cut to ribbons in the days before conservation began. In
1871 it was reported that almost every stick had been cleared as
far as the base of, and for a considerable distance up, the slopes of
the Sirumalais. The northern side of the Manjamalais has been
largely cleared for plantain-gardens and (judging from the amount
of slag still lying about them) the Karandamalais and their
immediate neighboiirs must have suffered much from the cutting
of timber for the smelting^ in former years, of the iron ore which
is found iu them.
Almost nine-tenths of the growth on the hills in these eastern
and southern taluks is now Albizzia amara, which is said to owe
its escape from destruction to the fact that goats do not care about
it. These enemies of the forests are very numerous in this part
of the district, as until recently Dindigul was a great tanning
centre, and under recent orders they have been admitted to the
reserves in such large nimibers that the grazing-fee receipts have
bounded up fromEs. 15,000 in 1900-01 to Es. 29,000 in 1904-05.
Next to Albizzia^ the prevailing species are Acacias, Wrightta,
Cassia, Randia and Carissa, but a stunted growth of certain of the
more valuable timber species is found in places. Teak, vengai,
blackwood, the hard and heavy Hardwickia binata, Tenninalia
tomentosa, satinwood [Chloroxyhn Swietenia) and other varieties
are fairly plentiful, for example, in the 'pole areas,' as they are
called, in the Alagarmalais and elsewhere, and many gall-nut
trees {Tenninalia chebula) are iomid throughout the area. About
Aillir the striking-looking ' umbrella tree ' {Acacia jjlantfrom) is
conspicuous. All these reserves are already greatly the better for
the conservation accorded them, the southern slopes of the Alagar-
malai, facing Madura, which were formerly quite bare, showing a
specially notable improvement. A road has been driven through
18
13d
MADUBA.
CHAP. V.
Forests.
Ou the slopes
of the Palnis.
On the Palni
plateaus.
the reserves on tliis hill, eight miles in length, from the forest
rest-house at Miin6r on the south to that at Patnam on the north.
The forests in the second of the above four groups, those on the
slopes of the Palnis, are also deciduous and have also been greatly-
damaged in past years by indiscriminate felling and burning, so
that but little real timber now remains among them. The two
best portions of them are probably that in the north-east corner of
the range, between the Ayakkudi and Kannivadi estates, where
the soil is unusually good, and that at the north-west corner, in the
Manjapatti valley, an inaccessible and very feverish tract sloping
down from the great Kukal shola to the Amaravati river. On the
prominent Aggamalai spur immediately west of Periyakulam town
is a beautiful shola called the Tambirakanal, which affords an
uncommon example of a tract of forest which has been able
to recover from the felling and burning which accompanies hill
cultivation. Land so treated seldom again becomes clad with real
forest, but turns into a rank, thorny wilderness of worthless
impenetrable scrub. The commonest trees on these Palni slopes
are vengai {Pterocarpus Marsupium) and vekkali {Anogeissus
M'ifoUa), but the white and red cedars and some teak and
blackwood occur, and gall-nut trees are numerous.
The third of the three groups, the forests of the Lower and
Upper Palni plateaus, are more valuable and contain evergreen
trees. The line between the two plateaus is roughly that drawn
north and south through Neutral Saddle. The woodlands in the
Lower Palnis, as has already been seen, have been greatly cut
about for plantain and coffee cultivation. Much cardamom grow-
ing also goes on among them ; but as this plant flourishes best
under heavy shade, the larger forest trees have not been so greatly
interfered with in the areas where it is raised. The soil in this
tract is a dark loam, especially rich in the valleys, and in this
several fine sholas of large extent still survive undamaged and thrive
well. Among the more important trees in these are Vitex altissma,
the so-called ' red cedar ' (Acrocarpus fraxim/olius), and Cedrela
ioona, the last two of which are very useful for planking and
box-making. Gall-nut trees are plentiful everywhere.
To the west, where the ascent to the Upper Palni plateau
begins, the soil gradually deteriorates and becomes shallower, and
after the low hill lying between the village of Tdndikkudi and
its neighbour Pannaikadu is left behind, the vegetation gradually
changes and the heavier forest soon entii-ely disappears and is
replaced by open, grassy downs dotted with stunted trees and
FORESTS.
139
shrubs with sholas here and there in some of the moister and more CHAP. V.
sheltered valleys. Nearly all these woods arc included in the Forests,
Upper Palni reserves, but scarcely a dozen are of any real size.
Among the best known of them are Tiger shola, near Neutral
Saddle ; Pcrumdl shola, on either side of Law^s ghat there (this
is full of gall-nut trees) ; Vanjankdnal, further down the same
road ; Kodaikanal, in the hill-station of that name ; Gundan
shola, about two miles west of this ; Doctor's Delight, four miles
west of Kodaikanal and a favourite place for picnics ; and Kukal
shola, some fifteen miles west of that station. None of these
contain any great store of timber trees, the prevailing species
being Eugenia ArnotUana and JElceocarpus, and they are chiefly
valuable as protectors of the sources of a series of useful streams.
Many of them are thought to show signs of having been greatly
damaged by fire in previous years. The great undulating plateau
on the top of the Palnis, which stretches from the outskirts of
Kodaikanal right away to the Travancore frontier on the west and
Bodinayakkanur limits on the south, has recently, after consider-
able discussion,^ been reserved under the Forest Act and given
the name of the ' Ampthill Downs.' It is over 53 square miles
in extent and about one-fourth of it consists of sholas and three-
fourths of open, rolling, grassy downs. It is diversified with
peaks running up to from 7,000 to 8,000 feet and is one of the
most beautiful tracts in all the Presidency.
The last of the four groups into which the IMadura forests may ^^ the
be divided (those in the Kambam valley) contains the most yjJIcj.
interesting and valuable evergreen forests in the district. As has
been said, Grovernment owns only a comparatively small patch of
the immense area of jungle which lines both sides of this valley
and clothes the whole of theVarushauad valley, its next neighbour
to the east. Travelling southwards from Periyakulam along the
west side of the Kambam valley, no Government forest (excepting
a patch on the Aggamalai spur just west of Periyakulam) is
reached until one gets nearly to Kombai. Even then the growth
from this point to the head of the valley cannot bo said to be of
great importance to the streams which rise in it, for it consists of
a narrow belt on hills which rise suddenly and precipitously to
the watershed, the other slope of which is Travancore territory.
On the east side of the lower end of the valley, the only Govern-
ment reserves of any size are two which lie respectively just north
and south of the road from Andipatti to Usilampatti. The most
important blocks are those on the eastern side of the head of the
^ See B.P,, Forest No. 149, dated 28th May 1903, and connected papers.
140 MADURA,
CHAP. V. Kanibam valley— among them the M^lag6dalur reserve, through
yoRESTs. which runs part of the Periydr tunnel, and the Vannathiparai
reserve, some 24,600 acres in extent and (except the ' Ampthill
Downs ') the largest in the district. These lie on the top and sides
of the ' High Wavy Mountain.' The upper part of this hill
consists of an undulating plateau, perhaps fifteen square miles in
area, which is covered with a continuous, dense, evergreen forest
which is a favourite haunt of elephants and runs down in long
irregularly shaped masses for a considerable distance through the
deep valleys on either side. Below it is a zone of bare, rocky,
grass land, and beneath that again the lower slopes are well
covered with deciduous forest. This tract all drains into the
Kambam valley, and in it lie the sources of the Suruli river, the
beautiful fall of which is a well-known land-mark on the road
to the Periyar lake. The upper parts of it contain blackwood
{Balbergia latifolia)^ Lager sir cemia microcarpa and some teak of
fair size, while the lower forests produce Anogeissus latifolia, Adina
cordifolia, Dalhergia paniculata, Pterocarpus Marsupium, Schleichera
irijuga and other marketable timber trees, and also the rare Aquilaria
agallocha (called akil in the vernacular) the ' scented eagle-wood '
of commerce. But almost every sound tree in the lower levels
was carried off in the daj^s before conservation began, and it will
be many years before the growth recovers from the treatment it
then underwent.
Plantations. The artificial plantations in the district are four in number.
In 1870 Colonel (then Captain) Campbell Walker started planta-
tions of teak at Velankombai, at the northern foot of the Palnis
not far from Palni town, and at Yannathiparai, near the foot of
the ghat to the Periydr lake. Each of them now contains some
4,500 trees. The sites were not particularly well chosen, as neither
of them receives the full benefit of the south-west monsoon. The
former is, moreover, liable to be flooded by an adjoining channel,
and the saturation so caused has at different times killed a good
many of the trees in it.
In this same year (1870) a plantation of blue gum and
Australian blackwood {Acacia melanoxylon) was begun at Kodai-
kanal in order to provide that station with fii*ewood and so save
from destruction the fine Kodai shola after which it is named.
Here again the site was not well chosen, and the growth has been
indifferent. The firewood supply has since been supplemented
by a plantation begun in 1887-88 at Gundan shola, about two
miles west of the station, which is now an extensive affair. It
was partly burnt in February 1895, when considerable damage
was done to it, and again in 1905.
FOEESTS. 141
The minor produce of the forests includes numerous items CHAP. v.
of which the chief are, perhaps, gall-nuts {kadukkdi/, the fruit of Forests.
â– Terminalia chebula), leaves for manure and cardamoms. Minor
The pr.incipal gall-nut areas arc on the Lower Palnis, where i"'^^"^®*
the tree abounds in the deciduous forest and is also scattered over
the open grass land. In former days the methods of collecting
its produce were wasteful in the extreme, trees being lopped, and
even felled, to save trouble in picking their fruit. The privilege
of collection and sale is now leased out to contractors, but the
spread of the chrome process of tanning has caused a great decline
in the value of gall-nuts and the revenue from this source in the
Palnis has fallen in recent years from Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 2,000.
Leaves for manure are especially sought after in the areas
recently brought under wet cultivation with the Periyar water, and
are carted great distances by the ryots. In those tracts Cassia
(mriculata shrubs growing on unreserved lands have recently
been allowed, to be gathered for manure free of charge, and this has
caused a further decline in the forest revenue from ' minor produce.'
Areas gi-own with cardamoms arc let out on leases, which us-
ually run|for thirty years. The price of the fruit has fallen of late
years and the competition for land for growing it has declined. A
demand for lemon-grass {Andropogon citratum) for the distillation
of oil has recently arisen, and this brings in a small income.
The revenue from grazing-f ees is inconsiderable in comparison Grazlnf^-feea.
with the extent of the forests. The reserves in the east of the
district contain little good grass and many of those in the west
are out of favour with the herdsmen because they contain no
places suitable for the penning of cattle at night and because
water is scarce there in the hot weather. Few cattle are ever
driven to the Upper Palni grass lands to graze, but large numbers
go to the Travancore forests up the pass leading to the Periydr
lake.
Working plans have recently been drawn up and sanctioned Working
for the forests in the four eastern taluks of the district (the F^^°^ '■f ^**®
_ V four eastern
Kanavaipatti and Palamedu forest ranges) and also for those taluks,
in the Kambam valley (the Kambam range). For the remaining
two ranges, namely, Kodaikanal, which includes the reserves on
the Upper Palnis and their slopes, and Tandikkudi, in which are
comprised the Lower Palni woodlands, schemes have not yet been
made out.
The first of the above two working plans includes all the
Grovernment reserves in the taluks of Madura, M^Kir, Dindigul
142 MADURA.
CHAP. V. and Tirumangalara. It was prepared in 1898-99 and sanctioned
Forests. in 1900.^
Very briefly stated^ its proposals are that (with the exception
of certain definite tracts containing fair timber and called ' pole
areas,' and a few others in which the poverty of the stock is such
that there is no probability of there being anything in them worth
felling in the next 30 years) the whole area is to be coppiced in
the same rotation and on the same method. The large preponder-
ance of he crop consists of Albizzia amara, which coppices
admirably, and reproduction of the forest by sowing is not thought
likely to succeed, for the reasons that almost everywhere the
reserves stand on steep slopes where the soil is shallow, stony,
scorched up in the hot weather aud trodden to pieces by cattle
in the rains. The period of rotation is to be 30 years, and each
block will be sold once in 30 years, as it stands, by auction, to
contractors who will coppice it. It will then have ten years
complete rest, grazing being prohibited in it. Thereafter cattle
will be allowed to graze in it on payment of the usual fees, and
at the end of five years more (by which time the coppice shoots
will be fifteen years old) goats will also be admitted at fairly high
rates, the area in which they are allowed being, however, changed,
every two years and limited in extent.
Provision is made for the supply to ryots of manure leaves,
which are highly valued in all the wet land under the Periyar
channels, by allowing people to collect them at the usual rates (in
those blocks which are not undergoing a complete rest) on a rota-
tion of three years. Three tree:^ — satinwood [Chloroxylon Suietenia),
Wrightia tinctoria and Lrora parvtffora — which together form about
five per cent, of the crop and are of value as timber, are not to be
lopped for manure leaves.
The coppicing is expected to produce about five tons an acre
and firewood is now supplied, not only to the smaller villages, but
to a d^pSt in Madura, to the Madura spinning-mill and to the
South Indian Eailway. The annual output has risen rapidly
in the last few years and is now 20,000 tons. The revenue from
firewood has increased from less than Rs. 100 in 1900-01 to
nearly Rs. 68,000 in 1004-05.
In the The working plan for the Kambam valley forests, which was
Kambam sanctioned in 1901,* is somewhat more complicated. It divides the
vallej. ^
^ See B.P., Forest No. 385, dated 18th September 1900, in which the plan is
printed in extenso.
' See B.P., Forest No. 310, dated 30th September 1901, in which it ii printed
in full.
FOBESTS. 143
total area into six classes of forest; namely , areas to be treated as CHAP. V.
(tt) fuel reserves, (b) ground for browsing goats, (c) evergreen Forests.
forest, (d) timber tracts, (e) land for grazing cattle, and (f) unpro-
duotive and unworkable portions.
The first of these, the fuel reserves, are small and are to be
worked on the system of exploitation known as ' coppice with
standards ' on a rotation of 30 years, browsing and grazing being
prohibited. In the next class of forest, the land provided for
browsing goats, cattle as well as goats are to be admitted, but no
felling is to be allowed. The third class, the evergreen forests,
are to be left untouched as protectors of the sources of streams.
