In the early 15th Century the present territories of Ramanathapuram district comprising of taluks Tiruvadanai, Paramakudi, Kamuthi, Mudukulathur, Ramanathapuram and Rameswaram were included in Pandiyan Kingdom. For a short period, this area was under the Chola Kings when Rajendra Chola brought it under his territory in 1063 AD. In 1520 AD., the Nayaks of Vijayangar took over this area under their control from the Pandiyan dynasty for about two centuries, Marava chieftains-Sethupathis who were Lords under Pandiyan Kings and reigned over this part (17th century). At the beginning of the 18th century, family disputes over succession resulted in the division of Ramanathapuram. With the help of the King of Thanjavur in 1730 A.D. one of the chieftains deposed Sethupathy and became the Raja of Sivaganga. Acting upon the weakness of the Nayak rules, the local chieftains (Palayakarars) became independent. Raja of Sivagangai, Sethupathy of Ramanathapuram were prominent among them. In 173, Chand, a Sahib of Carnatic, captured Ramanathapuram. In 1741, the area came under the control of the Marattas and then under the Nizam in 1744 AD, Nawab's rule made displeasure in the mind of those chieftains. That made them declare the last Nayak as ruler of Pandiya Mandalam against the Nawab in 1752 AD. By that time, throne of Carnatic had two rivals, Shanda Sahib and Mohamed Ali, and this district was part of Carnatic. The British and French supported Chanda Sahib and Mohamed Ali respectively. It paved the way for series of conflicts in the southern part of the continent.
In 1795, the British deposed Muthuramalinga Sethupathy and took control of the administration of Ramanathapuram. In 1803 Mangaleswari Nachiyar was made the Zamindar of Sivagangai After passing of Queen, the Marudhu Brothers took the charge by paying regular revenue to the East India company. In 1801 the Marudhu Brothers of Sivaganga revolted against the British in collaboration with Kattabomman of Panchalamkurichi. Colonel Agnew captured Marudhu Brothers and hanged them and made Gowri Vallbah Periya Udaya Thevar as Zamindar of Sivaganga.
Maruthupandyar (Maruthu Pandyar) ruled Sivagangai during the last part of the 18-th century. He became the ruler of Sivagangai which was paying tribute to the British. He continued to pay tribute for many years. Eventually he rebelled against the British and issued an Independence Proclamation from Thiruchi Thiruvarangam Temple on June 10, 1801. He called on the other local rulers to join hands with him and fight the British. While some did, others supported the British.
Maruthu Pandyar and his allies were quite successful and captured three districts from the British. Seeing the deteriorating situation, the British brought in additional troops from Britain. They also got more troops from the British garrisons in the neighboring Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka). Pudukottai and Ettayapuram rulers also sent their armies to help the British. These forces surrounded Maruthu Pandyar's army at Kalayar Koil, and the latter scattered. Maruthu Pandyar and his top commanders escaped. They regrouped and fought the British and their allies at Viruppatchi, Dindugal and Cholapuram. While they won the battle at Viruppatchi, they lost the other two battles. Maruthu Pandyar was captured at Cholapuram. He was hanged on October 24, 1801. He was the last Tamil ruler in Tamil Nadu to fight the British. The British conquest of Tamil Nadu was complete; all the local rulers paid tribute to them.
Maruthu Pandyar's 1801 Independence Proclamation was the first such proclamation against the British.
Do you have the history of what happened to the Pandiars during these times ? Hope they were not extinguished by the British... I strongly believe that decendents of the Pandiars still live today somewhere in the south.
theres something about that in the history of kattabommu dynasty. ever since the khilji invasion the pandyas moved south. something like Tenkasi some small dynasties survived but by british times most poligar (palayakaarars) were telugu speaking.
should check up if the descendants of those guys still live.
hi friends, two daughters of ettayapuram zamindar are living at chennai. sons are residing at tinneveli. zamindar married one cine star. she has a son who is looking after rajahs high school at ettayapuram. i studied with the eldest daughter in that school. seethalakshmi
-if you need a juicy story with a suspense, talk to madam seethalakshmi now we will all forget about the palayakarars and concentrate on finding the identity of the film artiste who married the zamindar. we actually the ex royalty had a craze on movies. they built theatres and financed movies. the last rajah of sivaganga also acted as a villlian in a jaishanker movie I guess ettayapuram jamin still has a lot of land in thirunelveli. huge chunks. one trivia was they owned the onlytheatre in ettayapuram/ kayathar and would not allow kattobomman movie to be released there. venketesh
another information rajaji and kalki came to ettayapuram to explore the possibilities to buiid bharathiyar memorial mandapam. they stayed in rajas guest house only. after the construction of memorial every year we had big functions but none of the representative attended from place. i discussed with many people in palace. when people talk about bharathiyar ,automatically the talk about freedom strugle will come..so palace people had hesitation.