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DECEMBER, 1914.] THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
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Temples and choultries, tanke and villages, without number, owed their existence to their benevolence or liberality, and a chain of forts of skilful design and patient labour even now testify to their martial spirit. Thousands of Brahman villages of the south remind us of the enlightened interest of some Naik king and the great veneration he had for the Brâhmans, and almost every temple or house of charity traces its history to the piety or generosity of a Naik, No greater example have we in history of a line of a kings so uniformly industrious in the promotion of religious architecture and military fortification, and no line which so heartily co-operated with the intellectual aristocracy of the land. It may not be quite possible to endorse the statement of an able English writer that the Naik dynasty “raised the country probably to the highest level of civilization attainable by it under a native government."100 For, as we shall see later on, the Nâiks sometimes displayed their enthusiasm for building at the expense of good government, and their munificence at the expense of popular welfare. Under their exorbitant sway the burden of taxation was, as a rule, very great, and the security of people precarious. Not even for a decade, during their rule of two centuries, did they cease from the horrors of war and the hardships of military exercises. Entirely oblivious of their subject's needs, they very often
readily courted military engagements with an easy mind and a culpable recklessness which 4 made settled government a mockery. Nevertheless there is much of truth in what Mr.
Nelson says. Misrule was not continuous. It had welcome breaks, while statesmen of the stamp of Visvanatha are not entirely wanting. Above all, the service they rendered to Hindu religion and civilization is incalculable. Guided at every step by Brahmans, the Naiks seemed to be more the servants of the Church than the masters of their kingdom, and as the establishment of villages, the construction of canals, the excavation of tanks, and similar tasks of utility and benefit were, in the eyes of their adviser, at once acts of policy and religion, it is not difficult to see how Brahmanical influence was calculated to benefit the masses and the cause of civilization.
NOTE
Manucci's Theory of the Origin of the Nalk Kingdom. The Venetian traveller Manucci gives an even wider account of the origin of the southern kingdom than Wheeler. “More than 200 years ago," he says, "there reigned an emperor called Rama Raja who was so generous that it is remarked in the chronicles that he never refused any favour asked.” (Storia do Mogor, III, p. 98). His liberality gained him a 'high renown and a host of servants from alien countries. His empire extended from the Narbada and Jagannath to the Cape and included the Coromandel, Travancore and Konkan coasts. His empire was highly prosperous and abounded in pearls and diamonds, in food-stuffs and grains, in cities, forts and harbours, and was consequently the resort of adventurers of all nations, especially those of China and Achin. The emperor, continues Manucci, gave with characteristio generosity the government of the different provinces to his servants and slaves. Bijâpur, for instance, he bestowed on a Georgian Yusuf Ali, the carver at his table; Gulbarga, to his huntsman Abraham Maly (Ibrahim Malik); Daulatabid to his Abyssinian slave and chamber-servant, Nizam Shah ; Goloondah, to another of his slaves who had charge of the hawks, faloons, etc., and of the royal hunting establishments, and was known as Baram (falcon) Kutb Shah ; Burhanpur, to his carpet-spreador; and so on. "The remaining lands of the Carnatic were divided among his Hindu pages, while he retained some territory and a few fortresses scattered here and
100 Nelson ; Madu. Manu. 86.
