Indian Antiquary Vol 46

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

Page 63

MARCH. 1917)
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
57
smiths from Mahârátta, blacksmiths from Avanti (Malva), carpenters from Yavana, laboured with the artisans of the Tamil land.
Admitting this possible co-operation, it requires more to prove borrowing either the inspiration or the execution. None of the details of these works seem foreign either to the locality or to the prevalent notions of indigenous art. The suspected 'Cornucopia ' held in the hand by one of the figures at the bottom of the central water-course is none other than & sling containing the sacrificial platter of wood which one of the disciples has washed and put together to carry home to the hermitage, while his companion carries on his shoulder a vessel of water.
(To be continued.)
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA
By V. RANGACHARI, M.A., L.T., MADRAS.
(Continued from p. 47.) However it might have been, the rise of the Tondamâns was an important event in the history of Madura, Tanjore and Râmnad. From the time when Raghunatha Toucaman established himself at Pudukkottai, there was a new state which, led by able men and acute leaders, played a large part as a buffer-State in the wars and fortunes of the three powers which surrounded it. Nominally subordinate to Râmnad, it adjusted its policy to the exigencies of the moment, and utterly indifferent to the principle of constancy or loyalty, carried on its own tauk of self-expansion. The Tondamân, as we shall see later on, did not hesitate to act against Râmnâd if his interests dictated such a course. Similarly, he did not hesitate to fight with Madura, the suzerain of his immediate suzerain. Towards Tanjore the Tondamên was, as a rule, an enemy; but even here enmity or friendship depended on the expediency of the moment. The result of these moves and countermotes, of these alliances and onmities, was that Pudukkottai was able, in the long run, to survive both the kingdoms of Tanjoro and Madura ani, in a sense, the estate of Râmnâ !, as the last of these became, thanks to its instigation, a partitioned and therefore comparatively powerless estate.
In the year 1674 the interval of peace ended, and Chokkanatha again entered into a series of wars which, though at first attended with startling success, eventually turned out highly disastrous to the kingdom. The first of these, which was destined to mark a revolution in the history of South India, was with Tanjore. It not only led to the sudden extinction of the Naik dynasty of that kingdom, but to the advent of the Marathan, just then rising to power and prominence, into the South. The Maratha occupation of Tanjore led in its turn to important effects. The Tanjore colony was the work of the younger son of Shahji, and was followed by a civil war between him and his elder brother. The struggle between the brothers was complicated by the entrance on the scene of their common enemy, Mysore, then under the officient and powerful rule of Chika Dāva Raj. The ambition and avarice of the contending parties extended their field of operations into the region between the Kâ veri and the Vaigai. The kingdum of Madura became, in consequence, a vast theatre of war. The position of Chokkanatha was & most unfortunate and miserable one; for while the Marathas and Mysoreans were struggling with one another, they were equally interested in despoiling his power and annexing his kingdom, so that in a few years his authority was reduced to
tota