No felling is to be allowed in them nor any grazing nor browsing.
As they contain no grass and 'are difficult of access, goats and
cattle are as a matter of fact never driven to them even now.
The timber tracts, the fourth of the above classes, are to be
rigidly protected from fire in the hope that in time seedlings may
spring up and reclothe the many open spaces left by former reck-
less felling, and eventually selected patches are to be planted up.
Previously, fii-es ran every year through the shrubs and coarse
grass which now covers these gaps, and killed all seedlings ; and
even now the greatest damage is caused by the fires which
annually burn the whole of the Travaucore jungles along the
boundary and the violence of which is so great that no ordinary
fire-line is enough to stop them. Goats are to be excluded, but
cattle are to be admitted to help in keeping down the grass and so
minimising the spread of any fires which occur. There is at
present little demand for timber from Gfovernment reserves in this
part of the district, as large quantities are imported from Travau-
core State down the ghat from the Periyar lake.
The last of the workable arpas, the land for cattle-grazing,
includes the poorer compartments on tbe west side of the valley
under the precipitous cliffs already referred to. The trees here
are of inferior species, few in number, widely scattered, and mostly
hacked to pieces by the villagers. Even if the damaged stock
could be cut back and protected for a long period it is thought
doubtful whether it would bo of much value, and therefore this
area is to be left open for grazing on the usual terms.
144
MADUKA.
CHAPTER yi.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE.
CHAP. VI.
OCCUPATIOWB.
Agriculture
and
pasture.
Artb and
Industries.
Occupations — Agriculture and pasture. Arts and Industries— Blanket-makin
— Cotton-weaving — Silk -weaving — Appliances — Dyeing — Gold and silver
thread— Wax-printing — Cottou-spinning — Cigar-making — Coffee-curing —
Oils —Tanning — Wood-oarving — Metal-work — Bangles — Minor industi'ies.
Trade — Exports — Imports —Mechanism of trade. Weights and Measures
— Tables of weight— Measures for grain — Liquids — Land — Distance— And
time— Coinage.
In every district iu this Presidency the number of people
who subsist bj agriculture and the tending of flocks and herds
greatlj exceeds the proportion employed in all other callings put
together, and in Madura this preponderance is more marked than
usual, nearly three-fourths of the people living directly or in-
directly by the land. The census figures of 1901 showed that 87
per cent, of the agriculturists were cultivators of their own land
and that less than 2 per cent, owned land without cultivating it.
Peasant proprietorship thus greatly predominates over all other
classes of tenure. Of those who lived by farm-labour but pos-
sessed no fields of their own, nine-tenths were day-labourers and
only one-tenth farm-servants engaged for long terms. This is a
very different state of things from that prevailing in some other
districts, Tanjore for example, where the agricultural cooly is
very commonly the servant of the big land-holder and bound
down to him by numerous pecuniary and other obligations.
Agricultural methods have been referred to in Chapter IV
above, and in Chapter I will be found some account of the
cattle, sheep and goats of the district. It remains to consider
here the callings which are connected with arts and industries and
with trade. The ordinary village handicrafts of the blacksmith,
carpenter, potter and the rest do not differ from the normal, and it
willsuffice.to refer briefly to the methods of the other artisans.
The industry which employs the largest number of hands is
weaving, '^but the proportion of the people subsisting by it is
smaller than the average for the Presidency as a whole. The
materials employed are wool, silk and cotton, aud it will be found
that the"greater part of the work is done by people of foreign
castes, who have come to the district from elsewhere.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE.
145
Wool is only used for making coarse blankets. The Kura-
bas, a Canarese-speaking community who immigrated to the
district iu years gone by from the Mysore and Deccan country,
weave these articles from the wool of the black and white sheep.
The industry is practically confined to the Dindigul, Palni and
Periyakulam taluks and (except the actual shearing of the sheep)
is carried out by the women. The sheep are first shorn when
they are six months old and thereafter twice annually, in January
and June, until their death, which generally occurs in their
seventh year. The black wool is sorted by hand from the white,
and the blankets are either black, white, a mixture of the two,
black with white borders, or vice versa. The wool is never dyed.
It is spun by hand and woven on a primitive horizontal loom
fitted with clumsy appliances. The warp threads are first
stiffened with a paste made of crushed tamarind seed and water.
The finished article, the demand for which is entirely local, is
usually six cubits long by three wide and is sold at the weekly
markets at prices varying from As. 12 to Es. 2.
Cotton is woven into fabrics of very varying quality. The
coarsest of these are the thick white dupatis iu which the ryots
are wont to wrap themselves in the cold season and which cost
from Ke. 1-4 to Rs. 'â– ^ apiece. These are woven from machine-
made yarn and are never dyed. Tbey are chiefly made by a few
Kaikolans in Palni and Ayakkudi, and some Eavutans in the
latter place; by Paraiyans in a number of villages in the Kanni-
vddi zamindari and the "Vedasandur division of Dindigul taluk •
aud by Native Christians (originally Ambattans by caste) and
Rdvutans in Sdttangudi and some other [)laces in Tiruraangalam.
In Timmarasanayakkantir, Saliyans weave narrow strips of a
similar coarse fabric which are sown together and used for
making native tents and jardahs.
The cloths commonly worn by the women of the middle
and lower classes are made by several different castes in many
different places and vary greatly in quality. In Dindigul taluk
the chief centres are Dindigul and Ambaturai. In Dindigul,
about 100 families of Seniyans (who speak Canarese) make the
coarser varieties from English yarn, and some 600 families of the
Gujarati Patnulkarans (see p. 109) weave the better kinds
and also make a pecnliar class of cloths for men in which silk
spun with special fineness and silver thread imported from France
are used, and which are mostly exported to Madras. In Amba-
turai and two or three neighbouring villages Canarese-speakino-
Sedans make the ooramoner kinds of women's cloths. They buy
19
CHAP. VI.
Arts and
Indcstkiks
Blanket-
making.
Cotton-
weaving.
146 MADURA.
CHAP. VI. the yarn and dye it themselves with imported aniline and alizarine
Arts and pigments, and export the finished article to Tanjore and Burma.
Industries, j^ Tadikkombu, Kaikolans weave similar fabrics.
In Nilakk6ttai taluk the chief centres are Mullipallam,
Tenkarai (on the opposite side of the Vaigai) and Vattilagundu.
At the first of these the weavers are Sedans, some 300 looms arc
at work and women's cloths are woven from yam imported from
Madura and dyed locally with imported colours. They are sent
in considerable quantities to Colombo and the Tinnevelly district.
In Tenkarai, Kaikolans working at piece-rates for Patnulkaran
capitalists, and in Yattilagundu, Patnulkarans and Seniyans,
carry on a similar industry on a smaller scale.
In Palni taluk the weaving is mainly done in the head-quarter
town. There, about 200 Sedan, 150 Seniyan, and 50 Kaikolan
families make like stuifs in a similar manner. The Kaikolans
usually work at piece-rates for capitalists belongipg to the other
two communities. Some 300 Patnulkaran houses are also
employed in making cloths with silk borders for men. The silk
is obtained from Coimbatore, Kumbakonam and Madras, and the
stuffs are exported to the Tanjore, Salem and Coimbatore districts.
In Periyakulam taluk the Saliyans of Timmarasanayakkanur,
already mentioned, have lately taken to making coarse cloths for
women ; the Sedans and Padmasales of Vadugapatti, hamlet of
M^lamangalpm, have each about 100 looms working at similar
fabrics ; and the Patnulkarans of Melaraangalam and Periyakulam
turn out the same stuffs and also handkerchiefs with silk borders.
But the most important cotton-weaving centre in all the
district is Madura itself, where the industry is in the hands o^
the Patnulkarans. The fabrics they make are better woven and
of more varied designs than those of any other place and are
exported in large quantities to Madras and elsewhere. Their
white cloths made from European yarn and ornamented with
borders of gold or silver thread are especially famous.
Silk-weaving. This community is the only caste in the district which manu-
factures all-silk goods as distinct from those containing merely
an admixture of silk or ornamented with silk borders. The
industry is practically confined to Madura town, but there it is
of much importance. Both cloths and turba^ls are made and the
latter, which usually have borders of gold or silver thread, are in
great demand. The raw material is imported from Bombay and,
to a less extent, from Calcutta, Kollegal and Mysore State.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE.
147
Except in Madura, tho looms and otlier appliances used by UHA.P. VI.
the weavers are of the kind usual elsewliere and call for no special Arts and
description. The women and children of the weaver castes do '
much of the preliminary work, such as preparing the warp.
In Madura the Patnulkarans have made several attempts to Appliances,
introduce improved machinery. A few fly-shuttle looms have
been tried, but they are not popular for use with the higher couuts
of yarn, as thej are apt to break the warp threads. Warping
is not usually done in the ordinary method (walking up and .
down a long line of sticks stuck in the ground and winding the
thread off the spindle in and out of these) but the thread is
wound on to a series of iron pegs arranged on a square wooden
frame. This enables the work to be done indoors and in all
weathers. A patent has been taken out for a modification of the
country loom which enables it to weave figures on the borders of
cloths, and another patent for an entirely new kind of loom has
been applied for.
Except in Madura, again, nothing has been done to improve Djeing.
dyeing processes or to prevent the imported aniline and alizarine
compounds from ousting the native vegetable pigments.
In Madura a number of Patnulkaran firms are carrying on
dyeing operations on a large scale and on improved lines and
vegetable products are generally employed for their silk fabrics.
Kamela powder (collected from the surface glands of the capsules
of the tree Mallotus Philippinensis) is used for yellow, lac for red
and indigo for blue. 'I'he dye called ' Madura red ' used once to
be very famous, and efforts have chiefly been directed to the
production of this. The dye is generally made as follows : The
ashes of a plant called Mww'i (Salicorma Tndica), which grows wild
in certain parts of tho district, are stirred with cold water and
the solution left to stand till the evening. Some of it is then
mixed with ground-nut oil (or, if the thread to be dyed is of the
finer varieties, with gingeliy oil) which becomes emulsified and
milky in appearance. In this mordant the thread is soaked all
night, and next day it is dried in tho sun. This alternate soak-
ing and drying is repeated for ten days, and on the eleventh
the thread is taken to the Yaigai (the water of which river is
said to be especially favourable to dyeing operations) and left to
soak there in running water for some hours. Bj that time it is
beautifully white. Next, the roots of OUenlanclia umbellatd (chay-
root, imhurdn in the vernacular) and the dried leaves of the shrub
Memecyhn edule {Myam) are steeped together in water for some
time, and to this solution is added some of a Grer man alizarine dye,
148 MADURA.
CHAP. VI. The thread is again soaked in this for a night, and next boiled
Arts and for two hours ; and then it is taken to the river, left in running
iNDPSTRiKs. .^y^^gj, fQj goj^e time and finally dried in the sun. It is now the
fine red colour which is so popular. Deeper shades are obtained
by giving additional steepings in tlie dye-solution. For certain
special kinds of fabrics, the alizarine dye is sometimes replaced
by vegetable pigments, but this is rarf.
Gold and Madura used to be famous for the manufacture of the gold
silver thread, j^^^j silver thread (or ' lace,' as it is sometimes called) which
figures so largely in the borders of the more expensive kinds of
cloths and turbans. The local weavers now use the cheaper
French and English thread exclusively, but a few Musalmans
stil] carry on the industry to supply a demand which survives in
Tinnevelly, Trichinopoly and Travancore. They melt silver and
lead in a clay crucible and cast the alloy into thin bars. These
are hammered still thinner and then drawn through a series of
holes of gradually diminishing size until they are transformed
into exceedingly fine wire. The women then hammer this flat to
make the thread. Gold thread is made in the same way, the
silver bars being coated with gold before being ' drawn ' into
wii*e. Grold is so ductile that it continues to cover the silver with
a fine coating right through to the end of the process.
Yf^^, In Madura town some ten or twenty persons practise the art
printing. of wax- printing which is so extensively carried on at Kumbako-
nani, Conjeeveram and Wallajahbad. This consists in printing
designs on the cloth in wax with metal blocks, or drawing them
by hand with a kind of iron pen provided with a ball of aloe
fibre to act (somewhat on the principle employed in a fountain
pen) as a reservoir for the wax. When the designs are finished,
the fabric is immersed in the dye-tub, and then, while the body of
it takes the dye, the design (being protected by the wax) remains
unaffected and retains its original colour. The wax is then melted
off by plunging the fabric into hot water and the design appears
in white on a coloured ground. If required, the design itself can
afterwards be separately dyed by putting the whole cloth, into a
tub of some other pigment. Cloths for both men and women,
and also handkerchiefs, are manufactured in this manner.
A primitive method also employed for producing a rude pat-
tern on a cloth consists in knotting small portions of the stuff at
regular intervals with bits of string. These knotted parts are
not touched by the dye and remain white while all the rest of the
oloth is coloured.
OOOUPATIONB AND TKAll. 141
Connected with the weaving industry is the cotton-spinning thap. vi.
which is done at Messrs. Harvej's steam mill near the Madura Arts and
railway-station. This began work in 1892, has a capital of ten '
lakhs, of which eight are paid up, and in the last year for which Cotton-
figures are available contained 36,000 spindles, employed daily ^i'"^"^"^*
1,600 men, women and children and consumed annually over 2-j
million pounds of cotton.
Of the industries which are concerned with the manufacture of Cigai-
the agricultural products of tlie district, the most important is the *"* '"°"
making of the well-known Dindigul cheroots.
Before the railway reached that town, most of the Madura
tobacco was sent to Trichiuopoly, which was then the centre of
the cheroot-trade. The first firm to begin work on any consider-
able scale in Dindigul were Messrs. Kuppusvami Nayudu, who
started business about 1850. Their cheroots were roughly tied
up in plantain leaves, packed in bamboo baskets and exported by
cart. Some years later, Captain E. A, Campbell of the Indian
Army, who had been growing coffee and exotic cotton and silk on
the Sirumalais, entered the trade. He copied the shapes of the
Havana and Manila cigars, introduced wooden boxes and made
other improvements. Mr. Neuberg of Bombay followed, and
eventually transferred his business to his nephew, Mr. J. Heimpel.
