11 



bution. The cultivators then remain under the weight of a 

 heavy debt ; and often they are obliged to prove their inability 

 to pay by submitting to the most barbarous tortures. It would 

 be difficult for you to conceive such an oppression, and yet I 

 must add that this tyranny is more frightful and revolting in 

 the kingdom of Gingee. For the rest this is all I can say, for 

 I cannot find words to express all that is horrible in it." 



Even the rule of Tirumal Nayak, who may be fitly called 

 the " magnificent," was oppressive. Tirumal Is'ayak was par- 

 tial to Christianity and treated the Jesuit missionaries with 

 marked kindness ; and he was even suspected of having em- 

 braced Christianity secretly. And yet this is the account given 

 by Father Proenza in a letter, dated Trichinopoly, 1659 : 

 ''Tirumal Nayakar was not spared to enjoy the victory; he 

 was called upon to render an account to God of the evils which 

 his treacherous policy had drawn on his people and on the 

 neighbouring kingdoms. He died at the age of 75 years after 

 a reign of 30 years. We cannot but acknowledge that he 

 possessed great qualities ; but he tarnished their glory towards 

 the end of his life by vices and follies which nothing could 

 justify. His reign was illustrious by works of truly royal 

 magnificence, among them being the pagoda of Madura, and, 

 above all, the royal palace, whose colossal proportions and 

 gigantic strength recall to memory the ancient monuments 

 of Thebes. He loved and protected the Christian religion, the 

 excellence of which he recognized, but never had the courage 

 to accept the consequence of this conviction. The greatest 

 obstacle to his conversi^jn arose from his two hundred wives, 

 the most distinguished of whom were burnt over his funeral 

 pile according to the barbarous custom of these nations." The 

 Government of Coimbatore under the Naiks ^ of Satyamangalam 

 appears to have been no better. 



^ Vide Coimbatore District Manual, pp. 89 and 90. There were, of course, also some 

 kings and queens whose names are revered to this day. The wisdom of Kistna Deva 

 Eaya in council and his prowess in war form the theme of many a legend in the Telugu 

 country. Of Queen Hudramma, of the Warangnl dynasty, who governe'd the kingdom as 

 regent during the minority of her grandson (A.D. 1257-129oj, Marco Polo writes as 

 follows : " This kingdom was under the rule of a king, and since his death forty years 

 ago, it has heen under his queen, a lady of much distinction, who for the great love she 

 bore him never would marry another husband, and I can assure you that during all that 

 space of 40 years she had administered her realm as well as her husband did, or better and 

 as she was a lover of justice, of equity and of peace, she was more beloved by those of her 

 kingdom than ever was lady or lord of theirs before." Of Queen Regent Mangammal 

 (A.D. 1689-17041 Bishop Caldwell in his History of Tinnevelly states : " She eschewed 

 wars and cultivated the arts of peace, and all through Tinnevelly, as well as in Madura 

 and the adjacent districts, she achieved a reputation which survives to the present daj' as 

 the greatest maker of roads, planter of avenues, digger of wpIIs and builder of choultries 

 the royal houses of Madura ever produced. It has become customary to attribute to her 

 everjf avenue found anywhere in the country. 1 have found, for instance, that all the 

 avenues in the neighbourhood of Courtallum are attributed to Mangammal. Having done 

 so much, «he is supposed to have done all," 



