1837.] Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya. 



203 



father was forgiven. The king of Madura soon after (lying, and leaving 

 ho heir, Viswanath Nayak was installed by the sovereign of Vijaya- 

 nagar as feudatory prince of Madura. Another history of Madura, 

 however, omits these circumstances, and describes Viswanath as the 

 officer sent to the assistance of the Pandya prince, and the usurper of 

 the independent sovereignty. At any rate, it is evident from the tenor 

 of both accounts that Viswanath Nayak first established this dynasty, 

 and that his assumption of the regal authority was acquiesced in by 

 the court of Vijayanagar, too much occupied in watching the proceed- 

 ings of their new neighbours of Bijapur* to attend to the affairs of the 

 more southern districts. 



After the inauguration of Viswanath Nayak, he proceeded to 

 strengthen himself in his new government ; and, with this view, having 

 enforced the cession of Trichanapali from the Chola Raja, he improved 

 the fortifications of that stronghold, and built a palace in the fort for 

 his reception. He then directed his attention to the settlement of Tin- 

 nivelly and the southern districts, the depopulated parts of which he 

 distributed amongst his adherents, chiefs of the Totia caste, to the 

 number of seventy-two, who were the progenitors of the petty chiefs 

 subsequently known as Poligars. This measure, however, and resent- 

 ment for the extirpation of the ancient royal family, seem to have 

 aroused the remaining chiefs of that principality to arms, and a force, 

 led by five rajas connected with the Pandya dynasty, opposed the fur- 

 ther progress of Viswanath. The quarrel was, however, decided by 

 the personal conflict of that chief with Agra Pandyan, who was 

 selected as the champion of the enemy, and was killed in the combat. 

 According to one of our histories, Viswanath survived his victory but 

 a short period, dying of his wounds on the ensuing day. According 

 to another account, he recovered, and continued to reign long enough 

 to extend and consolidate his power.f 



* Established as an independent state in 1489 by Yusuf Adil Khan.— Scott, vol. i. p. 207. 



% Although the two histories agree in the main facts, they differ considerably in 

 the details, and especially in the chronology. Mutiah's account places Viswanath's 

 accession, A. d. 1560, the other, a. d. 1431. The former of these best agrees with 

 Krishna Raya's date, and with the previous history of Madura : it may be about 

 forty years too modern. Mutiah's history enumerates but eleven princes between 

 1560 and 1742, or one hundred and eighty-two years ; the other names fourteen 

 princes in three hundred and seven years, — the former giving about seventeen, the 

 latter twenty-two years to a reign. But this proportion is too much, as three of the 

 fourteen princes are three brothers who reigned consecutively, and the average of 

 whose reigns could not, therefore, have exceeded half this number. We shall 

 have a more probable result, if we suppose the number of princes to be, including Naga- 

 ina, fifteen, and the number of years two hundred and twenty-two, from 1520 (for Krish- 

 na Raya, ruled from 1509 to 1530) to 1742, which will give us something less than fifteen 

 years to a reign. Colonel Wilks says, the dynasty of the Nayaks of Madura was founded 