The latter's factory was in the extensive compound across the road
opposite the Roman Catholic church He was the first to intro-
duce the ' wrappers ' of -Java, Sumatra and other foreign tobaccos
which are now universally used and to substantially raise the price
of the cheroots, lie closed his business about 1890. His agent,
Mr. Menge], who had already parted from him and established a
separate concern, now developed this latter and eventually formed
it into a Company with a capital of two lakhs. He died in 1900
and the Company ceased active opei-ations in the next year.
About 1890 Messrs. Spencer & Co. entered the field, and they
now have practically a monopoly of tliis trade in the district. In
the latest year for which figures are available they employed at
Dindigul 1,100 hands daily and made annually 16 million cigars
valued at Rs. 4,40,000. The process of manufacture consists iu
boiling the selected leaves in a specially-prejjared ^wash'--
boiling has superseded soaking, as it kills the tobacco weevil —
'stripping,' or removing the midrib of the leaf, and ' rolling/
or making the finished cheroot. Each ' roller ' works with two or
three boys, who make the ' fillers,' or inside part of the cheroot,
and hand them to him to roll and cover with the ' wrapper.'
The cheroots are finally cut by machinery into the required
lengths, examined, bundled and passed to the boxing department-
150
1TA.DURA.
CHAP. VI.
Arts and
Industrikr.
Oils.
Tauning.
Wood-
carvingr.
Jli'lal-wovk.
Coffee is cured at ' Vans Agnew's ' and ' St. Mary's' estates
on the Sirumalais, and at two otlier properties known as the
Manalur and Pillaivali estates on the Lower Palnis.
The cliief oil made in the district is gingelly, which is used by
all castes for cooking and by some for oil-baths. It is expressed
in the ordinary country mill by Vaniyans. In Nattam the peojDle
of this caste have three mills of European pattern. Castor-oil,
used for lighting, is made on a smaller scale by first roasting the
seed and then boiling it witli water and skimming off the oil as it
rises to the surface. Oil from the seeds of the nim or margosa
tree is much employed medicinally, and is used by some few
castes, such as Kalians and Yalaiyans, for oil-baths. On the
Sirumalais, some Labbais from Vdniyambadi distil oil from the
lemon-grass which grows there. The product is exported to other
parts of India.
Tanning was until recently a flourishing industry in the Begam-
par suburb of Dindigul, where the Edvutans owned about 25
tanneries. Only seven of these now survive, the competition of
chrome tanning having resulted in the others being shut up.
The workmen inostly come from Pondicherry, and formerly
belonged to several tanneries there which were afterwards closed.
Hides and skins are now collected at Dindigul and merely
dried and sent to Madras for export.
The wood-carving of Madura town has more than a local
reputation. Good examples of it may be seen over the doorways
of some of the better houses, iu the haJydna mahdl in the
Minakshi temple, and on the great cars belonging to this insti-
tution which were made about a dozen years ago.
' It is celebrated for its boldness of form, due to the influence of
the stone-carvers, for its delicate tracery on flat siu-faces, probably
first introduced by men from the Bombay side, for the fine carving
of panels decorated with scenes from the legend of^the Mahabharata,
and for the excellent modelling of the swamis, which suggests the
influence of sandalwood carvers from Mysore and Western India. At
the present day the best work is done in the Madura Technical
School, an institution maintained by the District Board which has
done much to revive decadeut art indostries, and, by finding new
markets for the productions of the skilled art workmen, has encour-
aged them to maintain the old high standard of work.' '
The only work in metals which is known outside the district
is the manufacture at Dindigul of locks and safes. The locks
are imitations of Chubb's patents and are purchased in con-
^ Monograph on Wood'Carvinrj in foutliern India, hy Mr. E. Thurston.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE, 161
siderable quaDtities hj Goverument, Tlie firm which established CHAP. VI.
the industry (Sankaraline-achari Brothers) is not now llourishinff, ^^"^^ ^^^
. . . Industries,
and many of its workmen have left it for younger rivals, ' _I
Dindigul also takes the lead in the district in the manufacture
of the usual bell-metal vessels. At Silaimalaipatti also, near
Peraijur in the Tirumangalam taluk, about 40 families of
Kannans make brass platters, water-pots, drinking-bowls, cattle-
bells, etc. The same industry is carried on by the same caste at
Kannapattinear SandaijiH" in the Siime taluk, and at Nilakkottai,
Periyakulam, Uttamapalaiyam Jind other place.?. At Nilakkottai
bell-metal gongs are made.
Bangles are manufactured from Jac by Gtizula Balijas in Bangles.
Tirumangalam, Periyakulam, Melamangalara and a few other
villages. The process consists in melting lac and lirick dust,
pounding the result in a mortar, cutting it into strips, moulding
these into bangles over a fire, and finally decorating them, while
still hot, with copper foil, etc.
Minor industries include the making of combs of wood and Minor
buffalo horn by Dommaras at Palui ; the weaving of common
mats from horai grass by I'lavutans and Kuravaus in many
villages ; the making of baskets from split bamboo by Medak-
karans in Palni and the neighbourhood ; tJie turning and
colouring with lac (.f wooden toys by Tachchans in Airavadaualliir
near Madura; and saltpetre manufacture by Tjipiliyans in
Periyakulam. Palni, Solavandan and other villages.
Statistics of 'trade are not compiled for each district separately, Trade.
and the figures for Madura are lumped with those of Tinnevelly.
It is impossible, therefore, to speak with exactness of the course
of commerce.
The chief exports include cheroots, hides and skins, locks ^xpoi'ts.
and safes from Dindigul; plantains, coffee, bamboos and forest,
produce (such as dyes, tans, honey, etc.) from the Sirumalais
and Palnis ; cardamoms from the Palnis and from tbe Kannan
Devan Hills Produce Company's property on the ^rravancore
range ; dry grain from the Palni taluk ; cotton from Tirumanga-
lam, which goes to the various presses in Tinnevelly district;
garlic from the Upper Palnis ; paddy, and silk and cotton fabrics
from Madura.
The chief imports are articles which the district does not itself I^ipoi'^s.
produce, such as European piece-goods, iron and kerosine
from Madras, salt from Tinnevelly, sugar from Nelliknppam and
â– 0 forth.
152
MADURA.
CHAP. VI.
Trade.
Meohanism
of trade.
WlIGHTS
AND
Measures.
Tables of
weight.
Madura is tlie chief trade centre and the railway receipts there
are larger than at any other station on the South Indian line.
Dindig-ul follows next, and then the head-quarters of the various
taluks and Bodinayakkanur, through which last all the produce
of tlie Kannan Devan hills travels to the railway at Ammaya-
nayakkanur.
The trading castes are principally Ravutans, Shanans, Chettis
and Lingayats. Grain-brokers are often Vell^las. The Ndttu-
kottai Chettis are the financiers of the district.
The weekly markets are quite a feature of village life, and
play a very important part in the collection of goods for export
and in the distribution of imports. '1 hoy are usually controlled
by the Local Boards, and the receipts from thein are larger
than in any other district except Coimbatore. Judged by the
amount paid for the right to collect the usual fees at them, the
biggest are those at Virupdkshi, Usilampatti, Nilakkottai and
Yedasand^r.
The ordinary table of weights is —
6 tolas (-4114 oz.) ..
20 palams
Measures for
grain.
6 visa
8 vies
= 1 palam (nearly 2^ oz.).
= L viss (about 3 lb.).
= 1 tulam (about 18^ lb.).
=: 1 maund (about 26 lb.).
In addition, there are certain special weights used for cotton,
and the number of viss in a maund differs in a bewildering way
both according to local custom and to the substance which is
being weighed. Thus in Madura there are 9 viss in a maund
of tamarind, 8^^ in one of jaggery, 8^ in one of chillies, and so
on and so forth.
The usual grain measure ia —
135 tolaa of rice (heaped)
4 measures . .
12 marakkals
The Board of Revenue has directed the stamping department
to stamp only multiples and sub-multiples of the Madras measure
of 132 tolas, heaped, but the order appears to have had but
little effect upon local practice. This varies in the most extra-
ordinary manner, as, though the measure is constant in value,
the number of measures in a kalam may be anything, according
to locality, from two to six. It is reported that in Palni taluk
the usual table of measures is —
3 measures . . . . . . . . = 1 vallam.
1 measure.
1 marakkal.
i l<alam.
16 vallams
2^ modM
= 1 moda.
= 1 salagai.
OCCUPATIONS AND TRADE. 163
Arrack is sold by tlie English gallon and dram. Other CHAP. Vl.
liquids, such as curds, buttermilk and so on, are sold by the We'.ghts
sub-multiples of the ordinary grain measure. Mkasuees.
Acres and cents are now always used officially as measures of l^^jJ
land, but the ryots themselves still speak of the guli (a square
of 160 feet, or -5877 acre) and the kdni, or 1*32 acre.
The English inch, foot and yard are now very generally Distance.
used, but the old native terms are still met with. These are —
12 fingers' breadth .. .. .. = 1 sxmn (jan).
2 spans .. .. .. .. = 1 cubit (mulam).
2 cubits .. .. .. ,. = 1 yard (gajam).
4 cubits . . . . . . . . = 1 fathom (marj.
The English mile is also used in describing long distances,
though the native measures are —
Distance walked in a naligai ('i4 minutes) = H miles.
Do. 7^ naligais . . . . = 1 kadam =
10 miles.
Fov time also the English style is common. The native table And time,
is the following —
60 vinadis , . . . . . . = 1 naligai =
24 minutes,
3| naligais . . . . . . = 1 muhurtam.
2 muhurtams . . . . . . = 1 jamam.
8 jamams .. .. . . = 1 day.
Prior to the conquest of Madura by the Aluhammadaus, the Coinage.
coin of highest value in the district was the pon, which was
equivalent to 10 kali-panams (lO^- of which made a star pagoda,
or Rs. 3^) or slightly more than two rupees. This coin was
subsequently superseded by the star pagoda or pu-vardhan. The
table was— -
80 cash .. .. = 1 panam (Angliceyhwani).
45 panams .. .. = 1 star pagoda = 3*35 5/<?t'fl; rupees
= 3^ British rupees.
The present currency is, of course, the same as in other parts
of the country, but in small transactions the panam aud cluddu are
sometimes used instead of annas and pies. The table is —
2 pies . . . . . . . . . , =â– 1 dugani.
4 pies . . . . . . . . = 1 duddu.
10 duddus . . . . . . . . = 1 panam.
The value of a panam varies, however, in different localities.
In Madura it is 3 annas and 4 pies, and in the Dindigul division
4 annas.
20
154
MADURA,
CHAPTER VII.
MEANS OF COMMUNICA'lION.
CHAP. VII.
EOADS.
Their former
state
Their
ezistiug
oonditioa.
KoADs— Their former state — Their existing conditiou — The chief routes— The
Kottakudi ropeway — Law's ghat—The Attur ghat— Bridges Travellers'
bungalows and chattrams. Railways— Existing lines— Projected routes.
LiKF those of most other districts, the metalled roads of
Madura are practically a creatiou of the last forty years. No
doubt many regular lines of communication existed as far back
as the times of the Ndyakkan dynasty, for both Tirumala
Ndyakkan and Queen Mangammal established and endowed
frequent choultries for travellers. But these were almost
certainly meiolj unmetalled tracks very ill-suited to cart traffic
in any but the finest weather. The first Collector to carry out
any notable improvements in the roads of the district seems to
have been Mr. Blackburne, who was officially complimented
because he had spent Es. 1,23,000 on them in the nine years
between 1884 and 1842— a sum which nowadays would be
considered ridiculously inadequate. Of this outlay, Rs. 70,000
were expended on bridges and culverts, and only Rs. 8,000 on
gravelling. In 1851 the Collector reported that only ten miles
of road in all the district could be termed metalled ; and in 1868,
though some 500 miles were returned as ' maintained,' the only
route „ in fair order was that from Trichinopolj, via Melur and
Madura, to Tirumangalam and Tionevelly. Even the important
road from Dindigul to Madura was ' for the most part in a very
ruinous state ' and the lesser lines were ' all in a more or less
unsatisfactory condition.' Want of money was the reason for
this state of things, and it was not until the Madras Local Funds
Act of 1871 authorised the levy of a substantial road-cess that
any real progress was possible.
Madura now possesses 800 miles of maintained roads, about
half of which are metalled. Except the Attur ghdt road up the
Lower Palnis and the section from Bodinayakkanur to Kottakudi
(both referred to below), which are in the charge of the depart-
ment of Public Works, these are kept up by the Local Boards.
Considering that the soil through which these pass is for the
most part hard and firm and that metal is plentiful almost every-
where, their present condition compares very unfavourably with
that of the communications in neighbouring districts.
Kottakudi
ropeway.
MEANS OF COMMr'NICATION. 155
Most of them are lined witli fine avenues. Tlie best of tliese CHAP. VII.
are always popularly attributed to Queen Mangammal, but though Road^s.
she planted many avenues during her reign, it is doubtful
whether the age of any considerable proportion of those now in
existence can be as great (over 200 years) as this belief would
imply. The receipts from the produce of these trees is higlier in
Madura (including the Ramnad and Sivaganga zamindaris) than
in any other district except Salem and South Arcot.
The chief lines are (fl') from Trichinopoly district to Tinne- The chief
vellv, through Melur, Madura and Tirnmangalam, (b) from ^°" *'^-
Madura to Dindigul, and thence to Paini and (<?) from Dindigjul,
through Vattilagundu and Periyakulam, to the head of tlie
Kambam valley and the Periyar lake.
From the last of tliese a branch road has recently been The
constructed to Bodinayakkanur and thence to Kottakudi, a village
at the foot of the Travancore hills from which a steep track
leads to the top of that range. The work was undertaken at the
instance of the Kannan Devan Hills Produce Co- (the owners of
a large area of coffee, tea and cardamom cultivation on the range)
who have constructed an aerial ropeway from Kottakudi to their
estates on the hills to replace the track. This ropeway rises some
4,000 feet, is worked by a turbine driven by a small stream at
the foot of the hill, and connects at its upper end with a mono-
rail tramway, 22 miles in length, which goes to Munaar, the
company's head-quarters. In consideration of Government
acquiring and handing over under the Land A.cquisition Act the
land wanted for the ropeway, the company has entered into au
agreement permitting the use of the ropeway, on payment of
certain fixed charges, by the general public. The terms of the
agreement will be found in G.Os., Nos. 4, W., dated 7th January
1901 and 'J31, Rev., dated 11th April 1005. The road to
Kottakudi is maintained jointly from Provincial and local funds.
