Indian Antiquary Vol 45

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 99

MAY, 1916]
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
91
tha II, assumed, in accordance with the custom of the day, the honours, duties and responsibilities of joint royalty. As a matter of fact, however, the administration was in the hands of Aryanatha Mudaliâr. He was in reality the sovereign of the country, the nominal kings being puppets by his side and, in consequence, the tools of his will. The age, the position, and the industry of the venerable statemen invested him with the dignity of the dictator and the authority of an autocrat. His word was, for all practical purposes, the law, and his advice a command. The historian may well criticise this attitude of Aryanatha, and condemn him as a practical usurper, who contributed to the weakness and indolence of his wards, instead of increasing their strength; but, though it is impossible to prove that he was not inspired by ambition or prompted by self-interest yet it can be well contended that, in the assertion of his power, his intentions were perhaps not to blame. If the other men did not shine by his side, it was not his fault. His services at the same time gave him a moral strength. A terror to the elements of disorder in the land, he maintained peace, and regulated the affairs of state in their smooth and regular course. With efficiency he combined sympathy, thereby making himself the idol of all classes of people.20 He conciliated the Brahmans by his munificent endowments, his liberal charities, his foundation of agraharams and his patronage of religious architecture. He gratified the peasants and agriculturists by his stern control over the Polygars, and his generosity in the excavation of tanks and the construction of canals for irrigation purposes. The effect of his strong presence was seen in the fact that throughout this reign there was not a single rebellion except that of the Mâvalivâna king. The Mâvalivaṇas were, as has been already shewn, chiefs with a historic past and traditional greatness, whose ancestors had come, centuries back to the Madura district. Unfortunately we have no knowledge of the parentage, the period of rule, and other details concerning the chief against whom Virappa had to march. All that we can say is that that the rebel was more bold than wise in his disaffection and rebellion. For no sooner did he take possession of Mânâ-Madurai and Kâlayâr Kôil than Virappa promptly took the field against him, and as the History of the Carnatic Governors curtly puts it, conquered him and took possession of his country. Inscription 366 of 1901, which says that a certain Vânadarayar was the agent of Virappa Nayakkar Aiyan, evidently refers to his defeat and later loyalty.27
No other event sullied the calm of Virappa's rule, and he was able to devote himself, in consequence, like the rest of his line, to the foundation of agrahârams for Brahmans and the construction of religious as well as military architecture. To him is attributed the erection of the wall which encompass the famous shrine 28 of Chidambaram. He was also the builder of "the Kambattḍi Mantapam," beautiful and stone-pillared edifice in the Sunderêsvara temples of Madura. It was finished, as an inscription in one of its pillars says, in S. 1505 (Subhânu), i. e., 1583 A. D. The pillars are highly sculptured with Paurâpic scenes and figures, and display, like the other buildings of the age, that extraordinary patience and that masterly skill, which characterised the artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. In military architecture, Virappa achieved an equal distinction. He constructed the southern walls of the Trichinopoly fort and the fortress of Aruppakkôṭṭai.30
26 The Mirt. MSS. give ample proof of this.
28 Hist. of the Carna. Gours.
27 Madr. Ep. Rep. 1910, p. 33.
29 Madr. Epigr. Rep., 1905-6, para. 60; Ibid 1907-8, p. 69. The latter is in Telugu, but a Tamil copy of it is added to the inscription. See also Sewell's Antiquities, I, 295 and II, 77.
30 Taylor ridiculously translates it into "An Arab fort." He believed that it might be Elmiseran or Tiruverambur. But Aruppak Kôṭṭai is really a town, 50 miles west by north of Râmnâd, and 28 miles south of Madura, with a population of about 12,000. (Madras Manual III, p. 346).