Polygar

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Palaiyakkarars, or Polygar, Palegara (as the British referred to them) in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the holders of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, palayam was given for valuable military services rendered by any individual. The word pālayam means domain, a military camp, or a small kingdom. This type of Palayakkarars system was in practice during the rule of Pratapa Rudhra of Warangal in the Kakatiya kingdom. The system was put in place in Tamil Nadu by Viswanatha Nayak, when he became the Nayak ruler of Madurai in 1529, with the support of his minister Ariyanathar. Traditionally there were supposed to be 72 Palayakkarars. The majority of those Palaiyakkarar, who during the late 17th- and 18th-centuries controlled much of the Telugu region as well as the Tamil area, had themselves come from the Kallar, Maravar and Vatuka communities.^[1] Most palayakkars in western Tirunelveli and in Ramanathapuram were Maravar, those of Madurai, Tiruchi and Thanjavur Kallar, and those of eastern Tirunelveli, Dindigal and Coimbatore Nayak.^[2]

The Palaiyakkarar of Madurai Country were instrumental in establishing administrative reforms by building irrigation projects, forts and religious institutions. The Palaiyakkarar who worshipped the goddess Kali^{[citation needed]} did not allow their territory to be annexed by Aurangzeb.

Their wars with the British East India Company after the demise of the Madurai Nayakas is often regarded as one of the earliest struggles for Indian independence. Many captured Palaiyakkarar commanders were either executed or banished to the Andaman Islands by the British. Puli Thevar, Veerapandya Kattabomman, the Marudu brothers, Maruthanayagam, Dheeran Chinnamalai, and Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy were some notable Palaiyakkarar who rose up in revolt against the British rule in South India. Their wars against the British East India Company predates the Indian rebellion of 1857 in Northern India by many decades but is still largely given less importance by historians.^{[citation needed]}