Another route of interest is Law's ghat, so called from Major Law's L'hat
G. V. Law of the Madras Staff Corps who carried it out, which
runs for about eleven miles from the hill-station of Kodaikanal
to Neutral Saddle, the natural boundary between the Upper and
Lower Palnis. It was originally intended to continue it thence
down to near Ganguvarapatti, but this lovver section was never
properly completed, has not been maintained, and is not now
practicable for anything but cattle.
The question of opening up roads into the Palni range was
first definitely raised in 1875 by the Dindigul taluk board, and
Major Law, whose health required a change from the plains, was
156 MADURA.
CHAP. VII. selected to cut tlie necessary preliminary traces. He found that
EoADs, tlie only work whicli had been done up to then was the cutting,
by a native surveyor deputed by the District Engineer, Colonel
J F. Fischer, R.E., of a trace from Shembaganur down the Vilpatti
valley, north of Kodaikanal , which ended suddenly in an impossi-
ble precipice. The remains of this are still visible. He soon
saw that Neutral Saddle was the key to the whole position, and
in the same year carried a trace to that point from Kodaikanal
through Shembaganur. By 1878, Ps 4;},00J had been spent on
the work, and the upper ten miles were fit for wlieeled traffic, the
next thirteen rideable and the last seven partly cleared. In that
year an estimate for Rs. 3,20,000 was sanctioned for completing
the road down to the plains op]DOsite Granguvarapatti. On 1st
July 1878 Major (then Colonel) Law retired, and in the same year
the scarcity of funds resulting from the Afghan War prevented
the allotment of tl>e money sanctioned. Nothing luore was done
in the matter until the Attur gh^t was begun.
The Attdr This IS a cart-road now under construction by the Public
ghat. Works department. It will run, with a ruling gradient of not
more than one in nineteen, from Attur in Dindigul taluk up
the Lower Palnis to Neutral Saddle, where it will meet Law's
ghat from Kodaikanal. A branch will be made from it to
Tdndikkudi. It was originally considered that a bridle-path up
these hills would be sufficient, and in 1896 an estimate for this
was drawn out. The route which should be followed, the rival
claims of Attur and A yy ampdlaiyam as the terminus, and the
width of the road subsequently underwent much discussion, and
eventually the present scheme was sanctioned. The connecting
link between the foot of the ghit and Sembatti (on the Dindigul-
Vattilagundu road), five miles in length, is being made from local
funds, and it is proposed to continue this 4|- miles further to the
Ambdturai railway-station. If this is done, the distance from the
railway to Kodaikanal will be about 50 miles by cart-road, as
against 33 by road and twelve up a steep bridle-path by the
existing route from Ammayandyakkanur through Periyakulam.'
Bridges. The Only important road-bridge in the district is that across
the Vaigai at Madura. Floods in this river used to block all
communication between the country on either side of it for
days together, and at length in 1889 this work was completed
and was opened by the Collector on the 6th December. It
' An. alternative proposal to carry the Xttiir ghat no further than Taadik-
kudi and to complete Law's ghat down to Ganguvarapatti is now under consider-
ation. The new railway (p. l.'iO) will pass near this last and Kodaikanal would
then'^be only some 30 miles from the line.
MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. 157
was built by the Piibbc Works Department and cost R.s. 2,75,687 CHAP. VII.
against the estimate of Rs. 3,21,400. Of this sara Rs. 60,000 Roads.
were contributed fi-ora Provincial Funds and Es. 10,0(»0 by the
municipality, and an additional Rs. 20,000 was provided from the
unexpended balance of the fund collected fur tJie reception at
Madura of the Prince of Wales in 1876. It had bfcn airancred
that when Prince Albert Victor was in south India he should
visit the town and open the bridge, but his tour was altered in
consequence of the prevalence of cholera in the neighbourhood,
and the Collector performed the ceremony instead.
The road from Palni to Udamalpet in Coimbatore district
formerly crossed the Shanmuganadi and Amardvati on big bridges
built at some date before 1868, but both of these have been
washed away. The former was destioyed by the inundations of
1877-78. The same floods swept away the bridge over the
Tirumanimuttdr on the road between Melur and the Trichinopoly
frontier. A bridge formerly crossed the Pdldr on this same road
at the point where there is now only a causewaj-.
The great increase in the volume of the Surnli which resulted
when the Periyar water was passed into it necessitated the con-
struction of bridges at Uttamapdlaiyam and at Yirapandi. These
were completed in 1893. The same causes rendered the crossing
over the Vaigai at Kunnur on the Andipatti-Teni road, where
the bed of the river is narrow and deep, a dangerous spot, and
a ferry (the only one in the district) has now been established
there. The boat is large enough to take laden carts and travels
backwards and forwards by means of a block attached to a wire
rope slung across the stream.
A list of the travellers' bungalows in Madura, with particulars Travellers'
of the accommodation in each, will be found in the separate ^^"Salows
Appendix to this volume. chattrams.
All the main routes to the famous temple at Eamesvaram pass
througli the district, and it consequently contains a large number
of chattrams founded and endowed by the pious for the use of the
pilgrims to that shrine. Some of these are controlled by the
Local Boards and others are private institutions. Of the former,
the most important are Queen MangammaFs chattrams at Sola-
Vanddn and opposite the Madura railway-station. When the
English first acquired the district, it was found that the proceeds
of land granted free of rent for the support of chattrams had in
most cases been appropriated to their own private use by the
grantees. Mr. Hurdis, the Collector, wrote in 1802 that —
' The establishment of Choultries, which was made with the view
of accommodation][to travellers, has since the time of Yusuf Khan been
158
MADURA..
CHAP. VII.
Roads.
Railways.
Existing
lines.
Projected
rontes.
appropriated bj the present incumltents, as their own private property.
The rapacity of the former managers had winked at this assumption,
so long as it was profitablo to them : but thu discover}^ of their aggres-
sion, instead of causing retributive justice to the sufferer, enriched
progressively the Eenters' treasury by fixing as a tribute all that had
been discovered taken by previous compulsion. And the holders of
the property, formerly jmllic, are, hy the yearly receipt of the rent
specified, in quiet possession of their impudent usurpations.'
Mr. Hurdis accordingly resumed most of these chattram inams
and assigned to the institutions tasdik allowances in place of them.
The land given by Mangammal to the Solavandan chattram was
treated in this manner, and the institution is now paid an annual
allowance of Rs. 3,160 from Provincial Funds.^ When the
new road from Madura to Dindigul through Tadampatti was
opened, it diverted part of the pilgrim traffic from Solavandan,
and a Lranch of the chattram was accordingly opened, and is
still kept up, at Tadampatti. Later on, when the railway was
brought to Madura, Solavandan became of less importance than
ever as a halting-place for pilgrims to Ramesvaram, and, with
the approval of Government, a portion of its endowment was
diverted in 1894 to the founding and upkeep of the chattram
opposite the railway-station at Madura, and this was called after
Queen Mangammdl.
The only railway in the district is the South Indian Railway,
the main line of which (metre gauge) enters it near Ailur in the
Dindigul taluk, runs in a wide curve (to avoid the Sirumalais)
through Dindigul to Madura town (crossing the Yaigai there on
a bridge of 15 spans of 70 feet each), and thence passes south-west
and south, through Tirumangalam into Tinnevelly district. The
section up to Madura was opened in 1875 and that beyond it in
the next 3'ear.
From Madura a branch line, also metre gauge, was built in
1902 to Mandapam, on the neck of land which runs out to meet
Pdmban island. This is to be eventually carried across the
Pamban channel to the island, where it is proposed to establish a
large port for ocean-going vessels. Schemes are also afoot to
continue it thence over Adam's Bridge to Ceylon. Details of
these matters are beyond the scope of this volume, but if they are
ever brought to completion Madura will be a more important
town than ever.
Other lines have been projected. One proposed route would
run from Dindigul, through Palni, to join the JMadras Railway at
' For farther particulars, see G.Os., Nos. 252, Revenue, dated 7th February
1872 and 1095, L., Mis., dated 14th June 1894..
MEANS or COIIMUNICATION. 159
Tiruppur in the Coimbatore district. Another would similarly CHAP. VII.
start from Dindig'ul and pass through Palui^ but thence would Kailwatb.
run westwards to join the Madras Eailway at Palghat. Neither
scheme has yet got beyond tlie stage of surveys and estimates.
In 1899 Messrs. Wilson & Co. of Madras were granted a
concession to make a 2' 6 " tramway from Ammayanayakkanlir on
the South Indian Eailway to Kuruvanuth, at the extreme upper
end of the Kambam valley, with branches to Kottakudi mentioned
above and to Kistnama Ndyak's tope at the foot of the ghat to
Kodaikanal. '1 he order of Government granting this concession
contained the conditious that the work should be begun within
twelve months thereafter, and completed within three years.
The Company, however, were unable to raise the necessary funds
and eventually relinquished the concession. In August 1905 the
District Board decided to levy a cess of three pies in the rupee of
land revenue to be spent upon the construction of railways within
the district and it is now proposed that the proceeds of this should
be laid out in making a metre-gauge line, to be constructed and
worked by the South Indian Eailway Co., from Dindigul' to
Uttamapalaiyam, passing through Sembatti (at the end of the new
Attur gh^t road), Vattilagundu, Devad/mapatti , Periyakulam,
Teni (AUinagaram), Bodinayakkanur and Chinnamanur. This
would run through much rich country and would tap every pass
to the Upper and Lower Palnis along which any considerable
traffic is ever likely to travel.
' It has since been decided that the line shall start from Amuiayt-
nayakkandi'.
160
MADURA.
CHAPTER YIII.
EAINFALL AND SEASONS.
Bainfall — Liability to famine and [floods. Famines and Scabcitieb — In pre-
British days— In 1799— In 1812-14— In 1832 and 1836— In 1857— In
18G6 — The great famine of 1876-78. Floods.
CHAP. VIII. Statistics of the average rainfall at the various recording
Rainfall. Stations in the district, and for the district as a whole, are given
~ below for the dry weather (January to March), the hot season
(April and May), the south-west monsoon (June to vSeptember),
the north-east monsoon (October to December) and the whole
year :~
Taluk.
Station.
Years re-
corded.
p
1-5
April and
May.
o ,
"a
2 p.-*
Total.
Dindipul ...<
Diudigul
Vedasandiir
1870-1903
1887-1903
1-55
1-(U
5-00
5-81
9-57
6-74
14-18
13-83
30-30
28-02
Nilakkottui
Nilakk6ttai
Do.
1-45
5-49
8-24
14-88
30-04
Kodaikiuial
Kodaikanal
1874-1903
6-43
11-44
•21-00
26-50
65-37
Madura
Madura
1870-1903
1-70
5-11
12-34
15-80
35-00
M61ur
M61ur
Do.
Vii
4-80
15-33
16-31
37-88
Paliii
Palni
Do.
1-30
4-69
4-94
15-13
26-06
Periyakulam ...i
Periyakulam
Uttamapalaiyam .
1880-1903
Do.
3-58
1-82
5-38
4-85
6-19
5-25
14-13
15-50
29-28
27-42
Tirumangalam ... <
Tirumangalam ...
Usilampatti
1870-1903
1880-1903
I'StJ
5-5S
5-69
9-93
7-43
14-89
16-87
31-81
31-55
33-88
Average for the
district
2-17
5-80
9-72
16-19
It will be noticed that the average fall for the district as a
whole is nearly 34 inches. This is less than is received in
neighbouring areas, and moreover the supply is very irregular.
The extreme variations on record are the 47 41 inclies of 1877
and the IS'CO of 1876, but in 1898 the fall was over 40 inches
and in 1870, 187S, 1881 and 1892, it was under 25 inches.
BAINFALL AND SEASONS.
161
•C Excluding Kodaikanal, the circumstances of which are pecn- chap. Vlii
liar, the highest amounts are received in M6\{xv and Madura Rainfall.
taluks and the lowest in Dindigul, Periyakulam and Palni. The
figures show that the difference occurs almost entirely in the
supply registered during the south-west monsoon. The last
three taluks are robbed of the moisture brought by this current
by reason of their position close under the highest portions of
the whole range of the Western Ghats, while Madura and Meliar
stand farther away from the shelter of those hills and opposite a
lower portion of them, and thus receive a somewhat larger supply.
The average fall in the district as a whole during the south-west
monsoon is smaller than in any other district except Tinnevelly,
All the taluks share about equally in the rain brought by the
north-east current.
The average number of wet days in a year is 53, so that the Liability to
average fall per rainy day works out to 64 inch, which, though fl^'ods*'
quite a good shower, is considerably less than is necessary to till
tanks in a country containing as much porous red soil as does this
district. Consequently Palni and Dindigul taluks depend greatly
upon their wells to bring crops to maturity and Tirumangalam,
where there are no wells, is at the mercy of the seasons. On the
other hand the disastrous floods which periodically sweep through
some of the Madras districts are rare in Madura.
Of the famines and scarcities which visited the country in the Faminrs and
days before the British occupation, no exact record survives. cakcities..
Such things were little accounted of in those days. Native MSS. i^ d'avs " '
mention them incidentally, but give no details. A Jesuit letter
of 1622 says that famine had then been so bad for some years
that the numerous corpses of those who had died of starvation
were left unburied. Mention is made of other faraiues ; namely,
in Tirumala Nayakkan's time; after the troubles of 1659-62,
when 10,000 Christians alone are said to have perished from want ;
in 167o, after Venkaji's incursion, which was so severe that, says
one of the Jesuits, nothing was to be met with in any direction
save desolation and the silence of the tomb ; in 1678, following a
deluge caused by excessive rain on the Western Ghats ; in 1709,
when another great storm was succeeded by a famine which
seems to bave lasted right up to 1720; and in 1781 in conse-
quence of Haidar's invasion of the year before.
