44 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
CHAPTER IV. 
THE NAYACA DYNASTY. 
Although Madura is now so sadly fallen from its 
ancient splendour, the remains of its public buildings 
cannot but strike the traveller with a vast idea of the 
pecuniary and mental resources of their founder. The 
principal edifices which now claim attention within 
this once flourishing district, are those raised by the 
enterprising Trimal Naig, in the early part of the 
seventeenth century. A brief account of the family 
of this chieftain will not be out of place here, as it 
forms the principal subject of the sculptures that adorn 
a magnificent choultry, built by him to commemorate 
their power and influence in southern Hindostan. 
Madura formerly formed part of a principality sub- 
ject to a Raya, who presided over fifty-six provinces, 
from whom their respective princes held them by way 
of feudal tenure. One of the chiefs of these feudato- 
ries was Nagama Nayaca, a man of great influ- 
ence and extensive resources, but who, in the midst of 
undisturbed prosperity, was wretched because he had 
not been blessed with an heir. During a pilgrimage 
which he made to Casi, the modern Benares, in order 
to propitiate the deity whom he served, he had a 
dream, in which the promise of a child was made to 
