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OCTOBER, 1916]
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
169
The compiler of the Trarancore Manuale further points out from the inscriptions of certain villages in the Agastyéśvaram Taluk that the forces of Tirumal Naik visited the country several times conquering and plundering wherever they went and that the country was in a state of anarchy and confusion for about half a century. It should be remembered that the limits of Nan janâd which now comprise the Tovala and Agastisvaram Taluks, were not the then limits of that tract. The records show that a large strip of land between Mangalam near Ponmana and Manakudi, formed part of Nanjanâd, while a part of Agatisvaram Taluk from the Cape to Kottaram belonged to and was governed by the officers of Tirumala Nayak and his descendants. There existed in those days a partition wall, the remnants of which are still to be seen from Manakudi to Pottaiyadi, and the triangular piece of land on the other side of the line including Variyur, Karungulam, Alayappapuram, Anjugramam, Cape Comarin, Mahadana puram, and Agatisvaram, went by the name of Purattayanad or Murattanad. There was thus great facility for the Naik's forces to march into Nanjaned and commit deprodations."
SECTION IV.
The Setupati Rebellion. Scarcely was the war with Travancore over when Tirumal Naik was engaged in the quelling of a serious domestic revolt, his behaviour in which proves his tendency to be impelled more by prejudice than by principle, by evil counsel than by policy. The utmost differences of opinion exist in connection with the causes of the revolt. According to the Carna. Govrs. and Råmappaiyan-Ammânai, a beautiful historical ballad, the question was one of pure and simple disaffection and rebellion. Sadayakka Déva or Dalavai Setupati, they say, refused to acknowledge the supremacy of the Naik. He withheld the tribute, and when the Karta remonstrated, he beat and ill-treated the royal agents who brought the Takid' of protest. The other versions, while differing in details, agree as a whole in representing the affair as an affair of disputed succession. According to Wilson the dispute was between the sons of the celebrated Kûttan Setupati who, after a rule of 13 years during which he showed himself endowed with the temper of a chief and the valour of a soldier, died in 1635, leaving three sons two legitimate and one illegitimate. The eldest of the legitimate sons (whose name Wilson does not give) assumed the title of Setupati. But no sooner did he begin to administer his estate than a formidable rival arose in his younger brother Adi Narayana Têve who, with greater ambicion than justice, desired to expel his brother and usurp the crown. Fortunately for him he had a very able soldier in his son-in-law Vanniya, and with his help, gained the object of his ambition.
Tirumal's policy. The elder brother was deposed, and Adi Narayağa was seated on the gadi. But he was not destined to enjoy his illgotten position long. His illegitimate brother, Tambi Sêtu pati, embraced the resolution of imitating his example, and created a faction in the State. The aspirant, in his inordinate desire to obtain the support of Tirumal
1 ltid, 316. It is very probable, however, that the Madura chronicles use the term Nanjinad rather vaguely for Travancore and not in the striot geographical sense pointed out by Mr. Nagam Aiya.
5 This MS. is one of the MSS. copied by Taylor. It is in his Vol IV. pp. 303-376. A summary of it is given by him in his Rais. Oatah, Vol. II, p. 347 and 0. H. MSS., II, p. 179. Both the notices are very moagro and unsatisfactory.
