1837.] 



Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya. 201 



therefore, the southern portion of the peninsula was parcelled out 

 amongst a number of petty chiefs, scarcely to be dignified even as 

 commanders of banditti ;* their predatory followers preferring a system 

 of insidious pilfering to open plunder, and rarely venturing, without 

 decided superiority of number or position, to face an enemy in the 

 field. Too indolent to till the soil, too insecure to desire fixed property, 

 they lived by hunting and robbery, and were, therefore, but little dis- 

 posed to check the luxuriance of rank vegetation, which yielded them 

 at once subsistence and shelter. It is not surprising, therefore, that 

 the countries which the Poligars occupied should have been overrun 

 with inhospitable and noxious forests ; and, it may be concluded, that 

 had not a wise and powerful policy interfered to enforce the habits of 

 social life, the fine districts to the south of the Kaveri, most admirably 

 fitted by nature to support an industrious population, would have re- 

 verted to ihe state in which tradition describes them long anterior to 

 Christianity, and would once more have become a suitable domicile for 

 none but the goblins of Ravana, or the apes of Hanuman. 



The princes of Vijayanagar had established their supremacy over 

 most of the countries south of the Krishna river before the sixteenth 

 century, but they appear in general to have left the native princes in 



* The state of the countries, and the characters of their Collaries and their other inha- 

 bitants, are well described in Orme's History ; and their unaltered condition, at a period 

 a little subsequent, is concisely and clearly described by Fullarton. The extent and 

 dreary aspect of the thickets, as well as the ferocious manners of the people, are also the 

 Subject of frequent and interesting description by the members of the Catholic missions, 

 which were sent to this part of India between the end of the seventeenth and the middle of 

 the eighteenth century. See Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, vols. x. to xv. The Collars 

 have several peculiar customs contrary to those of the Hindus, particularly the frequency 

 of remarrying allowed to the women, either upon voluntary separation from their 

 husbands, or their death. This custom exists with very few exceptions (MS. Accounts of 

 the Collaries, 25, -^6). The pre-eminent power and stability of the tondiman, as the prin- 

 cipal Poligar chief is called, has introduced a bias to Hindu habits ; and his wives having 

 sometimes been known to sacrifice themselves on the funeral pile, the fashion has gained 

 ground in his dominions. The Collars are chiefly worshippers of Siva and Kali. They 

 are not very rigid in their diet, drinking spirits and eating flesh and fish. The lax observ- 

 ance of the Hindu practices, which prevailed formerly amongst these tribes to a greater 

 extent than at present, may partly furnish a reason to believe that the extensive prosely- 

 tism effected by the Madura missionaries in these districts was not altogether a fiction. It 

 appears, indeed, that amongst the thirty thousand Christians under the Madura mission, 

 was included a considerable portion of the calaris, or thieves. "Je me mis sous la con- 

 duite de ce guide qui me fit bientot quitter le grand chemin pour entrer dans le pays de la 

 caste des voleurs. On la nomine ainsi parce que ceux qui la composent faisoient autrefois 

 metier de voler sur les grands chemins. Quoique la plupart de ces gens-la se soient fails 

 Chretiens, et qu'ils ayent aujourd'hui horreur de l'ombre raeme du vol. ils ne laissent pas 

 de retenir leur ancien nom, et les voyageurs n'osent encore passer par leurs fore ts. Les 

 premiers missionaires de Madure furent assez heureuz de gagner Vestime de cette caste de 

 sorte qu'a present il n'y a gueres de lieu, ou nous soyons mieux rccus et plus en surety 

 que dans leurs bois."— Du Fere Martin au Perele Govien, Decembre 1700, vol. x. p. 160, 



