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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1914.
palayams as they were called in the Tamil country, for notable exploits and services rendered by them to the State. The distinction for which they received their reward may have belonged to any department of life. Some were rewarded on account of their hardy physical strength and triumph over professional wrestlers, some on account of their skill in magic, others on account of their having distinguished themselves as local chieftains or efficient soldiers. Howsoever it was, whether the newcoming Polygar31 was a wrestler or a soldier, a chieftain or a statesman, he naturally never came alone. When he migrated to his new home, he took with him, as the MS. chronicles mention, hundreds of families of his own kinship and following, of his own caste and creed. The fertile valleys of the Kâvêri, the Vaigai, and the Tâmbraparni, the borders of the Western Ghats, the wild regions of Tinnevelly,—the whole of the South India from the Kaveri to the Cape became in this way spotted with a number of Telugu palayams. These palayams were based on military tenure. The Polygar was to clear the forests, to build villages, to extend cultivation, to execute irrigational works, to, in short, rule over his estate, which of course was inhabited by his own countrymen and to a larger extent by the Tamilians of the locality. The Pôlygar was thus in the position of a petty ruler. He had the hereditary right of succession vested in him, although the succession of a new Polygar to his paternal estate had to be ratified by the central authority. He could tax his people, and had at the same time to maintain the police, and arrange for and preside over the distribution of justice. He could, with special permission (which was granted only in extraordinary cases), even fortify the capital of his colony. The ordinarily permitted fortification was of mud; but special exploits achieved on behalf of the suzerain power procured from the Râya or his viceroy in Madura the sanction to build stone-forts as well. The Polygar lived in his palace; had hundreds of retainers, and held, during the Navaratri and other similarly important occasions, a Darbar or kolu as it is called in Tamil. To the central authority, he had of course to pay his tribute. He had further to maintain a stated number of troops, and wait on the Raya or the provincial viceroy whenever called on to do so. All official communication between the Naik Viceroy at Madura and the Polygar seems to have been carried on through sthanapatis or agents, whom each Polygår had the right to maintain in the capital.
The date of the early Palayams of Trichinopoly and Manapparai. It is difficult to say, owing to the perplexing chronology and wild statements found in the chronicles of these adventurers, who, among these, came to South India in the 14th and 15th centuries, and who came later on with Visvanatha, the founder of the Naik dynasty at Madura. But there is no doubt that many of them were immigrants of the earlier period, though they did not arrire so early as some of the MSS. would make us believe. Taking the Trichinopoly district, for instance, which, as we shall see later on, formed part of the Naik dominion, we find that, out of the five palayam852 (Turaiyûr, Iluppí, Kulattûr Peramür and Ariyalûr) which belonged to it, three at least trace their founders to periods not
51 According to Wilks, the term Polygar is a comparatively modern term introduced by the Telugu government of Vijayanagar in the place of Udayar. See Wilks' Mysore, I, 21, footnote.
52 Turaiyur is even now the seat of & Zamindari, 12 miles N. of Magiri in the Trichinopoly District. Iluppúr also id Zamindari, 26 miles S. of Trichinopoly. Kulattar has become part of Pudukkottai. Peramar And Ariyalar are estates in Mu'iri and Udayarpalayam taluks. For the description of all these places seo Trichi. Gazr. and for a translation of their MS chronicles see appendix II on Trichinopoly palayams. A full reference to the bibliography of the history of these has also been given there.
