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272
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[NOVEMBER, 1917
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA.
BY V. RANGACHARI, M.A., L.T., MADRAS.
(Continued from p. 247.) Such was the position in the year 1752. The nominal king of the country, the exiled Naik, was a refuge in the Râmnând estate. His kingdom was an object of contest between the powers of South India. It would be exceedingly interesting to ascertain the nature of the feelings which each of the contending parties felt towards the ex-king. One thing is certain, however: he was not such a forgotten figure in the politics of the day as we have to infer from the great English historian of the period. The descendant of Tirumala Naik did not indeed actually exercise power. But his name had a charm to the Hindu population and was received with applause and with loyalty by many of the Polygars. Vijaya Kumâra could not therefore be ignored by the parties of the war. Intrigues and counterintrigues must have passed between him and them, but the details of these we unfortunately do not possess. With regard to the Policy of Chanda Sahib, or at least his lieutenant Alam Khan, however, we have got ample material to pronounce a judgment. Chanda Sahib had behaved, as has been already mentioned, like a determined opponent of Vijaya Kumâra. It was his want of sympathy, in fact, that made Bangiru Tirumala apply to the Mahrattas for help in 1741. But it seems that, after his conquest of the Carnatic, Chanda Sahib apparently changed his attitude towards the ex-king of Madura. He seeins to have no longer regarded him as an adversary to be removed at any cost from the field. Either a wise policy of conciliation or a hypocritical pretence, for the time, of friendship, induced him to negotiate with Vijaya Kumara and recognize his birthright as the king of the cis-Kaveri region. Perhaps he feared that Muhammad Ali might befriend him and thereby strengthen his cause. Perhaps he thought that he would strengthen his own cause by respecting the loyal sentiments of the Hindus and recognizing their titular inonarch. Whatever the reason was, his lieutenant Alam Khan tried his best for the restoration of Vijaya Kumara to Madura. He himself could not do it in person, for the state of affairs at Trichinopoly called his immediate presence, there to stand by his master. When departing to the scene of war, however, he ordered his own son-in-law and representative, Muda Miyan, whom he appointed the Viceroy of Madura and Tinnevelly, to immediately restore the Carnatic prince to his birthright. "From the time of our ancestors," he said, " we have been the servants of the Trichinopoly Raj. The same is the case with me now. The Karnataka Monarch is now in the Marava country. Call him thence, crown him, and seek from him a jagir for your service."
The Naik restoration. With this order, Alam Khan proceeded to Trichinopoly to join his master. There unfortunately, he fell a victim to a skirmish against Lawrence and Clive. His orders were, if we are to trust the chronicle, scrupulously carried out by Muda Miyan. Proceeding
Orme does not mention all this. He simply says that Alam Khan in 1752 left Madura under the management of three Pathan officers, Muhammad Barki (Myana), Muhammad Mainach (Muda Miyân), and Nabi Khan (Katak), while proceeding to Trichinopoly.
