Polygar

Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, (as the British referred to them) in Andhra and Tamil Nadu refers to the holder of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, palayam was given for valuable military services rendered by any individual. The word pālayam means domain, a military camp, or a small kingdom. This type of Palayakkarars system was in practice during the rule of Pratapa Rudhra of Warangal in the Kakatiya kingdom. The system was put in place in Tamilnadu by Viswanatha Nayaka, when he became the Nayak ruler of Madurai in 1529, with the support of his minister Ariyanathar. Traditionally there were supposed to be 72 Palayakkarars. The majority of those Palaiyakkarar, who during the late 17th- and 18th-centuries controlled much of the Telugu region as well as the Tamil area, had themselves come from the Kallar, Maravar and Vatuka, pala ekari communities. The Palaiyakkarar of Madurai Country were instrumental in establishing administrative reforms by building irrigation projects, forts and religious institutions. The Palaiyakkarar who worshipped the goddess Kali did not allow their territory to be annexed by Aurangzeb. Their wars with the British East India Company after the demise of the Madurai Nayakas is often regarded as one of the earliest struggles for Indian independence. Many captured Palaiyakkarar commanders were either executed or banished to the Andaman Islands by the British. Puli Thevar, Veerapandya Kattabomman, the Marudu brothers, Maruthanayagam, Dheeran Chinnamalai, and Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy were some notable Palaiyakkarar who rose up in revolt against the British rule in South India. Their wars against the British East India Company predates the Indian rebellion of 1857 in Northern India by many decades but is still largely given less importance by historians. The Polygar's role was to administer their Palaiyams (territories) from their fortified centres. Their chief functions were to collect taxes, maintain law and order, run the local judiciary, and maintain a battalion of troops for the king.