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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1914.
Iluppúr, was an extensive estate till late in the 17th century. Muttiah Naik, common ancestor of Marungapuri, Kadavûr and Iluppûr, was a Tóttiyan of Gooty. He emigrated to the south, says a MS, in 1284 A. D., but at the very next line it says, quite inconsistently, that he was a servant of Tirumala of Vijayanagar and a contemporary of Visvanatha Naik, who belonged to the 16th century! We have no historial materials concerning Thôhaimalai, and Viramalai; but we are somewhat better informed in regard to Nattam and Ramagiri. The founder of Nattam, Lingama Naik, came originally from the neighbourhood of Chandragiri in consequence, it is said, of "Mughal" ravages-some time evidently previous to the establishment of the Naik Raj. Sami Naik of Ramagiri came from Gooty about 1420 A. D. in the time, it is said, of Nâgama Naik, Chandra Sêkhara Pâądya and Visvanatha,-a chronological mistake which almost all the Polygar inemoirs commit.
The Palayams of Dindigal and Madura. Proceeding to the palayams of Dindigal, we find the same disagreement among the MSS in regard to the actual number of feudal estates in the Nâik period. One gives 24, another 23, a third 21, while the English records 53 mention 26 palayams when the province came into the hands of the Hon. E. I. Company. The Chinnôbas of Palni and the Kondama Naiks of Ayakudi came to their respective estates in the train of Kottiyam Nagama Naik, about whom we shall scudy presently (though the MS memoirs of these err, like many others of the series, in placing Nâgama in early 15th century), from Abóbilam, their native place. Tirumalai Chinnappa Naik of Virûpakshi founded his palayam about 1381 A. D., and his brothers, Appaiya and Errama, founded the respective estates of Kannivadi66 and Idayakottai 7. The MS history of the Kannivadi chiefs, however, while recognising the close relationship between their ancestor and the ancestors of the Virů pakshi and Idayako!'ai chiefs, gives a different date for the settlement,-namely 1403 A. D. It further says that Appaiya was the contemporary of Chandrasekhara Pandya and Kottiyam Nagama Naik, and can thus hardly be considered correct in its chronology. It is curious that, while both the Virû pâkshi and Kannivâdi chronicles say that Errama of ldayakottai was a brother of their founders, the chronicle of the latter does not mention this, but simply asserts that the ancestor of the family Vallâla Makka was a servant of Nâgama Naik and came with him to Madura in 1432, and settled at Idayakôttai. The Naik chiefs of Madûr. Emakalapuram,58 Tavasimadai, Ammaiya Naikenûr,59 Kûlappa Naikenûrco
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55 For a comparative statement of the 3 MSS in a tabular form see Appendix IV entitled Dindigal palayams. The M8 chronicles of almost all these are available and have been abstracted, translated and edited in Appendix IV. "Pajni is the headquarters of a Kluk in Madura District. (Seo Madura. Gazr. 304-8) It is an extinct palayam. Ayakudi is 4 miles E. of Palni, and unlike the latter a Zamindar even now. It has now been purchased by the Zamindar of Rottyambadi. (Madura Gazr. p. 301). Virupakshi is also an extinct palayam 13 miles E. of Paini on the bank of the Nanganji. It is not a Zamindari. For the full references to the MS chronicles and translations of them see Appendix IV.
50 This lies 10 miles west of Dindigal, close under the Palni hills, and is the largest Zamindâri in the district. Madura Gazt. 238-240 and Appendix IV., Section 4.
57 The seat of a Zamindari, 21 miles from Dindigal, on the northern frontier of Palni taluk. Madura. Garr. 302-3; Appendix IV, Section 5
* 8 miles S. E. of Dindigal (Madura Gazr. p. 237); Tavasimalai is near it. (Ibid, p. 243). See Appendix, IV, Sections 10 and 11.
* Four miles east of Nilakottai, in Nilakottai Táluk (Ibid. 292-4). Appendix IV, Sectior 12. 60 Nilakottai itself. Ibid, 205-6. Appendix IV, Section 13.