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| Puli Thevar was a poligar (or palayakarar)besttoppers.com |
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| Sri Krishna thevaraya article.wn.com |
Kumara Kampana - 1378 AD of Vijayanagaram first established his rule in Madurai. By the end of the century, the whole of South India, south of the Krishna- Tungabhadra rivers including part of Karnataka, Kerala, were under the Vijayanagara rule.
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| Veerapandya Kattabomman, early freedom fighter. Chira Chaitanya - blogger |
Above image: Post dating 1857 First major rebellion in the Northern states of India, the Polygar Wars, an alliance of many Palaiyakkarar's were waged against the British between 1798 and 1805. The war between the British and Veerapandiya Kattabomman is said to be the First Polygar War (1799). The Second Polygar war (1800–1805) was fought by a bigger coalition while the Second Polygar War (1800–1805) against the British was in the whole of western Tamil Nadu headed by Dheeran Chinnamalai and Maruthu Pandiyar, brother of the Sivaganga. A final Polygar War in 1847 against the British was fought by Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy at Kovelakuntla (Koilakuntla)...............
Vijayanagaram became so a vast a military state, it was too difficult to manage it. At one stage territorial division for effective management became a necessity. The country was divided into small territories and each territory called 'Amara Nayakka Thaanam' headed by Amara Nayakkars. Subsequently, the divisions were referred to as ''Palayams.'' In Tamil Nadu and other states there are towns or parts of cities with names ending in Palayams, example: Rajapalayam, Papanayakam patti (Coimbatore), Mettupalayam in Nilgiris District.
Palaiyakkarars' civil responsibilities included looking after irrigation projects, maintenance of forts, religious institutions, land revenue collection, giving judgment and imposing punishment, etc.
Many wars, waged by the daring, well motivated religious (following Hinduism) and highly patriotic Palayakkarars against the diabolic British East India company officers, after the demise of Madurai Nayaks,
Often regarded as the ''earliest Indian Freedom Fighters '' though their relentless rebellions predate the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 in Northern India by many decades, unfortunately, their daring exploits, sacrifices and vast contributions o India's early independence struggle are given either less importance or simply ignored by historians under the early Congress regime. Also ignored was the effective dynasties of Chera, Chola, Pandya, Hoysala, Vijayanagara, Chalukyas of southern states. Both Colonial and later central government History syllabus overlooked the early rulers. Some historians complained more was focussed on the Mogul rule.
Even now a vast majority of Indians including native Tamil people have no idea whatsoever about Palayakkarars and their role in freedom struggle against who took over the lands from the rulers of Arcot Nawab family, once the vassals of the Mogul rulers. Nor have Tamils read or come across great freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu like Puli Thevar, Veerapandya Kattabomman, Dheeran Chinnamalai, Marudu brothers, Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy and others - the most courageous and well-known Palayakkarar. They revolted against the oppressive British rule in South India,
Particularly, in South Tamil Nadu, south of Madurai the British were land revenue administrators on behalf of the Nawab of Arcot. Just because the feudal rulers protested against their forced land revenue collection from their legitimate land, which they had long been enjoying the rights by way of raising various crops even before the arrival of the British, many Palaiyakkarars were hanged to death under some pretext and some banished forever to Andaman Islands by the British.
Over night, the rich feudal heads, their families and their dependents were pushed to mere ''hand to mouth existence.'' One could imagine how cruel the British company officials were against the natives. To strangle the throat of daring Poligars or Palayakkarars, the British followed several ingenuous methods - right choice of whistleblowers, unpatriotic, turn coats, among some local rulers. These traitors served the British well in return for substantial rewards, land, etc.
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| 1700 CE map of India, region ruled by Polygars in the south,en.wikipedia.org. |
Madurai established 72 Paalayams in the Madurai country - system of military - civil administration for better management and better services to the people. Each palayam was taken care of by a chieftain - palyaakkarar. So, there was a perfect harmony between the head of Palayam and his subjects. After the gradual down fall of Madurai Nayak rule, many Palayams became separate small kingdoms on their own and the palayakkarar became a ruler.
About the origin of Palaiyakkarar in Tamil country it is a subject of debate. Believed to be was based on the Kakatiya dynasty's model by the ruler Prataparudra. records are quite vague. Under the Vijayanagara rulers who were staunch Hindus, the Tamil desam was safe and the temples were well guarded. They rebuilt big temples like Srirangam Ranganathar temple and Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple, heavily damaged by the Muslim invaders from the Delhi Sultanate of Alauddin Khilji led by Army Chief Malik Kaufer and Ulagh Khan, in the 1300s CE.
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After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire after the mid-16th century, Nayakas, or governors, assumed the leadership. Several Nayaks including Thanjavur Nayas (who built Mahamaham temples tank and several temples near Kumbakonam, etc opted for a conventional system of administration, or the Aravidu line of later Vijayanagara Kings based in Chandragiri , following the Palayam or Palegallu system of administration.
The Madurai kingdoms consisted of present day Western Tamil Nadu with Coimbatore, Salem and Kollidam river forming the northern boundary barring Tanjore Kingdom and Western Ghats forming the western border and Kanyakumari in the South.
Revised Post of https://www.navrangindia.in/2015/05/indias-earliest-freedom-fighters.html
Balendu Sekaram, Kandavalli, 1909–. The Nayakas of Madura by Khandavalli Balendusekharam (Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Sahithya Akademi, 1975) ; 30 p. ; 22 cm. ; "World Telugu Conference publication." ; History of the Telugu speaking Nayaka kings of Pandyan Kingdom, Madurai, 16th–18th century.
Prof.K.Rajayyan M.A.,M.Litt,A.M. P.hd.,A History of Freedom Struggle in India
M.P.Manivel, 2003 – Viduthalaipporil Virupachi Gopal Naickar (Tamil Language), New Century Book House, Chennai
https://www.facebook.com/reddiyars/posts/376491209133936
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygar
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