In 1799 there was considerable distress round Pindigul and l" 179P.
the Collector was authorised to purchase grain on Government
account and distribute it to the people.
21
• 162 MADUKA.
CHAP. VIII. The district again suffered greatly in the three years 1812-
Famines and X4, and in the early part of the last of these it was found neces-
ScAEciTiEB. ^^^^ ^^ ^.^^ employment to 42,000 of its people and to advance
In 1812-14. 2,000 pagodas to the grain-merchants to enable them to import
foodstuffs from elsewhere. The expenditure on relief in the five
months from January to May was nearly Es. 3,25,000.
In 1832 and The next famine occurred in 1832-33. This is generally
1836. known as the Guntlir famine, as it was most acute in that
district ; but ib was also severe in Madura, Salem, North Arcot
and Cuddapah. Four years later, in 1836, there was another
scarcity in the district. The late rains of that year failed alto-
gether and led to a prolonged drought. Large remissions had
to be granted, a number of the poor were employed on public
works, and the Collector (Mr. Blackburne) ordered relief to be
distributed from the funds belonging to the Madura temple,
which were under his administration.
The loss of population caused by these two famines must
have been considerable. In 1822 the inhabitants of the Grovern-
ment taluks of the district numbered 788,196, while at the
census taken in 1838 they were only 552,477. It is true that
these enumerations were probably very defective, but tbere is
no reason to suppose that the former was more accurate than
the latter ; the presumption, indeed, is just the opposite. The
decrease in the population must, therefore, be real ; and though
it is possible that some of it was due to emigration, the greater
part of it must be ascribed to starvation and epidemic diseases,
especially cholera. Allowing for the natural increment of popu-
lation from 1822-38, the decline was at the rate of 39*8 per cent.
Seven other districts suffered a loss during the same period.
In 1857. Though a number of the subsequent years were distinctly
unfavourable and high prices caused much suffering, the next
really bad season was in 1857. The south-west monsoon of
that year failed and the north-east gave no rain after October.
Prices continued at a high level, numbers of people were in
receipt of relief, aud 'over 40,000 persons emigrated to Ceylon.
The next year was not much better, but the failure of the crops
was due to excessive, rather than deficient, rainfall. High
prices continued and the people suffered much from both cholera
and fever.
In 1866. The famine of 1866 was more severe. The monsoons were
very late, prices rose rapidly, and in September rice was selling
at 4"2 measures a rupee, ragi was 66 per cent, dearer than in the
corresponding month of the previous year, and in some parts
RAINFALL AND SEASONS.
163
grain was not procurable at any figure. The statistics below CHAP. VIII.
indicate tlie course of events : — Famines and
Scarcities.
Number relieved.
Year
and month.
Gratuitously.
On works.
Total.
1866.
August ...
September
October ...
November
December
1867.
4,313
5,375
5,540
3,892
4,203
60
310
310
4,313
5,375
5,600
4,202
4,513
Januai'y
February
March ...
April
May
June
3,407
2,071
1,077
1,355
800
6,161
5,813
739
7H8
739
763
9,568
7,384
1,816
2,118
1,539
763
A sum of lis. 14,000 was raised by local subscription and
Rs. 24,000 were spent on gratuitous relief and Es. 19,000 on
works. Tlie taluks worst affected were Melur, Dindigul and
Tirumangalam.
But tlie most serious visitation which Madura has ever had
to face was the ' great famine ' of 1876-78, which affected dis-
astrously so many other districts in this Presidency.
The south-west and north-east monsoons of 187 U both failed.
3'he latter began propitiously enough with a fall of nearly three
inches^ but then ceased altogether. By November 15th matters
were critical and by the end of the year not only were all agri-
cultural operations at a standstill, but in many places the water
available was insufficient even for domestic purposes. Sheep
and cattle in Palni began to die, although the forest reserves
were thrown open for grazing. The ryots began to sell their
cattle and other property and to emigrate in thousands to Ceylou
and elsewhere, leaving their children and wonienkind behind
them. So great was the crowd at Pamban waiting to get away,
that the food supplies there ran out, and Government authorised
the Collector to buy grain and sell it at cost price to the emi-
grants. Cholera, small-pox and other epidemics also appeared.
Between July 187G and June 1878, it may here be noted, 120,000
persons emigrated from the district (including the Eamuad and
Sivaganga zamindaris) and 20,000 died of cholera.
The great
famine of
1876-78.
164
MADURA.
SCABCITIKS.
(iHAP. VIII. On lltli December 1876 Government placed a first instalment
[''amines and of Ks. 5,000 at the disposal of the Collector for the opening of
relief-works, and the Sub-Collector started three centres for
gratuitous relief round Dindigul on his own responsibility.
In the early part of 1877 the numbers on relief increased
so considerably that for purposes of famine administration the
district was arranged into four divisions ; Mr. C. W. W. Martin,
the Sub-Collector, taking Dindigul and Palni ; Mr. E. Turner,
Extra Assistant Collector, Tirumangalam and Periyakulam ; and
two Deputy Collectors (Messrs. P. Subbaiyar and Tillaindyakam
Pillai) being in charge of Madura and Melur respectively- The
District Engineer's staif was also strengthened by the addi-
tion of several European Assistant Engineers, and a number
of subordinates of the Survey department were transferred to
famine duty.
The figures subjoined (which have been worked out for the
district without the Hamnad and Sivaganga zamindaris) show
graphically the progress of the famine from that time forth : —
Month and year.
Number of persons on last
day of month on
Expenditure on
Works.
Gratui-
tous
relief.
Total.
Works.
Gratui-
tous
relief.
Total.
1876.
December
1877.
January
February
March ...
April ..
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
1878-
January
February
March
April
May
June
July ...
Total ...
6,281
3,554
5,245
8,447
11,631
12,314
7,086
22,559
24,594
14,199
12,565
9,977
2,407
4,251
250
1,015
331
230
1,179
5,458
7,553
12,622
34,537
50,990
81,470
40,910
27,930
15,249
9,818
936
265
106
24
24
7,296
3,885
5,475
9,626
17,089
19,867
19,708
57,096
75,584
95,669
53,475
37,907
17,656
14,069
1,186
265
106
24
24
BS.
6,309
11,844
12,801
20,206
21,534
26,346
39,989
43,211
62,034
87,921
63,955
24,598
17,411
7,788
3,283
946
RS.
772
372
244
992
5,725
11,012
25,9*2
47,868
87,337
1,56,987
1,34,541
63,034
49,685
20,122
8,071
1,624
393
145
97
55
RS.
7,081
12,216
13,045
21,198
27,259
37,358
65,931
91,079
1,49,371
2,44,908
1,98,496
87,632
67,096
27,910
11,354
2,570
393
145
97
55
4,60,176
6,15,018
10,65,194
RAINFALL AND SEASONS.
165
It will be seen that things quickly went from had to worse. CHAP. VIII.
Everyone, however, lived in the hope that the south-west monsoon Famines and
of 1 877 would be plentiful and put an end to the distress. When,
therefore, it again turned out a failure, the numbers both on works
and gratuitous relief increased very seriously, the latter quadru-
pling between June and August. Grain was poured into the
district by the railway, which had just been opened, but there
remained the difficulty of getting it distributed to the outlying
parts. Weavers were relieved in Dindigul and Palni by giving
them advances of raw material and paying them the market value
of the fabrics woven therefrom. Many people died of sheer
starvation and the records of the time are full of tales of horror —
children deserted by their mothers, corpses lying un buried by
the road-sides and so forth. Crime also naturally increased by
leaps and bounds. Kvery effort was made to reach the worst
cases of destitution with the money provided by the Mansion
House Fund, and when at length, in September and October 1877,
good rain fell, this same money was utilised in assisting ryots to
start the cultivation of their fields.
Thereafter the numbers both on works and gratuitous relief
rapidly declined, but in November and December the little
progress which had been made with the new crop was checked by
excessive rain ending (in Kamnad) with the most disastrous floods
which had been known for years.
On the last day of the February following, however, matters
had improved sufficiently to enable the distinction between famine
and budget works to be revived, and village relief was ordered
to be discontinued from the last day of March 1878.
During the fifteen months which bad elapsed since operations
began in December 1876, Rs. 6'15 lakhs had been spent on
gratuitous relief in the district and I" 50 lakhs on works. Besides
these amounts, large sums from the Mansion House Fund had
also been expended. The indirect cost of the famine to the
State included over 65- lakhs granted in remissions of assessment,
as under : —
Fasli.
Bemissions.
Wet.
Dry.
Total.
1286
1287
1288
Total ...
lis.
2,03,291
11,814
40,203
H8.
2,80,720
&3,381
4,84,011
1,05,195
40,203
2,55,808
3,74,101
6,29,409
166 ' MADUftA.
CHAP. VIII. Thns the total cost to tlie Q-overnment, direct and indirect, of
Famines and the famine in this district may be put at 17 lakhs.
SCAECITIES.
The loss to the people themselves was, of course, infinitely
greater. It was reported that in Palni there were practically no
cattle left alive.
At the census of 1881, taken three years after the famine
was over, the people of the district were 5 per cent, fewer than
they had been in 1871, five years before it began. Tirumanga-
1am taluk evidently suffered more severely than any other, for
the decline in the population there amounted to no less than 15
per cent. In Palni and Madura it was 7 per cent, and in Dindi-
gul 6 per cent. Since then no famine or serious scarcity has
visited Madura.
Floods. Few floods have occurred in the district. We are told that
in December 1677 an extraordinary superabundance of rain on
the Western Ghats caused a kind of deluge, which swept away
many low-lying villages with all their inhabitants. On the 18th
December 1709 a tremendous cyclone appeared. The tempest
began at 7 a.m. with a strong north-easterly gale and very violent
rain. This lasted till nearly noon, when the wind and rain
suddenly ceased and a profound calm followed which continued
until 5 P.M. The wind then got up again with great suddenness
from the opposite quarter, the south-west, and blew for most of
the night with even greater force than in the morning. The
wind and the rain breached tank after tank until at last a mighty
wave of water was surging through the district carrying every-
thing before it ; aud by morning the country was one vast sheet
of water with only the higher ground appearing above it here
and there.
In November 1814 a terrific storm from the south-east swept
over the neighbourhood of Madura town and destroyed nearly
3,000 cattle and some 50 herdsmen.
In December 1843 extraordinary freshes occurred in the
Vaigai and many tanks were breached.
In the same month in 1877 the Grundar came down in a most
unexpected and dangerous flood. The Special Assistant Col-
lector then in charge of Ramnad zamindari under the Court
of Wards described in a graphic way how he was riding along
through jungle when he suddenly heard a noise of rushing water
and in a few minutes was struggling with his horse in a torrent
three feet deep. The details of the matter belong to the history of
Ramnad, and it is enough to mention here that the river swept
during the night through the famine camp which had been pitched
EAINPALL AND SEASONS. 167
in its bed at Tiruchuli and drowned about 20 people there before CHAP. viii.
they could escape ; travelled to Kainudi and washed away the Floods.
wall of the temple and a thousand yards of the big embankment
there ; and then rushed across country, breaching nearly every
tank in the south-west of the zamindari, until the whole of that
side of the district was covered with one wide sheet of water.
In 1884 an unusually high flood in the Vaigai topped the road
to the west of Madura and flowed into the Anuppanadi channel,
but no great damage was done except to the newly-opened
water-works mentioned on p. 22^.
168
MADURA.
CHAPTER IX.
PUBLIC HEALTH.
Health,
Cholera.
General Health — Cholera — Fever — Small-pcx— Madura foot — Vital Statis-
tics. Medical Institutions — American Mission hospitals and dispensaries
— The Madura hospital — The Dindignl hospital— Other institutions.
HAP. IX. The frequency of cliolera and fever in Madura is at present
General too great to warrant the inclusion of the district among- those
which are clearly healthy to native constitutions. Europeans
have the advantage of Kodaikanal as a haven of refuge from the
usual effects of a tropical climate, but othervrise do not find the
district invigorating. To both classes the high and dry land
round about Dindigul and Palni is better suited than the Vaigai
valley, and both find the atmosphere of Madura town itself debi-
litating and unwholesome. Hence the movement of the residences
of the head-quarter officials (see p. 261) to the new site on the
race-course on the opposite side of the river.
Cholera is an ancient enemy of the country. A letter from the
Jesuit missionary Robert de' Nobili, dated as far back as April
1609, speaks of the ravages of a virulent epidemic disease which
he calls mordechin, and Father Martin, writing in 1701, gives an
account of this which makes it clear that it was none other than
cholera. Tule and Burnell say that mordechin is a fanciful
French corruption of modachi, the Konkani and Marathi name for
the disease. The remedy favoured by the Jesuit fathers for the
cure of choleraic attacks was the application of a red hot sickle to
the soles of the patient's feet. If he did not move when this was
applied, they naively observe, his case was hopeless.
Severe epidemics of cholera are reported to have occurred in
1815, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1831 to 1837, 1839, 1843, 1850 to 1852,
I 853, 1858, 1859, 1861, 1864 and 1865. In 187f), 11,600 persons
died of the disease and 15,600 in 1877. Since then, the worst
years have been 1891 (6,800 deaths), 1897 (8,:i00) and 1900
(5,800), but in no single year since 1871, with the two solitary
exceptions of 1874 and 1886, has Madura been entirely free from
this scourge. The festivals at the temples at Madura, Palni, and
Rdmesvaram used to be the great centres for its propagation, but
these are now more carefully watched than formerly. Statistics
of the deaths from cholera and certain other causes in recent
years will be found in the separate Appendix to this volume.
PUBLIC HEALTH. 169
Malarial fever is endemic in most of llie country close under tlie CHAP. IX.
numerous hill-rang-cs of the district, bucIi as the tracts lying- Genehai,
among the Nattarn liills, at the head of the Kambam valley and Health.
at the foot of the Palnis. The Sirumalai hills are also themselves Fever,
exceeding-ly malarious.
