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JUNE, 1917)
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
121
industry secured a personal acquaintance with the most minute affairs of the kingdom. His watchful eye was everywhere, and he was ever on his feet. Restless and enthusiastic, he would proceed hundreds of miles to hear a single complaint or chastise a petty chief. The divided provinces, in consequence, became united ; and the Polygars of the most distant provinces dreaded his displeasure, and paid a ready and willing homage. At Tinnevelly, whither he went, as we have already seen, to inquire into the alleged financial abuses of the viceroy, he received the respect and the tribute of all the Polygars of the province. Even the king of Travancore, who was apprised of the king's stay at Tinnevelly, hastened to enlist his good will by despatching a tribute of elephants (twelve in number) and horses, of treasure and ornaments. The historian cannot but admire the personal merit of this extraordinary king who, though so young in age, was so eminently successful in securing the allegiance of chiefs who, only a few months back, had regarded their suzerain as a nonentity and themselves as kings.
His justice. in administration 27 Ranga Krishna was not less successful. His administration was based on the principle of equity and reason. He was, like the rest of his dynasty, & friend, admirer and servant of the Brahmans, He loved to praise them and to be praised by them. He listened to their counsels, and built agraharams and temples, choultries and tanks. He led an orthodox life, paid frequent visits to temples, and bestowed with a lavish hand the traditional charities of money, cows and lands on bis advisers. Nevertheless, he never allowed the claims of justice to be overruled by his partiality. In the court he was superior to race consideration or caste privilege. Once in a dispute between the Brahmans and the Christians in regard to a piece of land, which the former had illegally seized for a religious purpose, the king ordered that the idols should be thrown into the river rather than that justice be violated under his regime. A prince with such noble views could hardly have secured the affections and obtained the blessings of the Brahmans at first; but the latter knew how to appreciate real merit. Moreover they succeeded, as we have already seen, in gaining his generous donations in other respects. They knew that if the king was severe, he was severe for the sake of justice; and they therefore took his rebukes in the proper spirit, and tactfully strengthened their own position by praising the spotless equity of his rule.
THE MOGH UL CONQUEST OF THE DAKHAN. After the pacification of the kingdom, Ranga Krishịa placed his foreign policy on a stronger basis. His reign synchronised with momentous events in the Deccan. The Puritan Emperor Aurangzeb was engaged in a deadly struggle with the Hindu Marathas on the one hand, and the weak and half-Hinduised Sultans of Bijapur and Golcondah on the other, and by the year 1688 had conquered and annexed the latter kingdoms. With the extinction of Bijapur the Carnatic became the property of the Mughal Empire. The suzerain of the Ndiks of Tanjore and Madura was thenceforth not the Sultan of Bijapur nor the Maratha, but the Emperor of Delhi, and the latter lost no time in establishing the imperial power on a secure basis. For two years after the extinction of the twin kingdoms of the Deccan, Aurangzeb could not proceed against the South, as he was engaged in war with Sambaji. It was only after 1689, when Sambaji was
1 An insoription of Arumbavor, 14 miles from Perambalar in the Trichinopoly District, says that ho made grants for the repair of a sluice in 1686 A, D. (Antiquities, II, p. 263).
