Tamil Nadu: 1761-1808

This is the third and final part of this series. We left off at the end of the Carnatic Wars in 1761. Through the Carnatic Wars, over a short 15-year period, the British East India Company transitioned from traders with muskets to becoming the primary force in Tamil Nadu politics. While they still only governed a few-mile stretch around Fort St. George, they were the power behind the Arcot Nawab Wallajah. The Nawab of Arcot was the nominal authority in Tamil Nadu. Practically, smaller chieftains like the Thanjavur Maratha and the Polygars of the Madurai region (including Sivagangai and Pudukottai) were, on paper, his vassals who accepted his suzerainty but often resisted paying taxes.

After the Second Carnatic War, the Tirunelveli and Madurai region was administered by Mahfuz Khan. He was the elder brother of the Arcot Nawab and was appointed as his representative. However, he did a poor job of stabilizing the region and collecting revenue from the Polygars. Deeply in debt and unable to enforce revenue collection, the Nawab increasingly relied on the British East India Company for military and financial support. The Company in turn sent a force under Yusuf Khan.

By the late 1750s, the influence of Mahfuz Khan declined in this region (and he was likely reassigned), and Yusuf Khan became the de facto governor of Madurai and the far south of Tamil Nadu. Subject to the payment of tribute to the Nawab of Arcot, he exercised wide authority in both military and administration. Among the many battles he fought to collect revenue, a noteworthy battle was with Puli Thevar of Nel-kattum-seval (place that does not pay rice) fort, who organized the Tirunelveli polygars in resistance.

In 1763, Yusuf Khan decided to rebel against the Nawab and the Company. The Nawab and Company laid siege of Madurai. Unable to obtain food and water, there was an internal mutiny by Yusuf's own men led by a Frenchman Marchand, Srinivasa Rao, and Baba Sahib. Through the mutiny, Yusuf Khan was caught by the British and finally executed.

The period from 1763 to 1799, Tamil Nadu was a theatre in the Anglo-Mysore Wars. Haider and Tipu repeatedly came down and raided Tamil Nadu. Since even 1755, Dindigul was under Mysore. It wasn't part of Carnatic Nawab. Meanwhile, the Polygars continued to resist and not pay taxes, and apparently tax collection fell by 33%. In any case, the main theme in these years was the Anglo-Mysore war.

In 1790, after years of dispute on who should pay for the costly exercise of collecting revenue from the polygars, Fort St. George announced that it had taken over the management of the Nawab's country. By this time, they had become masters of Bengal and gotten into the business of direct administration. The final subjugation of the Polygars became the Polygar Wars!

The first Polygar War was between Veerapandiya Kattabomman of Panchalankurichi, who refused to pay taxes. This is the famous Sivaji movie and dialogue. He was betrayed by the Ettayapuram Polygar and the Pudukottai Tondaiman Raja.

The second Polygar War was in 1801 and was larger in scale. Two brothers of Kattabomman escaped prison. With the Marudhu brothers from Sivagangai, they harassed the British. It is worth noting that Ramnad, Pudukottai, and Ettayapuram were allied with the British. The Polygar leaders were caught and hanged. Further, the entire Polygar system was removed and replaced by the Ryotwari system. In this system, the British collected revenue directly from the farmer and removed all intermediaries. This killed the Polygars who had for centuries kept a share of the revenue in return for protection. They were not allowed to have forts or armies.

Another key event in 1801 was the Carnatic Treaty. After the fall of Srirangapatnam, the British claimed they found correspondence between Tipu and the Arcot Nawab. This correspondence was used as a pretext to bypass the rightful Nawab and instead install a puppet Nawab who signed the Treaty. The Treaty gave full administrative control of the Carnatic to the British.

The final resistance event of note was the Vellore Mutiny in 1806. Tipu's sons were stationed there. The causes were very similar to the later Sepoy Mutiny. The Sepoys were not allowed to keep a beard or put ashes on their forehead. The Sepoys massacred up to 200 British soldiers. The mutiny was put down by a different British garrison that also employed Indian Sepoys.

With this, Tamil Nadu went into almost a century of stupor where it made peace with its new overlords. In 1745, the East India Company were traders with muskets. In the next 15 years, they became the kingmakers in India. By 1790, they started governing the land, and by 1807 all resistance was put down.