In the early years of ilie last century, however, some sort of
fever created havoc all over the district and not only in the
country near the hills. It was especially virulent in the three
years 1809 to JSll, and is constantly referred to in the old
records. In his jamahandi report for fasli 1221 the Collector said
that 13,000 people had died of it in ton months, aud that those who
had escaped with their lives were almost all prostrated from its
effects. Cultivation and business had everywhere Iteen inter-
rupted; the ryots were unable to work in the fields; the nattam-
gars could hardly crawl to the cutcherries for their pattas ; the
gumastahs were too ill to prepare the accounts ; and he himself
was not strong enough to write the report and had been obliged
to order his Head Assistant to do it for him.
A Committee investigated the disease and reported in 1816 at
great length upon its nature and its supposed causes. It re-
appeared in that year and again, in a severe form, in 1818, 1819,
1820, lb39, 1840, 18^5, 1800, 1851, 1854 (when it was especially
malignant), 1^55, 1856, 1858, 1859, lS-61, 18()3, 1864 and 1865.
But in some of these years it was confined to limited areas.
Sometimes, it was paid, whole villages were decimated by it in a
few days. Since that time it has not visited the district. Over
one-third of all the deaths in Madura since 1883 have, it is true,
been attributed to 'fever,^ but probably (as elsewhere) many
diseases are so entered which are beyond the powers of diagnosis
possessed by the heads of villages who are responsible for the
returns.
Small-pox is not particularly common. The worst years since Small-pox.
1871 hctve been 1872 (4,491 deaths), 1877 (3,161) and 1891
(2,783). In the decade 1883-1892 the disease caused 555 deaths
out of every 10,000 and in the quinquennium 1898-1902, 343 out
of the same number. Vaccination is compulsory in all the unions
aad municipalities.
A disease worth special mention is ' Madura foot/ or Madura
mycetoma. In this Presidency it is especially common in the '*^^^-
Madura district and (in the same way that elephantiasis is often
called ' Cochin leg ') it gets its popular name from tins fact. It
consists in a marked swelling of the foot (or occasionally of the
hand) and is popularly supposed to be confined to the tracla
covered with black cotton-soil.
22
170
MADUEA.
CHAP. IX. The earliest, uotice of the disease was hj Ksempfer in 1712.^
GENERAL Jts more modern history began with Godfrey, of Madras, who
' gave a description of several undoubted examples of it in the
Lancet of June 10th, 1843. The merit of biinging the disease
prominently to notice, of distinctly describing its clinical and
anatomical features, as well as of suggesting its probable patho-
logy, belongs entirely to Vandyke Carter, who, from 1860 to 1874,
in a series of important papers, furnished the information on
which all later descriptions have been principally founded.
The disease is not confined to India, but occurs with some
degree of frequency in Senegambia and, more rarely, in Algeria,
Italy and Cochin-China. In India, it is endemic in more or less
limited areas which are scattered over a wide extent of country
and separated by tracts which are almost completely immune.
Besides Madura, it is said ^ to be prevalent in the Proddatur,
Jammalamadugu and Pulivendla taluks of the Cuddapah district
(chiefly on the cotton-soil arpas in them) and it is common in the
Punjab, Kashmir and Eajputana. It appears to be acquired only
in rural areas, the inhabitants of towns being exempt.
Mycetoma begins usually, but by no means invai-iably, on the
sole of the foot, the first indication of its presence being a small
round painless swelling perhaps half an inch in diameter. After
a month or more, this swelling will soften and rupture, discharg-
ing a peculiar viscid fluid containing in suspension minute round
particles (compared by some to fish-roe) which are either grey,
yellow or black. In time other similar swellings appear and go
through the same process, leaving sinuses which do not heal.
Gradually the foot enlarges to two or three times its normal size,
the sole becomes convex so that the toes do not touch the ground,
the tissues soften and the whole of the member is covered with
the discharging sinuses.
As the foot enlarges, the leg atrophies from disuse, so that in
advanced cases an enormously swollen foot is attached to a leg
which is little more than skin and bone. Unless treated, the
patient dies after ten or twenty vears, worn out by the continued
drain.
Three varieties of the disease have been recognised — the white,
the black and the red— of which the last is very rare. It is due
to a ray fungus which is allied to the actinomyses which in some
places causes an affection (actinomycosis) among cattle which has
^ See Mansou's Tropical Diseases (Cassel & Co., 1898), from wbioli the
following particulars are abstracted.
* Cuddapiih Diitrict Manual, 193.
PUBLIC HEALTH. 171
been communicated to man. How this enters the foot is not yet CHAP. IX.
certain. It is conjectured that it may be a usual parasite on General
some plant, and that it finds its way into the tissues through H^^"-
a wound in the skin. This theory is supported by the facts that
the disease occurs almost invariably on the feet and hands, and
principally among the barefooted ryots. If the harm has not
proceeded far, free excision of the affected parts will stop it ; but
in more advanced cases amputation is the only remedy yet known.
Statistics of the recorded rates of births and deaths will be ^'^^^^
found in the Appendix. Eegistration of these events is now ^^^^•'^^^*^''-
compulsory in all the anions and municipalities in the district.
The figures are probably as reliable as elsewhere. They show
among other things, that the hot weather is much more healthy
than the rains.
The medical institutions of the district comprise 6ve municipal, Medical
three local board, and two mission, hospitals, and three municipal, ^nstitutioms.
twelve local board, and one naission, dispensaries. Statistics of
the attendance at, and expenditure on, the municipal and local
board institutions are given in the Appendix.
Tne mission hospitals are that for women and children in American
Madura town, near the site of the east gate of the old fort, which ^^*"*'o°
was opened by the American Mission in 1898 (the cases treated and '
in which numbered 15,501) in 1904) and the well-equipped Albert '^'spf^nsarieH.
Victor hospital (commonly known, from the name of the surgeon
who originated it, as the Van Allen hospital) belonging- to the same
body, wliere there is accommodation for ^8 in-patients and the
out-patients treated in which numbered 20,800 in 1904. This
latter was erected at a cost of Hs. 42,000 (nearly all subscribed by
natives of the district), was opened by Sir Arthur Havelock in
1897, and is supported by annual subscriptions from the Ndttu-
kottai Chettis, the Lessees of Sivaganga and others, aided by grants
from the municipality, the District Board and the mission. The
mission also maintains a dispensary at Pasumalai.
Of all the medical institutions the oldest is the municipal Tlie Madura
hospital at Madura. It was opened in May 1842 in the old guard- ho«pital.
room over the remains of the west gate of the Madura fort (see
p. 266) where the maternity hospital (opened in 1863) is now
located. In 1843 the rooms on the north side of the platform
over this gateway, behind the guard- room, were erected for it
In 18(32 the Collector, Mr. Vere Levinge, set on foot a public
subscription for the provision of proper accommodation for the
institution and for a maternity hospital. About Rs. 67,000 were
collected among the natives of the district and part of this was
172
MADURA.
CHAP. IX.
Medical
Inbtitutionb.
The
Dindigul
hospital.
Othe.-
institutions.
spent in putting- up new buildings and part in constructing, as an
investment for tlie liospital, the bungalow in which the European
Club at Madura is now located. The land round the site on
which this stands had, it was said, been used for Sir Thomas
Munro's camp wlien he once came to Madura as Governor, and
ever afterwards it had continued to be reserved in case another
Governor might similarly require it. Mr. Levinge levelled it
with convict labour, sold part of it by auction and reserved one
portion for the new bungalow. This last was apparently trans-
ferred to the municipal council, which now receives the rent of it,
when the two hospitals were vested in that body in 1872 The
erection of the excellent range of buildings in which the hospital
is now located was sanctioned in May 1903, the estimate amount-
ing to Es 1,03,500. The cost of two of the wards was borne
by M.R.Ry. A. L. A. R. Arnndchala Chetti of Devikottai and
M.R.Ry. P. L. R. M- Shanmuga Chetti of Moraiyur, the District
Board contributed Rs. 10,000, and the municipal council provided
the remainder. From 1875 to 1887 a medical school for training
hospital assistants existed in connection with the institution. Jn
addition to this and the maternity hospital, the municipality keeps
up a branch dispensary, opened in July 1876, and a dispensary for
women and children, originated in 1894.
After that at Madura, the next most prominent hospital in the
district is that maintained by the manicipality of Dindigul. For
many years the Rev. E. Chester, m.d., of the American Mission,
who was engaged in medical work in the town from 1860 until
his death there in 1902, managed a hospital in Dindigul which
was aided from local and municipal funds. In 1899 the munici-
pality started an institution of its own in a rented building.
Five years earlier a dispensary for women and children liad lieon
opened, also in a rented house. Roth these buildings were
repeatedly condemned as unsuitable, and the Government has
recently sanctioned Rs. 21,000 from Provincial Funds for the
erection of a new building to hold both institutions. To this a
sum of about Bs. 3,000, which lias been collected towards a
memorial to Dr. Chester, is to be add('<l and, at the suggestion
of the municipal council, the building is to be called the ' Chester
hospital.'
The municipalities of Palni, Periyakulaui and KodaikanrJ also
maintain hospitals. The first two of these institutions were
opened in 1872 and the last in 1873. Hospitals are kept up by
the local boards in Bodinayakkanur (started in 1880), Uttama-
pdlaiyam (1873) and Usilampatti (1876).
IXSTITUTIONB.
PUBLIC HEALTH. 17''
In addition to tlie three municipal dispensaries at Madura CHAP. IX.
and Dindigul already mentioned, others liave been maintained Medical
from local funds at the places, and since the dates, noted Lelow :
In Dindigul taluk, Kannivadi (1884) and Yedasandur (1879j ;
in Kodaikanal, Tdndikkudi (1891) ; in AJolur taluk, Mel6r (1879)
and Nattam (1888); in Nilakkottai taluk, Nilakkottai (1891);
Solavandan (1 888) and Yattilagundu (1881) ; in Palni, Sattirapatti
(1897) ; in Periyakalam, Andipatti (1891) ; and in Tiriimangalam,
Saptur (1888) and Tiruiuangalam itself (l&7;i). Except those at
Melur, Nattam, Nilakkottai, iSolavanddn and Tirumangalam, all
these are located in rented buildings.
174 MADDRA.
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATION.
Karly' History — The tliree Sangams— The new Sangarn — Education under
the Nd^akkans. Census Statistics— Figures by religions and tuluks.
Educational Institutions — The Pasumalai College — The Afadura C(jllege
— Upper secondary fscliools — fjower secondary schools— Other schools
— Newspapers, etc.,
CHAP. X. Madura was famous as a seat of learning in very early times.
Earlt Tradition says that the Pandya capital was the home, at different
^^ ' periods, of three different Sangams, or bodies somewhat similar
The throe f,,, fhe existing French Academy, which sat in judgment on literary
angams, -works submitted for their approval and without whose imprtmatur
no composition could hope for a favourable reception. The first
of these was at the old capital of the Madura country which (see
p. 28) was swept away by the sea ; the second at Kapddapuram,
its successor as the (.-liief town of the Pandyas ; and the third was
at the present town of Madura.
Fabulous stories are told of this last. The Madura st//ala
puyiiua recounts a long tale of how Sarasvati, the goddess of
learning, was impudent to Brahma and was accordingly visited
by him with a curse compelling her to undergo forty-eight
successive births on earth. Afterwards, relenting somewhat, he
allowed the sentences to run concurrently ; and a forty-eighth
part of her soul was thereupon transfused into each of forty-eight
mortals who became poets of transcendent excellence, were received
with honour by the Pandyan king, and formed the Sangam.
Tiiey were, however, constantly annoyed by the absurd pretensions
of others who claimed to be their equals, and at length Siva gave
them a diamond bench which contracted and expanded so as just
to accommodate those of the forty-eight who were present and no
more, and thus prevented any unworthy aspiraut from attempting
to take his seat among them. When at last, says another tale,
Tiruvalluvar, the Faraiyau composer of the famous Rural,
brought his work for the .approval of the Sangam, its members
declined to ' crown ' it ; but the miraculous bench, knowing
the worth of the book, expanded to make room for it, and the
book then in its turn grew bigger and bigger and pushed all the
forty -eight off their eat.s
KDUCATION. 175
Native literary critics of mucli repute have held that it is CHAi'. X.
doubtful whether any Sang-am ever existed at all ; but the weight Karlv
of opinion is in favour of the theory that the third of tliem is an ^^^
historical fact and tliat it flourislied in the early years of the
present era. Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai ^ gives the sober version of
its reception of tlie Kural in tlio time of the Pandyan king Ugra-
peru-vabati (see p. 27 above).
The 'New Madura Tamil Sangam,' a flourishing literary t hp now
society, was established in 1901. Its object is the improvement Sjiigam.
of the Tamil language ; its income from endowments is returned
as Rs. 4,850, and from subscriptions Rs. 10,974 ; its supporters
include the Raja of Pndukkottai and many well-known natives
of Madura, and the members number 525 ; it maintains a boarding
institution in Madura where Sanskrit. Tamil and English arc
taught ; possesses a library of 3,800 books and manuscripts in
these thiee languages ; issues a monthly journal from a press of its
own ; holds examinations and awards medals to those who are suc-
cessful in them ; and conducts original research and the editing of
ancient Tamil works.
Under the Nayakkan rulers, tlie education of Brdhmans Education
(apparently other classes wore neglected) was subsidised by the under the
state on an unparalleled scale. The Jesuit missionary Hobert "^ *^
de' Nobili wrote in 1610 that more than ten thousand Brahmans
were being taught, boarded and lodged at the ]niblic cost in
Madura, and that the courses of tuition provided not only for the
instruction of boys, but for the education of adults in philosophy
and theology. Sanskrit, and not Tamil, was the medium of
instruction. The fall of the Nayakkans put an end to these classes,
and in the disturbed times which followed education seems to have
been almost entirely neglected. "When the English first acquired
the country hardly any one in rural parts except a few hereditary
village accountants and headmen seems to have been able to read
and write, and the Tamil Jin'ihmans in the towns were so ignorant
that, as elsewhere, Marathas and other foreigners had to be called
in by the Government to do its work, the records were kept in
Marathi, and this tongue became almost the official language.
The American Mission (see below) wore the first to re-introduce
systematic education in tlie district, and it was not until 1856
that the first Government Zilla school, referred to later, was
established.
In the separate Appendix to this volume will bo found tlio Cknsur
chief statistics of the last census and of the Educational department Statistics.
' The Tami/.s eighteen hundred year.s ago, 138-140.
176 MADURA.
CIIAF. X. regarding- tho present state of education in Madura. The census
Tkn-sis sliowed tliat in tlie literacy of tlie males among its population the
rA tTsii cs. rligtrict ranked sixth in tlie Presidency, but tliat it came only
fourteenth in the education of its girls. Taking both sexes
together, the number of people in it who know how to read and
write is slightly below the average of the southern districts and
numbers just over seven per cent, Tamil is the language most
generally known and only three persons in every thousand can
read and write English. Among the eleven towns in the Presi-
dency which contain over 5U,000 inhabitants, Madura ranks
sixth in the education of its males and eighth in the literacy of the
other sex.
Figures by Figures of education among the followers of the different
talukV '^""^ religions show that (as in several other districts) the males among
the Musalmans are better educated than those of any other faith.
The Madura Musalmans are mainly Ravutans, a pushing commer-
cial class to whom a knowledge of reading and writing is essential.
Next to them, but a long way behind, come the males among the
Christians, and the Hindus of that sex bring up the rear. In the
literacy of their girls, however, the Cliristians, as usual, easily take
the first place among the three religions, neither the Musalmans
nor the Hindus even approaching their standard.
Education is most advanced, as is natural, in the head-quarter
taluk of Madura. Excluding Kodaikanal, the conditions in which
are exceptional, Periyakulam comes next. Between the other
taluks there is not much to i choose, but Tirumangalaui is at the
bottom of the list.
EDccATiOiNAL Thc cducatioual institutions of the district include two colleges ;
N'sriTunoxs. j^^j^^i^.^ ^]-^^^ formerly maintained by the American Mission at
Pasumalai, 2| miles from Madura, but now transferred to Madura
itself, and the Madura College.
The Pasuuia- The former is the older. It originated in a seminary which
lai College. was opened at Tirumangalam in 1842 and moved to Pasumalai
three years later. The original object of the mission was to
provide in this school a high class education for youths of all reli-
gions, the Bible and the tenets of the Christian faith being
included in the curriculum. But alterations and re- alterations of
this plan took place, owing to changes in the views of the authorities
upon the question whether the work of the institution should be
confined to the instruction of candidates for missionary labours,
or so extended as to include non-Christian students as well. In
1875 it was resolved that the latter of these plans should be
followed, and subsequently the department for the training of
missionary agents was separated from the rest of the institution.
EDUCATION. 177
In 1882 the school was raised to the position of a second-grade CHAP. X.
college, but the high and middle school classes were retained. In Educational
1886 a normal school with a primary practising branch was added, nstitutions.
and in 1892 the first of its hostels was opened. The institution
now stands on a site some 50 acres in extent, which inclndes tennis
courts and a field for football and cricket, and is accommodated in
buildings which have cost over Es. 80,000. It has a consulting
and general library, its own press, and an. endowment fund the
interest of which is devoted to scholarships. The college classes
have very recently been moved to the mission's high school
building in Madura, as Pasumalai is so far from the town, and a
proposal is on foot to construct, from the mission's share of Mr.
Eockefeller's recent munifkent gift in furtherance of education, a
new college building on a site belonging to the mission near the
Collector's residence
The Madura College is a development of the Grovernment Zilla Tho Madura
school which was established in March 1856 as an outcome of the ^'^^'®^®-
Directors' famous despatch of 1854 on education. It was at first
located in the north-east corner of the great arcade of Tirumala
Ndyakkan'g palace ; and, on this being pronounced likely to fall
down, was moved to the Naubat khana, or music pavilion of tho
palace, which then stood near the Ten Pillars (see p. 274), was
afterwards used as the Police head-quarter office, was eventually
pulled down because it was unsafe, and the site of which is now
occupied by the Patnulkarans' primary school. About 18ti5 the
Zilla school was moved to a building near the railway-station
(apparently erected partly from public subscriptions) which now
forms part of the existing college. In March 1880 a colleo-e
department was opened in the institution, but this was abolished
in 1888. In the next year the school building and library were
lent to the committee which was managing the then Native High
School and this body started the present college. The institution
was affiliated to the University in the same year. In 1891 the
extension of the premises at a cost of Es. 11,750 was. sanctioned
and in the following year the new block was opened by Lord
Wenlock. The attendance in the college classes is about 120.
The institution is now managed by a committee of native gentle-
men. Attaclied to it are three lower secondary branches located
in rented buildings.
The upper secondary schools of the district are six in number • Upper
namely, that maintained at Dindigul by the municipality, those in ^scondsiy
Madura kept up by the American Mission, the Patntjlkdran com- ®°'^°°''*
munity and the committee of the Madura College (the ' SetuiDati
23
178
MADURA.
CHAP. X.
Educational
Institutions.
Lower
secondary
schools.
Other
schools.
Newspapers,
eto.
High School '), the American Mission's school for girls in the same
town, and the school maintained at Periyakulam by M.E.Ry.
V. Kdmabhadra Ndyudu, the present representative of the old
poligars of Vadakarai (see p. 323).
Lower secondary schools for boys number twelve, and comprise
those kept up by the American Mission at Dindigul and Meliir
and by the Roman Catholic Mission at Madura, the Dindigul
Muhamraadan school, the schools at Solavanddn, Madura, Palni,
M^lamangalam (near Periyakulam), Uttamapalaiyam, Bodinayak-
kanur and Tirumangalam, and the general education branch of the
local board's Technical Institute at Madura. Schools of the same
grade for girls are three in number ; namely, the Government
school at Dindigul, the American Mission practising institution at
Madura and the South Indian Railway's school for European girls
in the same town.
Government maintains a training school for masters at Madura,
the local boards have a sessional school, and the American
Mission keeps up a training school for masters at Pasumalai and
another for mistresses at Madura.
Excluding classes for book-keeping, type-writing and the like,
the only technical instruction obtainable is that given in the local
board's Technical Institute opposite the railway-station at Madura.
There, besides those learning drawing, about 100 pupils are being
taught calnnet-making, metal-work, etc.
Some 190 boys are instructed in the Vedas and Sastras in a
number of pdthasdias kept up in various parts of the district at the
cost of the N^ttukottai Chettis and others.
Five newspapers or periodicals are published in Madura. The
American Mission issues a fortnightly English and Tamil paper
and a monthly Tamil periodical, both of which are devoted mainly
to religious matters ; the Tamil Sangam has its own organ (a
Tamil monthly) ; and there are two newspapers, namely, the
Tamil monthly Viveka Bhdnu with a circulation of about 800
copies and the South Indian Mail, an English weekly with a
circulation of 400.
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 179
CHAPTER XI.
LAND EEVENUE ADMINISTRATION.
RicvEXUE History — Nat'vo revemie pyatems — Methods of the Nayakkans— Of
the Marathas — And of the later renters — British administration : in the
DindigTil country— Mr. McLeod, first Collector, 1790 — Jlis incapacity— Mr.
Wynch and his n;aladministration, 1794 — Commission of eucjuiry, 179G — Mr.
Hurdis' CoHcctorship — Order restored and survey and scittlement begun,
1800 — Principles of these— Miscellaneous taxes — The financial results —
Mr. Parish becomes Collect?r~The district declines, 1805 — Mr. Hodgson's
report upon it — Triennial village leases, 1808-10 —Mr. Rous Peter's reductions
in the assessments, 182.3 — Further reductions, 1831 — Abolition of vdnpayir
assessments, 1854— Unsettled palaiyams — British administration in the
Madura country — Difficulties at the outset— Formal cession of the country,
1801 — Early settlements in it — The various land tenures — Government land
— Hafta devastanam — Sibbandi porv/ppv, — Jivitham — Poruppu villages —
Church mdniyams — Cliattrani land — Arai-l(attalai — Arai-kattalai villages—
Ardhamo nit/am, etc. — Defects of the settlement — Triennial leases and the
ryotwari system — Reductions in assessments. The existing Survey and
Settlement, 1885-89 — Principles followed — Rates prescribed — Resultant
effects — Settlement of hill villages. Inams. Existing Divisional Charges.
Appendix, List of Collectors.
Of the details of the revenue systems in force under the various CHAP. XI.
native governments which held the Madura country before it came Revenlb
into the possession of the English, exceedingly little is known. H istor y.
Besides the land-tax proper, there were several smaller imposts on Native
the soil. Among these (in Tirumala Nayakkan's time at least ;
no continuous particulars are available) were the plough-tax, which
required owners of land to furnish the Ndyakkan when called upon
with one labourer, free of charge, for every plough they owned ;
the ferry tax for the upkeep of the public ferries on the rivers ; the
kdvali-vari, or tax for providing crop watchers ; and the ter-uliyam,
or car-service, which required each village to provide a fixed quota
of men to drag the great temple cars. Also every kind of art and
profession was taxed.
' Every weaver's loom paid so much per annum ; and every iron-
smelter's furnace ; every oil-mill ; every retail shop ; every house
occupied hj an artificer ; and every indigo vat. Every colloctur of wild
honey M'as taxed ; every maker and seller of clarified butter ; every
owner of carriage bullocks. Even stones in the beds of rivers, used by
' The early part of this chapter is for the most part an abridgment of the
full account of the matter given by Mr. Nelson in the 19G pages of Part IV of
his book.
revenue
systems.
180
MADUKA.
CHAP. XI.
Revenue
History.
Methods of
the Nayak-
kans.
washermen to beat clothes on, paid a small tax. In the towns there
were octroi dutins on grain and other commodities brought through
the gates. And lastly there were the land customs.'
The revenue from the land was however always the chief main-
stay of the public exchequer. Tradition ^ says that under the
Yijayanagar kings (it is useless to attempt to trace matters
further back) the state was held to be entitled to one-half of
the gross produce of all land cultivated. This revenue was realised
by parcelling out the greater part of the country — the Nayakkan's
private estates and the favourable grants to temples, charities and
Brahmans were excepted — among the poligars already (p. 42)
referred to, and entrusting them with the collection of it subject
to certain payments and services. The rapacity of these men and
their servants was usually limited only by the inability of the ryot
to pay, or by his success in deceiving or bribing the collecting
staff ; and oppression was rampant.
After the disruption of the Vijayanagar dynasty in 1565 at the
battle of Talikota, these methods still continued ; but they were
complicated by the fact that the Ndyakkans of Madura frequently
declined to pay their dues to their nominal suzerains, the fallen
kings of that line. The system and its deplorable results are
graphically described in a letter from a Jesuit priest, dated Madura,
30th August 1611, which is preserved in La Mission du Madure
and may be rendered as under : —
' The king, or great Nayakkan, of Madura has only a few estates
which depend immediately upon him, that is to say which are his
own property (for in this country the great are the sole proprietors
and the common people are merely their tenants) and all the rest of
the land belongs to a crowd of small princes or tributary poligars.
These last have, each in his own estate, the entire administration of
the police and of justice — if justice it can ever be called— and they
levy the revenue (which comprises at least half the produce of the soil)
and divide it into three parts. Of these, the first is set aside as tribute
to the great Nayakkan, the second is allotted for the upkeep of the
troops with which the poligar is obliged to furnish him in case of war
and the third goes to the poligar himself. The great Nayakkan of
Madura, and also those of Tanjore and Gingee, are themselves tribu-
tary to the king of Vijayanngar, to whom thoy have each to pay
annually irom six to ten million francs. But they are not regular in
sending these amounts, often make delay, sometimes even refuse
insolently to pay at aU ; and then the king of Vijayanagar appears,
or sends one of his generals, at the head of 100,000 men to collect the
arrears with interest. When this happens (as it often does) it is once
more the poor common people who pay for the fault of their princes \
^ Sir Thomas Munro's report cited in the BeUarij Gazetteer, 150.
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION. 181
the whole country is devastated, and the inhabitants are piUaged or CHAP. XI.
massacred.' Kevenuk
After the Marathas came into power, things were even worse ; Historv.
for John de Britto, an eye-witness of what he described, wrote of of the
the neighbouring Tanjore country in 1683 that — Marathus.
' Ekoji (the Maratha king) levies four-fifths of all the produce.
As if that were not enough, instead of accepting this ehare in kind he
makes the ryots pay in money. Aad since he is careful to fix the
price himself at a figure much above that which the cultivator can
get, the proceeds of the sale of the whole of the crop are insufficient
to meet the land assessment. Thus the ryots linger under the weight
of a crushing debt and are often pat to crael tortures to prove their
inability to pay. You will hardly be able to realize such oppression,
and yet I must add that the tyranny in the Gingee kingdom is even
more frightful and revolting. But I will say no more on the matter,
for words fail me to express its horrors.'
Under the Musalmans, the Madura country (like other parts
of the Presidency) was usually rented out to farmers for fixed
suras, the farmers being left to make wlmt profits they could by
grinding the faces of the ryots.
About 1742, as has been seen above (p. 69), the province And of the
of Dindigul was leased in this manner by the Eaja of Mysore to ^^tcr renters.
Birki Yenkata Bao ; in 17o5 Madura proper and Tinnevelly were
similarly rented by Colonel Heron to Mahfuz Khdn for fifteen
lakhs of rupees and in 1758 to Muhammad Yi'tsuf for five laklis ;
in 1772 Haidar AH of Mysore leased the Dindigul country to his
brother-in-law Mir Sal\ib, and in 1784 Tipu Sultan leased it to Mir
Sahib's nephew Saiyad 8ahib. In fact the land revenue in most
of the area which now makes up the district was administered
in this way up to the time when the British obtained final posses-
sion of it. These renters were usually tyrants of the worst
description. Colonel Fullarton wrote that the object of each of
them —
* Too frequently was to ransack and embezzle, that he may go off
at last enriched with the spoils of his province. The fact is, that in
every part of India where the Renters are established, not only the
ryot and the husbandman, but the manufacturer, the artificer, and
every other Indian inhabitant, is wholly at the mercy o£ those
ministers of public pxaction. The established practice throughout
this part of the Peninsula has for ages been, to allow the farmer one-
half of the produce of his cro]i for the maintenano of his family, and
the re-c\iltivation of the land ; Avhile the other is appropriated to the
Circar. In the richest soils, under tho cowln of Haidar. producing
three annual crops, it is hardly known that less than forty per cent,
of the crop produced has been allotted to the husbandman. Yet
182 MADURA.
CHAP. XI. Renters on the coast liave not scrupled to imprison reputable farmers,
REfENOK andtoinQict on them extreme severities of punishment, for refusing
History. to accept of sixteen 'in the hundred, as the jiroportion out of which
they were to maintain a family, to furnish stock and implements of
husbandry, cattle, seed, and all expenses incidental to the cultivation
of their lands. But should the unfortunate ryot be forced to submit
to such conditions, he has still a long list of cruel impositions to
endure. He must labour week after week at the repair of water-
courses, tanks, and embankments of rivers. His cattle, sheep, and
every other portion of his property is at the disposal of the Renter,
and his life might pay the forfeit of refusal. Should he presume
to reap his harvest when ripe, without a mandate from the Renter,
whose peons, conicopolies, and retainers attend on the occasion,
nothing short of bodily torture and a confiscation of the little that
is left him, could expiate the offence. Would he sell any part of his
scanty portion, he cannot be permitted while the Circar has any
to dispose of ; Avould he convey anything to a distant market, he is
stopped at every village by the collectors of Sunkum or Gabella, who
exact a duty for every article exported, imported, or disposed of. So
uDsupportable is this evil, that between Negapatam and Palghaut-
clierry, not more than three hundred miles, there are about thirty
places of collection, or, in other words, a tax is levied every ten miles
upon the produce of the country ; thus manufacture â– and commerce
are exposed to disasters hardly less severe than those which have occa-
sioned the decline of cultivation.
' But these form only a small proportion of the powers with which
the Renter is invested. He may sink or raise the exchange of specie
at his own discretion ; he may preveut the sale of grain, or sell it at
the most exorbitant rates ; thus at any time he may, and frequently
does, occasion general famine. Besides maintaining a useless rabble,
whom he emploj's under the appellation of peons, at the public
expense, he may require any military force he finds necessary for the
business of oppression, and few inferior officers would have weight
enough to justify their refusal of such aid. Should any one, however,
dispute those powers, should the military officers refuse to prostitute
military service to the distress of wretched individuals, or should the
Civil Superintendent remonstrate against such abuse, nothing could
be more pleasing to the Renter ; he derives, from thence, innumerable
arguments for non-performance of engagements, and for a long list
of defalcations. But there are still some other not less extraordinary
constituents in the complex endowments of a Renter. He unites, in
his own person, all the branches of judicial or civil authority, and if
he happens to be a Brahman, he may also be termed the representative
of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. I will not enlarge on the consequences
of thus huddling into the person of one wretched mercenary all those
powers that ought to constitute the dignity and lustre of supreme
executive authority.'
LAND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION.
183
After the district came into Britisli possession in 1790 the CHAP. XI.
revenue history of the Dindigul country differed altogether for Eevexce
many years from that of Madura proper, and it may conveniently ^^^»^'-
be dealt -with first. British
The Dindigul territory, as has already (p. 71) been seen, was tionrSuthe
obtained by conquest from Mysore in August 1790, and ceded for- ^^"^/f"'
raaUy in 1 792. When first it was
acquired it consisted of four*
estates or palaiyams (' pollems ')
which were in the possession
of their owners ; four f which had
been sequestered in 1785-8G by
Saiyad Sahib ; and some incon-
siderable extent of Government
land included in which were four J
more which had been resumed
many years before. Shortly after
the acquisition, fourteen ^ estates
which had been resumed by Tipu
in 1788 on account of the arrears
of tribute in them, and had been
temporarily attached by him to
the province of Sankaridrug (in
Salem district), were restored to
their former ownt-rs and re-
annexed to the Dindigul country,
and this therefore at that time
comprised 2f)'iestates making up
roughly tlie present Dindigul,
Palni and Peri\akulam taluks
and the west of Nilakkottai.
Some account of the various palaiyams will be found in Cliapter
XV below. The Mysore Government had apparently not inter-
fered in the management of the four which were in tlie possession
of their owners, but had leased out the otliers, and also the Sirkar
land, to renters.
Immediately aftei- the acquisition of the province, General
Medows, who was commanding in the south, placed it temporarily
in the charge of one A'enkatappa Nayakkan, who made hay while
the sun shone and! went off at once with all the accounts.
On the 6th of.ltlie following month (September 1790) Mr.
Alexander McLeod^ arrived and took charge as Collector. His
* Idaiyanfcdttai.
Kombai.
Mambarai.
Sandaiyur.
t Eriyddu.
Madur.
Palni (appai'ently including Ayak-
kudi and Eottayambadi).
Sukkampatti.
X D^v.adanapatti.
Gudalur.
Kanibani.
Vadakarai.
§ Ambaturai,
Ammayanayakkanui'.
Bodinayakkannr.
Emakkalapuram.
Erasakkanayakkantir .
Gantamanayakkanur.
Kannivadi.
Marunuttu.
Nilakkottai.
Palliyappanayakkanur (now called
Kiivakkapatti).
Ta-vasimadai.
T6varani.
Tottiyankdttai.
Virupaksbi.
' In the Appendix to this chapter will be found a list of the various Collectors
of Madura from this time forth up to date.
Mr. McLeod,
first
Collector,
1790.
184
MADURA.
CHA.P. XL
Revexoe
History.
His incapa-
city.
position was one of mucli difficulty, and he was quite unequal to
it ; and the four jears during- which he endeavoured to administer
the country were marked by confusion bordering- on anarchy.
Each year, he assessed the peshkash due from the various
estates, the amounts purporting to be fixed on the basis of estab-
lished usag-e and of estimates of the outturn of crops furnished
by the poligars and their officials ; but, as Yenkatappa had made
off with such accounts as there were, it seems clear that these pay-
ments were regulated more by chance than by precedent or equity.
The Government land (which was divided into the six ^taluks of
Tadikkombu (the kasba), Periyakulam, Vattilagundu, Andipatti,
Uttamapalaiyam and Kambam) was annually leased either in blocks
for fixed sums to renters, or village by village to the headmen.
The renters treated the ryots after the barbarous manner of their
kind already described above, but the headmen lessees paid (as
elsewhere) fixed money rates (the details of which are not now
ascertainable) for dry land, and for wet land one half of the gross
produce after the swafanirams (or fees due to village officers and
others) had been deducted therefrom.
But the whole country was constantly in disorder. In June
1791 it was stated that troops were required to maintain the
Collector's authority ; in November of the same year Coimbatore
and the surrounding tracts on the north were in tlie hands of the
Mysore forces ; in February 1792 the neighbouring Palni and
Idaiyankottai poligars were plundering in the same area ; the Raja
of Travancore was at the same time preventing the Collector from
taking possession of Kambam and Gudalur, though these tracts
(which had once been palaiyams, but had been confiscated by
Haidar Ali of Mysore in 1755) undoubtedly belonged to the
Dindigul district ; and the Kalians had quarrelled with the Madura
renter and were committing every kind of excess. The poligars
naturally took advantage of this confusion to withhold payment of
their dues, and the renters followed their example.
In September 1793 the Board of Revenue endeavoured to
improve the class of renters by directing the Collector to lease
villages to their headmen instead of to strangers ; but though the
system was introduced in part, the headmen of villages which
were especially exposed to the attacks of the Kalians of Anaiyt^r, *
the notorious centre of this caste in the Tirumangalam taluk,
naturally declined to have anything to say to it.
In May 1794 Mr. McLeod went on leave to the seaside to
recruit his health, and was succeeded by his Head Assistant,
Mr. John Wrangham. A Board's Proceedings of August of thig
LAND KEVENUE ADMINISTRATION. ] 85
year comments in a caustic manner on Mr. McLeod's maladminis- CHAP. XI.
tration, which had reduced the district to disorder and its revenues Eevem-e
• HiSTORT
to a very low eLb. It appears that not only had the poligars,
Kalians and renters been permitted with impunity to exhibit open
contumacy, but misappropriations of inams and swatantrams had
occurred, the assessments had not been collected, large remissions
had been obtained on the plea that tanks were out of order,
Kambam and Gudalur had not been recovered, the customs had
been mismanaged and the Collector's accounts were worthless.
In December of this same year Mr. Wrangham was replaced ^'J"- ^ynch
by Mr. George Wynch, but the year and a half during which the maiadmiiiis-
latter remained in charge witnessed even worse confusion than tration, 179-t.
ever. He had scarcely taken charge when Captain Oliver, the
officer commanding the district, reported that the Palni poligar
was engaged in open hostilities with his neighbour the poligar of
Ayakkudi, while one of Tipu Sultan's officers complained that the
former was looting across the boundary in Coimbatoro ; several of
the other poligars disobeyed the Collector's summons to appear
before hira in Dindigul ; the poligar of Sandaiyur laid claim to the
pdlaiyam of Devadanapatti, the owner of which had recently died,
and refused to enter into any engagement for the payment of his
arrears until his claim was allowed ; the Palni poligar objected to
the proposal to detach and assess separately the Ayakkudi estate
which had once been an appanage of his palaiyam, and not only
refused to pay his peshkash but armed a thousand of his followers ;
the Yirupakshi poligar declined to receive the Collector's sanad
and customary presents and laid claim to the KannivWi estate ;
the Travancore manager kept on committing every sort of excess
in Kambam and Gudalur; in April the Collector himself and his
escort were stopped on the boundaries of Bodinayakkanur and his
peons were fired on ; and in May the Yadakarai poligar joined
Bodinayakkanur, both Palni and Ayakkudi began arming, Yiru-
pakshi opposed the Collector's progress, and Kombai set himself
to stir up disturbances in the Kambam valley.
In June, Government issued a proclamation to the poligars
forbidding them to arm themselves and requiring them to obey
the Collector. This had some temporary effect, but the country
went rapidly from bad to worse and in June 179G Government
appointed a Commission, consisting of Mr, William Harrington
and Captain William McLeod, to take charge of the district and to
investigate the causes of the disorder which existed.
On the last day of the following August the two Commissioners Commission
sent in a voluminous report on the matter and handed over the 1796. "^^'
24
186
MADUEA,
CHAP. XI.
Rbvknub
History.
Mr. Hurdis'
Collector-
ship.
district to a new Collector, Mr. Thomas Bowyer Hurdis. They
stated that not only was the district a prey to the political confu-
sion jast described, but that its revenue administration was defective
throughout. The karnams and amildars (or tahsildars) had com-
bined to produce false revenue accounts ; the former had entered
large areas of land as ' inams ' in the accounts, so that they might
be able to appropriate the produce of them ; poligars who had
been nominally dispossessed for contumacy went about none the
less with armed bands, annoying the ryots on their old estates ;
the land-customs were maladministered, certain individuals (for
example) being exempted without authority from paying them ; the
lessees of the five taluks (these had been rented out for five years
in November 1794 ; Kambam alone was kept under amani) had
fabricated false returns and kept the authorities in ignorance of the
real value of these tracts ; one of them, Appaji Pillai, moreover
caused all the ryots to leave their lands when the Commission
came round to measure and appraise them, lest they should give
information prejudicial to his interests ; these renters were not
only in arrears, but so bullied their tenants and let the lands fall
into such disrepair that numerous ryots had emigrated ; numerous
unauthorised alienations of Government land had been made by
subordinates ; the above Appaji Pillai and his father Kumara
Pillai had fraudulently effected many of these and had systemati-
cally colluded with the Collector's understrappers to undervalue
Government land and bring about other irregularities; the pesh-
kash collected from the poligars was from 14 to 28 per cent less
than it ought to have been, and than it had been in the time of
the Mysore renters Mir iSahib and Saiyad Sdhib mentioned above ;
and so forth and so on.
Grovernment and the Board considered the report and ordered,
among other things, that unauthorised alienations of land made
since the country camo into British hands should be resumed ;
that inamdars who were not in possession at the same date should
be dispossessed ; that Kumara Pillai and Appaji Pillai should be
banished the district ; that triennial, instead of annual, agreements
should be made with the poligars ; that troops should be sent to
Dindigul ; and that the Palni poligar should forfeit his estate for his
repeated misbehaviour. They stated that they looked to the new
Collector, Mr. Hurdis, to bring the district back again into order.
For several years this officer was only partially successful in
doing so. Unlike Sir Thomas Munro in the Ceded districts, he
had no body of troops at his command sufficient to enable him
forcibly to compel the poligars to behave themselves. These juen
LAND EEVENUE ADMINISTRATION.
w
had already become angry and disaffected ; some of them had been CHAP. Xf.
ousted from their ancestral estates and were wild with grief and Kevenok
indignation; the others found themselves expected to give up for istokt.
ever the independence and power they had always enjoyed and
to settle down to live virtuously and tamely on the produce of
their properties in entire subjection to the orders of the new
Grove rnment.
In 1797 this inflammable material was ignited by a revolt in
the Ramnad country, and the more daring and rebellious of the
Dindigul poligars began to raise disturbances in every quarter-
The records of this year and of 1798 are full of accounts of their
misdeeds. The one matter for congratulation was the fact that
they acted independently, each in what he conceived to be his own
interests, so that Mr. Hurdis was usually able to deal with then;
one by one.
In May 1799 the news reached Dindigul of the British suc-
cesses in the Third Mysore War against Tipu Sultan, of the fall
of Seringapatam, that ruler's capital, and of his death during the
attack. This produced the happiest results. Those of the poligars
who were secretly disaffected were awed into obedience to the
British, while those who were more deeply implicated lost all heart
and relaxed their efforts to create trouble.
By November 1799 order had been sufficiently restored to Order
enable the Collector to begin a task which he had always set before ""^^tored and
1 I . -, survey and
himself, namely, the systematic survey and assessment, field by settlement
field, of his charge. He eventually completed this undertaking \ocio^'
and sent in a monumental report thereon (dated 6th April 1803)
which came to be quoted as an authority for years afterwards ; and
it is not too much to say that the prosperity of the district dates
from the time of his administration, and that (while the settlement
which he effected was ultimately modified in many of its details)
the revenue system now in force is Mr. Hurdis' original system,
developed and improved.
About this time the policy of concluding permanent settle-
ments of the land revenue was being strenuously advocated, and
Mr. Hurdis was directed so to survey and report upon his charge
that the Board of Revenue might bo able at once 
